a thanksgiving story with a side of shingles

Gather round, everyone, so you can hear my story.

Once upon a time this mom was so tired that she could not keep
her eyes open for what seemed like a month.

At the same time she started getting bites on her leg.
Bites that wouldn't heal and that hurt like the dickens.

She showed them to her friends and her sister and said,
"What kind of bug bite is this?"

And they said, "We don't know."
Which wasn't super helpful
but most of this mom's people aren't bug bite specialists
so she didn't hold it against them.

She thought she had bedbugs (please no) or a giant spider (terrifying) in her bed
that kept gnawing on one side of her leg from, ankle to knee.

She wondered why no one else was getting bitten in the house.
It made her feel a little sad.

Why was she so special to the bugs?
Why did the spider love her so much?

She was completely grossed out and
prepared to move to a new house because she doesn't do bugs.

She was also freaked out because if it was a spider,
the fang marks were so far apart, it must be huge.
Was the spider one of those giant chicken eating variety from the Amazon?

And mostly, she still just wanted to take a nap.

So finally after a week or so, with a yawn,
she e-mailed her doctor a picture of her scabby leg with the title,
"I have weird bites on my leg",
hoping that her doctor would be some kind of insect genius and
get right back to her and say,
"You have a crazy bug in your bed....GET THE HECK OUT!"

Instead, her doctor said,
"MMMM....looks like shingles...why don't you come on in?"

And so, she went in. And the doctor laughed at her spider theory.
And the fact that she had fabricated a whole bug invasion limited to one side of her leg.
And that this mom was planning on moving out of the house.
But she was very understanding
even though her patient was clearly on the verge of a mental breakdown.

The doctor gave her anti-viral meds and said,
"You need to rest...because you are STRESSED OUT."
And then said, "This should resolve itself in 3 or 4 weeks."

The doctor saying that it would take A MONTH to resolve the shingles
may have caused the patient SOME STRESS.

But now this mom knew that there were no bugs in her bed.
And no giant chicken eating spider in her house that preferred to nibble on her left leg.
And that possibly in a few weeks, she would feel normal.
Which is pretty great.

So she was thankful (see this is where the thanksgiving part of the story comes in.)
Very thankful.
Over the top thankful.
Beside herself with joy thankful.
It is a good day to be alive thankful.

Because shingles can be a blessing (because they are not bug or spider bites.)
So let's all give thanks.

THE END