Most doctors won’t give the shingles vaccine to a)someone under 65 and b)someone that’s already had shingles. It’s extremely rare for them to occur twice or more. But who knows if it was even the shingles, with all the various doctors and wrong diagnoses? God, what a nightmare. I’m going to wear goggles when changing lightbulbs now.
They had fluorescent light bulbs in 1584?
AquaPura, hang in there, and focus on the light at the end of the tunnel.
I’m so so sorry you’ve gone through all of this. It makes one hell of a story, though. Thank you for posting, I’m another one here who now feels very lucky, which is always a good thing, especially when there’s good writing and humor mixed in. (The bit about the whale tarp was hysterical!)
Probably the PICC line. They’re known for causing clots, which the op had problems with earlier on. One of them just broke off and went traveling.
Obviously the greedy “Western” doctors are all after your wallet, and keep surreptitiously injecting you with their corporate-engineered toxins to keep you from feeling a connection with Gaia that will enhance your natural wellness factors.
Or… you’ve just hit the infectious disease jackpot through no fault of anybody’s. Call Dr. House and don’t give up until you get a guest starring role.
Seriously, though, it sounds like everything that could go wrong did go wrong. Sorry to hear about it.
Good luck. That sounds tenth circle of hell awful.
To answer multiple questions, yes workmans comp is covering this, at least so far. I have no issues with the nurse that workmans comp assigned to the case. She calls me, tells me what she needs, and generally makes herself available.
The claims adjuster on the other hand? Sucks. She never returns my calls, hasn’t acknowledged receipt of all the mileage and other Rx expenses I have faxed her twice, and has only managed to see that I have gotten paid twice. I have been off of work for nearly 3 months here and have only gotten 2 paychecks. Things are getting a little tight at the Pura household.
The boyfriend has definitely made his way out of the dog house, he has really been incredibly understanding and tolerant with my nervous breakdown, he has made sure I have gotten all my meds, even the IV ones when I was mid-nervous breakdown (and he is terribly squeamish), and has in short been a prince. He was only in the doghouse that one day where I had the PICC line in. They said I could drive myself, and the appointment was at 8:30am waaay to early for the likes of him. Though, after feeling guilty that that PICC line was bad he did drive me to the 6:30am appointment to reseat the line the next day. And THEN he took me for waffles!
Supergoose is right, and they are pretty sure the pulmonary embolism arose from the PICC line. Though I don’t regret it, it did make getting meds in the hospital for round two and three much easier. I am a terrible stick, and the nurses just being able to jack me in, or suck out some blood was very convenient.
Unfortunately the shingles vaccine would be useless to me now, as I have already had not one, but two episodes. I guess shingles tend to occur in the elderly (I’m only 29) or in response to an injury or major infection (check) . They usually don’t reoccur UNLESS they are on the face. Then they seem to reoccur with stress. I am a little concerned right now as there are a few blisters on the inside margin of my eyelid. Though, the shingles are already affecting that eye, I am not so sure what I am worried about there.
PS, the Valtrex they put me on for the second bout of shingles is FUCKING H00GE! I get the one gram size and it is easily as big as my thumb. Ick.
Really the doctors have been great, except for the ER doc the first time, it was him that didn’t recognize the shingles in the first place. To be fair, they don’t usually occur on the face. It seemed much more plausible to him that the conjunctivitis had traveled outside the orbit. When he heard hoof-beats, he thought horses, not zebras.
After that ED visit, the shingles were harder to diagnose as the big reg throbbing infection all over the right side of my face seemed more of an issue than the slight scarring from the burst and crusted over shingles lesions.
Unfortunately in Wisconsin, my employer is not required to hold my job for me while I am injured. Unfair I think, but apparently, well within the law.
And don’t worry people, I have finally decided enough was enough, and have a phone call or two to make Monday.
~Aqua
I believe you’re wrong on the employer isn’t required to hold the job. I believe for a work related injury they have to put you to work doing something you can do, if available. There are some conditions to firing an employee for work related injuries. Please talk to a lawyer and social services, because your not getting paid while your off. You do not want to find out that you should have talked to a lawyer, after it’s too late and past a deadline.
Re: shingles - yes, they most commonly occur in the elderly. On the other hand, I had a coworker who had two episodes of shingles at the tender age of 21. He was undergoing cancer chemotherapy at the time. Testicular cancer (with its attendant surgery which tends to make men cringe and cross their legs), chemo, and shingles all at once is not something I’d wish on anyone. Actually, any one of those is not something I’d wish on someone. So, while shingles at a young age is uncommon it is far from unprecedented.
