Shingles - Not Just for Roofs

Last weekend, I started feeling pain in my shoulder and itchy on my neck and shoulder on that same side.  I just figured they were unrelated and I had slept wrong on my arm/shoulder.  The itchiness turned into a rash and my shoulder ached more and more.  By Wednesday, the rash was feeling hot and there were blisters/welts.  Sleep was difficult because of the shoulder pain.  On Thursday, a friend at work encouraged me to see the doctor.  There is so much I'm working on that I didn't get to the doctor, so I decided to stop at the Instacare on my way home.  I was diagnosed with shingles.  Shingles is a form of the chicken pox virus and only happens to those who have had chicken pox.  The chicken pox virus never really goes away, it just lies dormant.  Age, stress, or lowered immune system can trigger the virus to flare up and it travels along the nerves and up to the skin.  Nobody can catch shingles from you, but people can catch chicken pox if they are exposed to the blisters on your skin (if they haven't had chicken pox or the vaccine).  Itching, numbness, tingling, burning, and outright pain are a big part of shingles.  The blisters will eventually burst and crust over, leaving a permanent scar.  The pain can last longer than the blisters, sometimes for months or years.  With our annual play at work and me trying to create the playbill and take care of a million other things, I don't know what I'm going to do.  Stress can make the pain worse, and that's hard to avoid.  Wish me luck, kids.

Jabberwocky

I'm starting to fall behind. It's time to catch up.

We had a wonderful time for Dexter's last weekend of performances.  Rick, Holly, and Sharon came up from Las Vegas and Bill, Tina, Holly, and Billy came down from Layton to watch the Saturday matinee.  Having them here to support Dex was awesome!  Thanks, family!!  The final night of "The Fantasticks" sold out and we had to turn about 50 people away.  They decided to have an encore performance Tuesday night.  It was a first for any show at Provo High, but I know they're glad to get back to regular life again. 

Emerson was sick (a cold?), then Dexter started to get it and seemed to bounce back.  Dwayne had a quick brush with it, but then I got it.  I held out as long as I could, working as much as I could but trading out for the rehearsals I was in charge of so I didn't expose the kids in the show.  Sneezing and coughing took over by the end of the week and I've been sleeping all weekend.  I have two rehearsals to cover this week, so I hope I'm past the worst of it.

We've had snow, sleet, hail, rain, clouds, and sun - sometimes all on the same day.  Welcome to Utah.  If you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes...

Dexter asked me for an explanation of the title of this post...I forgot to add that part of the story.  We went to see the new Alice in Wonderland movie and much of the plot and dialogue incorporated my favorite poem, "Jabberwocky."  My dad introduced me to this poem when I was a kid and he explained that it was an example of how you can write something with total nonsense words and yet still have people understand them because of the context.  For the entire poem, click here.