Shingled But Not Down

Mothers are invincible, aren’t they? I’ve certainly thought so over the years. My Mum did Outward Bound at age 55, ran in 10 to 15 kilometre races and won in her age group at 65. She had worked tirelessly for the environment, planting trees along with countless other activities for at least 30 years. So to see her slowed down by shingles at age 75 was quite a shock.

She had overdone things for not the first time. After pulling out sliding wardrobe doors to put some new shelves inside, an annoying pain had developed in her hip. Just to confuse matters, some blisters had developed on her left foot which happened to be the same side as her hip pain. Perhaps something had bitten her on the foot while she was outside. As a result her foot was throbbing. She was able to move around her home on a pair of crutches, but even then her speed was snail’s pace.

Two visits to her chiropractor hadn’t fixed things as they normally would, and an x-ray of her back revealed that everything was normal. And yet the pain was becoming unbearable. Googling “foot problems” revealed photos of athlete’s foot that looked similar to the blisters on her foot.

The most I had heard about shingles was that it develops as a painful rash and occurs mostly on the stomach or torso. I thought that shingles only became a problem if it went right around the body. So when I visited her one weekend shingles was the last thing on my mind.

My sister and I talked to her that night about seeing a doctor and she finally agreed the following morning. After a brief examination the doctor diagnosed shingles in her foot with referred pain moving up to her hip. Unfortunately the diagnosis came long after the 72 hour timeframe within which anti-viral medications can be taken to help clear up the disease.

After a week in hospital, she returned home with some heavy duty drugs to reduce the severity of the pain. Her mobility on the crutches slowly improved and then she started withdrawing from the drugs. However, after a loss of appetite along with withdrawal symptoms she returned to hospital to fully wean herself off the drugs.

It was a harrowing time for my mother as she had always been active. She showed incredible determination to recover and has since explored various avenues to rebuild her health. She realised that she had taken on too much in the previous year and understood and acted on the underlying message that she needed to slow down. She was advised that residual pain from the shingles might continue for up to two years. One year on after walking for too long she feels pain in her foot which was where the shingles originated.

A friend noticed a small clump of blisters developing on her back. Her profession as a nurse became her saviour as workmates quickly warned her that she had shingles and she was given the anti-viral medication which then cleared away the shingles. The difference between the experiences of my friend and my mother with shingles are quite different.

For me, the experience has become a huge reminder to seek professional advice when some unusual body pain, lesion or growth occurs as early detection of shingles reduces months and perhaps years of prolonged pain to virtually none. But it has also brought home to me the remarkable fortitude which my mother has shown in her determination to return to normal living. I know invincibility is an impossible goal for a mere mortal to live up to but my mother has come as close as she can.