10-Dec to Present:

Ok, I've been remiss. My only excuse is the Holidays and it's a weak one at that!

Kris saw her Physical therapist, Dale, her final three times and other than the edema where her reconstructive surgery was done, she's fine. In fact, she's exceeded Dales expectations... to the point that Dale tried to discharge her. Kris asked about the edema and Dale relented since dealing with edema from surgery is one of the responsibilities of Physical Therapy.

She went in for her Herceptin last week on December 23rd. While their, she asked the Dr. about a rash that had broken out on her belly... the Dr. said it was shingles! She prescribed a medication for Shingles and we got a lesson in what Shingles is. When I was young, I'd hear folks talk about shingles and the way folks spoke about it, I always assumed that the victims of shingles had been doing something naughty... since it was always in hushed tones or 'behind the hand.' Turns out that if you have Chicken Pox and beat it, the disease can recede into your nervous system as a form of herpes virus. This dormant version creates pockets in the nerves near the spinal column and will be dormant for years. When it does finally awaken, it travels along the nerves until it breaks free through the skin. Looks just like your garden variety rash. The only thing I can say is that the rash Kris has is roughly the size of a half dollar. We initially thought it was a break out of ring worm. The bad news is that what breaks out of the skin is contagious and can spread, of all things, Chicken Pox. Note that the contagion is unlikely to spread save to those folks who have suppressed immune systems... oh, like folks going through Chemo Therapy! However, once the rash scabs over, you are no longer contagious. Fact is, the Dr. washed her hands and had Kris was hers as well before going in for her Herceptin infusion... just in case. Other than that, she wasn't worried. I specifically asked if I needed to worry about this and she said 'no.' So, we filled the prescription and the rash is clearing up quickly and nicely.

Note that if you do not catch this in the first 72 hours, living with shingles can be a living hell! This according to a friend of ours who has had it and did not catch it in time! Apparently it can spread widely and the itch and pain is a nerve itch/pain so it's quite bad. We read up on this and found that in rare cases it can break out on the face (cheeks) and that can cause blindness! Long and short: if you have a rash that you can't explain, don't be embarrassed to ask what seems like a 'dumb' question of your Dr. It may well save you some pain and frustration!

Kris is now back at work! Oddly, it's been quite the fight. I'd love to rant about this but, I won't. I'll just say that, according to Kris' observations, it's costing IBM quite a lot of money to put her on LTD. And that there was some question, in fact, about bringing her back... which makes me question whether or not this really is a benefit. Fact is, it would've been more cost efficient, and less nerve wracking, to just take vacation and a short leave of absence... though, it would've been more costly to us personally.