Shingles or a Spider Bite: the lesser of two evils

Saturday night I got a red dot on the back of my neck. It looked kind of like a bug bite, but was bigger and more burning than itchy. On Sunday it got bigger, and I also got a large bump above and to the left of the red dot. The bump was really sore and tender. Nathan told me I should probably have it checked out.

This morning I go down to the nurse at work. She looked at it and asked me about my symptoms. She then told me she thought I had shingles, and need to go see a doctor very soon. Shingles is like adult-chicken pox, but quite painful and extremely contagious.

I then went back to my desk and made a doctor’s appointment for later that morning. I then sat there for an hour half-freaking out about the painful diagnosis and the idea that I might be quarantined for Christmas!

At my 10am appointment, the doctor told me that she thinks it looks like a spider bite. It creeps me out to think that a spider crawled on my neck and bit me, and I didn’t notice, but frankly I was relieved that she didn’t think it looked at all like shingles. Lesser of the two evils I suppose.

I then got three new prescriptions. Again, kind of freaky that I need three different prescriptions for whatever kind of spider that bit me, but hopefully it will be better in a few days.

Even with my stressful morning, most of my thoughts today have been with Emily Spencer and the Helmick family. Emily is a sweet, 16-yr girl who goes to our church. She went into cardiac arrest this morning and still in the hospital. Please lift up Emily and her family in your prayers.