22

When I started this project, I necessarily assumed that every new experience would be a positive one.  Who'd want to try something that makes you feel beyond awful?  But sometimes, life (or maybe our lifestyle) chooses negative experiences for us.  No pictures for this one, folks.  You want to see what it looks like?  Google it.

 

I sit here, generally behind on doing everything, as I recover from my very first (and dear God, please let it be my last) case of shingles.  If you've never had it, and you're wondering what this condition feels like, I recommend a simple, 3-step plan:

1. select at least 8 square inches of skin;
2. set fire to it;
3. catch the flu.

That pretty much covers it.

I'm grateful for the 3-times-a-day horse pills that are working to kill the active virus, but one should not necessarily take it as a personalized guarantee when the doctor says a medication is "generally well-tolerated by most people".  In my case it meant "will kind of make you feel like barfing, yet not quite, for the entire duration".

To add to the fun, this bug attacked my face, starting around my left eye – which eventually swelled shut, so at least I didn't have to look at it anymore.  But of course, the rest of it is so creature-from-the black-lagoon'ish, that I have not left the house in days for fear of large crowds bearing lighted torches and pitchforks chasing me.

One exception – night-time, with its glorious cover of darkness.  That's the only time I can sneak out to get some fresh air.  I suppose I could have some fun with it – pretend I'm a spy or a vampire, only able to venture out at night, lest my secret identity be discovered.  But I doubt too many spies or vampires use darkness to quickly run outside just to put their garbage bins at the curb for pick-up next morning.

Housebound, I look for distractions.  I have my work laptop, so at least I can work all day until I run out of energy (which I don't have much of in the first place).  Not much else to do except television and watching the groceries deplete.   (Most important thing is cat food, but I would never be stupid enough to let that run out.)

Perhaps I should be thinking of ways to avoid this condition in the future.  One of the most common triggers for shingles is stress.  Should I take up meditation?  I just can't picture it.  I'm not sure sitting cross-legged on the floor is a position I can even get into anymore. Or if I managed it, could I get out of it?  But if I could meditate lying down, I might just be willing to go shopping for a mantra.  (Whatever that is.)

One thing's for sure – I will definitely be looking into the shingles vaccine.  What's that, Mr. Pharmacist?  You don't know if my health benefits plan covers it?  Or how long it actually lasts?  And it costs how much?  You know what, Mr. Pharmacist?  Hand it over, and no one gets hurt.

 

One Thing That >50 Me Has Learned Along the Way...

The 2 most abused forms of technology are mobile phones and email.  While they may be wonderfully useful communication devices, let's be brutally honest – their existence has made our working lives much, much harder.  We're all now expected to generally be productive every waking minute of the day. And certainly for white collar workers, these technologies have increased the volume of our work exponentially.  But they're here to stay, as possibly the greatest evidence of the law of unintended consequences we could imagine.  Let's at least all try to remember one very important rule about them though, shall we?  If a matter is urgent/time-sensitive, text or email should NOT be used.  For goodness sake - TELEPHONE THE PERSON!