As far as “not commonly on the face” - my dad had a round with shingles in his mid-70’s that was on his face and skull. Mom said she had never imagined she’d see dad whimpering and crying in pain or begging for painkiller to Make The Pain Stop Please Please Make It Stop.
So, again, not unprecedented. Forever afterward when relating this sordid tale to medical personnel you’ll hear “That’s very unusual…” with that tone of condescending skepticism that sets your teeth on edge. Just keep reminding them that while unusual it does happen. Zebras are rare, but they do exist.
In my case, due to prior skin infections, I keep encountering doctors intent on “proving” I have diabetes (it IS a risk factor). I keep disappointing them, apparently, as my blood sugar is absolutely normal no matter what is done to provoke my blood chemistry. I keep having to say that while skin infections in otherwise healthy people are a bit unusual they do happen, and in my case a history of eczema and dermatitis could well account for it.
Again, I’m sorry you had to go through all this. Getting over these sorts of infections really do take months and employers are never (in my experience) at all sympathetic to that fact. Most people are too accustomed to popping a few pills and feeling better in a couple days and don’t understand what it’s like when that doesn’t work.
Get better. Try to stay calm. Eat as healthy as possible, lots of fluids, as much rest as you can get.
I swear to god I almost started crying reading this.
I am SO SORRY this happened to you! Oh my god… I would have been a total hysteric by the third week of this nightmare.
I genuinely wish you the very best… and if you lose your job, your employer can go to hell!! This was caused by an accident at WORK!
God…
And forgive me for trying to help someone save her health so she can enjoy a longer and happier life. For God’s sake, even the OP said she appreciated my advice. If someone posted a long thread about all their health problems and then said that they smoked a pack a day, I would tell them they should stop smoking, for the same reason. If you want to dance around the weight issue and act like it doesn’t exist, for fear of (gasp) offending someone, then fine. But I think you’ve taken a swipe at me here for no reason.
Take monstro’s comment in the same way, then, as advice for a longer and happier life.
“I was crossing the street, and a car plowed into me in the crosswalk, breaking my legs!”
“YOU NEED TO LOWER YOUR CHOLESTEROL!”
Okay. Thank you for the advice, monstro.
Don’t worry. Any minute now the doctor with the cane and the 3-days of beard growth will have an epiphany and come up with a simple (but brilliant) diagnosis for all your symptoms!
And her weight has what to do with having a lightbulb explode in her face, exactly? If you remember, that’s how this whole thing started.
The part of the story dealing with her weight is an extremely small part of the story. It had nothing to do with her original injury, the eye infection, the cellulitis, the shingles, the reaction to the antibiotic, the embolism or the panic attack. To pick that out out of the entire ordeal as something she should focus on right now seems petty.
eta: And here I chide Argent Towers and didn’t offer my condolences, Aqua Pura. I’m sorry for what you’re going through.
I have to second this. Tosser.
Yowza! You poor thing. Thanks for posting what seems to be a continuous string of major fuckage for you. Lets hope you have all that behind you now and you can be on the mend.
I read all this and felt terrible enough til I got to the point where you said you gained 45 pounds of edema weight.
The last time I had a relapse of my Idiopathic Nephrotic Syndrome, I gained the same amount of weight. It was awful. 45 pounds of water sloshing around, swelling me up, especially the legs and feet… I still have stretch marks from gaining the weight in a week (and then losing it all in a week as well) even though it was almost a year ago.
Trust me, I know how much that sucks. Good luck and godspeed on your recovery.
The OP is gonna NEED Dr. House. Cellulitis is bad enough by itself, I know from bitter experience. Developing an allergic reaction to a drug is also Not Fun. I can’t imagine what shingles is like. And gaining 45 pounds in water weight…urrrrgggh!
You have my sympathy. Also, in the future, if you need to get some good bacteria in your gut after antibiotics, there are pills that you can take, you don’t have to eat yogurt if you don’t like it. If you do like it, of course, then it’s all good.
Maybe you’ve used up all your bad luck for your whole life? I sure hope so. That certainly sounds like enough bad luck for one person.
With the water weight it was kind of funny at first, because the nurses didn’t see it. They squeezed my ankles and said OH GOOD not much edema! I told them it was in my ass and things as my feet were up. I suppose it was hard to see considering I DO have a big ass, but I finally had to demo the fact that I didn’t FIT in the chair they had in the room before they believed me. I was QUITE uncomfortable. It felt all tight and felt like my skin was gonna pop.