What is this??

On October 14th, I noticed something on my chin. It almost felt like I was breaking out but different. I ignored it for some time until it started oozing. I turned to friends, family and google and came up with impetigo. It’s not common for adults to get but I do work with preschoolers and was told the steroid I have been taking would weaken my immune system. Fall break had started (Oct 17) and I was able to get into the doctor right away. He agreed on the diagnosis of impetigo and sent me on my way with an antibiotic.

Two days later, there were several more oozing sores and the pain was almost unbearable, especially at night. I could not sleep at all and it was affecting my mouth and throat making it hard to eat. Everything I had read or heard about impetigo was not what I was experiencing. I decided to go into InstaCare and find out if that’s really what it was. The doctor looked me over and said yep, it’s impetigo and sometimes it acts like that. She said maybe the steroid was not allowing the antibiotic to work as well and to give it more time.

That night was horrible. The whole right bottom side of my face, mouth and throat felt like it was on fire. When I looked in the mirror the next morning, I had even more sores and they had spread up my face onto my ear. I really didn’t want to have another doctor tell me it was impetigo but I knew something wasn’t right. So, Dayv took me to another InstaCare that was open on Sundays. I told the doctor all that had happened and showed him the pictures I had taken of how it progressed. He got a closer look and said, this isn’t impetigo, it’s shingles! Oh my gosh, that makes SO MUCH more sense!! He decided to have me keep taking the antibiotic since I had started it and added an antiviral “horse pill” med that I took 3x a day. He also gave me an opioid for pain. Which, I might add, did not even touch the pain.

The sores finally stopped spreading and two days later, it looked like things were finally starting to heal. The very first sore developed a dark black scab over it. I had taken two days off of work and when I returned, my preschoolers had lots of questions about the condition of my face. It still looked pretty gross but there was nothing I could do to cover it. Your face really is the worse part of your body to have stuff going on like that. I had one coworker think The scab was food on my face when eating lunch 🤦🏽‍♀️.

We are almost 3 weeks out now. The black scab finally came off today and left a nice deep impression. There is just a little bit of redness. I’ll occasionally get shocks of pain especially up to my ear. I also am still having problems with my equilibrium, which I’m guessing is because the sores had developed on my ear. But, overall I’m feeling so much better!

In other news, I’ve got 3 MORE DAYS until my MRI where we check to see if the steroids have done anything to shrink the growth on my pituitary stalk. It is scheduled for Tuesday, November 5th! Here’s hoping and praying 🙏

And THANK YOU, THANK YOU for all your love, prayers and service! While completely miserable with the shingles, I had a dear friend text and offer dinner that night and another dear friend brought over dinner and the best care package I have ever received. I am so, so blessed to literally be surrounded by angels. I have also had so many people tell me how much they have been thinking about me and praying for me. There are not words to express how incredibly grateful I am for all of you.