Nastiness

I've been waiting to post about our sicknesses....waiting for my emotions to get in check before I sounded too depressed.  Lets just say that the last month has been hard.  It started with me getting sick with mild symptoms.  Then Levi complained that his head, throat, and one leg hurt (when he mentioned the leg, I though for sure he was just trying to get out of school :).  By that night he had a high temp.  Brigham was next with puking over and over.  A few days later Hyrum was puking with diarrhea and you know how puking is with a 4 year old....never in the toilet!  I am so thankful we invested in a carpet cleaner years ago!  Anyways, it went through all of us with David almost passing out....seriously.  I thought we were done but then it started going through everyone again.  I was so sick of cleaning up puke and waking up in the middle of the night to sick children.  My spirits were definitely low.  I deal with back pain everyday and I have always seemed to deal with pain without complaining about it and just in general but never when it comes to sicknesses.  It really gets to me and I always end up depressed....add a whole sick family to that for 2+weeks at this point...... Anyways, to top it all off, I had these bumps/bite looking things on my arms that wouldn't go away.  They started to bother me and were getting worse so I went to the doctor (I needed prescription refills anyway) and I have Shingles!  Seriously!?!  Having had Chicken Pox means you have the virus dormant in your body.  Stress, change in medications, poor immunity, and sickness will bring it on later in life, almost always in the elderly.  So once again, SERIOUSLY!?!  Oh well.  I can say that I do feel very blessed that it isn't as painful as what most people with Shingles describes it as.  I think it is more itchy than painful, myself.  And my patch of it is so much smaller than what some people get.  The pictures below kind of show its progress.  On the left of the picture it a bump that is the newest.  By the  time that you get to the right of the picture, that is the oldest wound.  So I have to wait for all of them to do that....but I am REALLY hoping that it won't go that far.  I can't go swimming with the kids and I am not suppose to be around kids because of the possibility that they have not had the Chicken Pox vaccination.  You can't spread Shingles to someone else, but I could possibly give Chicken Pox to anyone who hasn't had it or the vaccination.  Frustrating for my primary class considering that some cases last for months.  I think more than anything, I just feel silly.  It is just a stupid rash like thing and yet it really limits you.  Most of the time, I just cover it up though.

It has made me ponder, though.  A few days ago, I was really struggling and ended up crying to David that I felt like I just really needed a girlfriend.  Most of my girlfriends live a distance away now and I didn't feel like I had anyone to turn too.  He said to me, "Too bad, Charlene lives so far away."  I just cried and it took all I had to write one simple sentence to my other dear friend, Christine, who lives much closer but still a distance away, "I wish you lived closer."  I ended up calling my sister, April, but didn't end up telling her and just kept it all inside.  This is what I hate about depression.  I have such a problem actually venting to someone while it is happening.  But I was proud of myself for at least writing what I did to Christine because sure enough, she came through.  I guess deep down, I knew she would and that is why I new I needed to text her.  Her and I went out last night and it was everything I needed. 

So, I've been pondering how blessed I have been to meet and make some of the most wonderful friends in my life.  Speaking of friends, David and I have been making fun of my Shingles.  I have eczema and I always keep some of my cream that I put on it, in my purse.  In college, it never failed that I would end up putting that on my hands during Sacrament meeting.  Marie always teased me that it was my Leprosy cream.  Anyways, my Shingles have been lovingly named Leprosy in our house.....gotta have some humor, right?