No Day But Today...

So after my 2-day hiatus, I suppose I have some explaining to do. 

My mom has been sick with the shingles since November (for those who don't know, it's like a secondary strain of the chicken pox, but it affects the nervous system and creates a horrid rash) and was off work for most of November and all of December.  The plan was to have her back at work by January.  After a trip or two weekly to the doctor every week from November on to increase dosages of medications (she's on like 3 different ones) they finally figured out a cocktail that worked and we were left with a dopey/loopy/constantly sleeping mother and wife.  Fast forward to January, and my mom went back to work, as planned, but nowhere near 100%.  To clarify, where most people get the shingles on/across their ribcage, abdomen, or back, my mom got it on the left side of her face and scalp. Extremely painful, and not pretty. Anyway, she tried to go back, but ended up calling in sick at least once or twice a week.  Finally, last week she came to me and asked if the glands in her neck were swollen and I finally had it.  I blew up at her and told her she needed to get herself to the doctor, figure out what was going on, and take a whole term off of work (she's an educational assistant) and get better.  So she went, and was told by our family doctor that she was probably going through a second round of the shingles, and he gave her another round of antivirals and told her to come back in 3 weeks.

Two days later (Sunday), her ears started swelling and her face and neck were double their normal size, so she took her self to the hospital.  There, they told her that it looked like she was having an allergic reaction to one of the medications she was on.  He told her to stop all medications, gave her some huge doses of prednizone for a couple days, and to come back if it got worse.  Later that evening when I got home from work, her face was three times it's normal size and her ears were so swollen they were turning purple and the opening was almost completely closed right up.  I took her to emergency again around 9 pm.  After having the resident (who was extremely gorgeous) work her up, he called in the attending and neither could figure out what was wrong with her other than that it was a reaction to something.  Nothing has changed in our lifestyle, and it doesn't chronologically make sense that she was actually having a reaction to one of the drugs she's been on since November, and it also doesn't make sense that it is a re-occurrence of the shingles since shingles characteristically presents on only one side of the body and her whole head was swollen and rashy.  ER basically told her to take 50 of Benedryl every 4 hours, and to come back in 36 hours if it hadn't changed or got worse and they would try and figure out what was going on. 

Needless to say, we got out of the ER at about 3 am when all was said and done, got home by 3:30 after stopping at Shoppers and stocking up on Benedryl, and I then had a paper to write that was due Monday.  So, in a dead silent house, I sat down at my computer with tea in hand and wrote my paper until about 5:30 when I finished and went to bed.  *Cue alarm clock at 6:30*  Struggled to wake up and start my 9 hour day at school.  Completed it, without coffee I might add, and got home around 6:30 pm, ate dinner and crashed into bed.  Therefore, my dear blogging world, were you neglected for two whole days.  I apparently conked out mid-sentence at the kitchen table after finishing dinner.  I don't remember, but I was led to bed, tucked in, and slept, peacefully, till about noon today when I woke up, realized that class started in half an hour, I was a mess still in my clothes from the day before, and it takes me an hour to get to school.  In other words, I took a mental health day a decided not to go into class. Thank goodness for small miracles like sleeping in.

With that, I'm going to finish studying for my math test that I have tomorrow and go back to bed.

Hopefully everyone's past couple of days have been much more productive than mine.  Also, update: my mom's swelling has gone down, but she's been pretty much sleeping the entire time thanks to dr. benedryl.

Night all.
xo