I remember the day well. Back in early September I was working outdoors, building a porch onto the end of the house. It was a hot, sweaty day and as I was cutting some rafters for the roof, I felt a bee sting about half way up the left side of my back, right through my T-shirt. Zap. Except it wasn't quite a bee sting. It was as though the bee didn't quite finish the job. That was four months ago, and I can still feel it. It still pricks at me a couple times a day. Sometimes it itches. Sometimes it aches a bit.
It wasn't a bee sting, at all. It was shingles.
Shingles? Yeah, chicken pox for senior citizens. Herpes zoster.
How do I know?
Because I also had a rash develop in three places on my face. At first I thought it was an inflammation from rubbing pressure-treated sawdust into my skin as I wiped the sweat away. But as the days went by, it didn't go away, and it seemed to be spreading. So, off I went to the computer to look it up: Don't delay in getting medical attention, it said.
And at the emergency room, the diagnosis was, sure enough, shingles.
Then came the lymphoma diagnosis; then the enlarged tonsils diagnosis (even if four days later another doctor couldn't see it).
All three things can and do result from an impaired immune system. Who knows where that came from?
Jeff sent me a copy of a medical advisory sheet Anne's uncle, Sean, received several years ago in Ireland when he was diagnosed with the same thing. It warns CLL (chronic lymphocytic leukemia) patients to watch out for shingles. It all sort-of fits.
So, the more I read and the more I piece together the puzzle, it seems to come down to really taking care of my immune system through adequate sleep, better-than-good nutrition, and exercise.
After that, it's pot luck!
