Shingle Bells.

Yesterday the 17 YR old went to the ER: she has shingles! It's a really painful rash( shown in the photo below and no, that's not her, she doesn't have a hairy belly like that, I got the picture off Google just to show you what it looks like) which is a complication years, decades, later after you've had Chicken-Pox, which she did have as a baby( seen in the photo here) at 11 months old when it swept thru our house. It normally affects older people over 50 or those with compromised immune systems but my guess is that following her battle with anorexia 3 years ago it must have weakened and/or damaged her immune system with the starvation and that's why she got it. The virus lays dormant in your brain and spinal cord and following another illness comes back to "life" and re-appears as shingles, which I have heard can be very painful and she describes as being pricked with pins all over her skin. Her rash is on her back, upper shoulder area and it must be the most painful thing she's ever experienced so far since she's never given birth or had surgery and she's never had migraines. She got a prescription to lessen the effects of the virus so it won't develop into complications such as brain, neurological or heart damage.

I can still remember that period 16 YRS ago when the Chicken-Pox swept thru the house and all the kids got it; a few at a time and then every 2 weeks after a few more, until eventually they all did and her being the baby I tried to isolate and quarantine her so she wouldn't get it; I kept her in a separate room from the others and wouldn't let them near her but it didn't make any difference because I guess it was still in the air and she got it anyway although very mild and I noticed the younger ones had it milder and the older ones( the teens, for example) had it much worse; more spots and felt sicker. I had it when I was just 3 months old; I caught it from the neighbour kid next door, and wouldn't you know it, just a year after all my kids had it then they came out with a vaccine for it.....so just the youngest( now 13) got vaccinated for it, but it ended up a blessing as awhile later our now 22 years old had leukemia at age 7 and Chicken-Pox is dangerous for someone with cancer and on chemo with a low immunity and one kid at the clinic caught it 6 times and was hospitalized( normally you get it once and are immune) and it was very serious but because he had already had it and had natural  immunity he was protected and safe and he never got it, and after treatment was done and they tested his immunity everything else had been wiped out from the chemo( from his vaccines and had to all be re-done again) except for the Chicken-Pox because he had a natural immunity to it so in the end it ended up being a blessing although we didn't see it at the time but God saw the Big Picture.

Shingle Bells,

Shingle Bells,

Shingles all the way,

Oh my God,

it hurts so much

Shingles go away!

The 26 YR old also painted his room yesterday and it was blue and now white, as that was the only paint colour we had left and he was too cheap to pay for more and I'm not a "fan" of plain boring white(I like bright vibrant happy colours) but it looks nice and he did a good job and I just love the smell of fresh paint, one of my cousins in Europe has an infected absess she had to have drained and is now on antibiotics for a week, sort of like what my mother had, and I wonder too if my recent uncertainty and re-examining religion is actually my spiritual enlightenment/awakening , and this morning Buddy did this sneeze/snort and a blood clot shot out which alarmed me and that damn cat next door that always follows him and tries to pounce on him and attack him( not the grey cat that bit his tail, this is another one!) keeps coming up on our veranda too and won't leave and my mother couldn't shoo it away so she called me out to handle it as I have a "way" to scare off cats( hee,hee) usually spraying them with the hose, esp. when they keep pissing all over our garbage cans on the porch so I picked it up and tossed it into the bush besice the house and it scampered off. It didn't hurt it as it landed safely in the soft bushes to cushion it, but it scared it off. I also saw a hawk( or falcon, I can't tell them apart) yesterday sitting outside,too and a blonde squirrel which is rare as the majority of them are black or grey.

This is also my heart dog, my soul mate, my best friend, my reason for living, my everything enjoying outside yesterday. We got to be out for 3 HRS!Tomorrow it's supposed to SNOW! Toronto is also in a complete lockdown due to the "pandemic" with stores and restaurants etc. closed and people ordered to stay indoors and not allowed anyone to have anyone in their homes unless they live there, etc. with 750$ fines(my friend P from grade 6 still left for Cancun today though, I guess before the lockdown takes effect on Monday and if she's lucky maybe she'll be "stuck" there and won't be able to come home?).. really toltalitarian...yet still allow schools to remain open and if they really were worried about a so-called contagious deadly pandemic  they would close the schools ; it's really about control and this newest one goes for 28 days, right into the heart of the Christmas season too, ruining businesses and shopping and I fear it may prevent the 19 YR old flying in( to Toronto from Vancouver) on the 19th next month as they're also considering banning inter-provincial travel,too.....uh,oh....this is really becoming a Police State, dictating where you can and can't go, who you can and can't associate with, that you can't meet in groups or be out past a certain time....how come no one sees what's happening? What next? The way this year's been going with everything cancelled and ruined will they now say Santa died of Corona virus and kill him off now too, ruining Christmas for the kids now as well? It really wouldn't surprise me...