A New Shopping Experience

Had a horrible time shopping for groceries yesterday. I couldn't make it through the store without my shingles pain acting up. And I mean WAY up. I couldn't bend over or reach up to get things I needed off the shelves. I couldn't walk normally without extreme pain. I had to bend over. Several times I had to stop and rest until the pain subsided a little bit. I desperately needed to sit down for the pain to go away, but grocery stores don't have chairs for their customers. When the shopping was done, I knew I wasn't going to be able to get my groceries from the cart to the check out belt without help. Fortunately, on the way to the check out line I noticed a table and chairs set up for flu shots. (It was too early for the shots, but the table and chairs were there.) So I moved at a snails pace to a chair and sat. And sat and sat and sat. Several people were nice enough to ask me if I was okay. I said yes because, after all, there was nothing they could do. It was only time that would help with the pain. After about ten minutes I managed to make it to the check out line, and I was able to unload my cart and function normally for the rest of the trip.

I had taken a pain pill just before leaving the house, but it didn't work. They don't seem to be working well at all. They did at first. I think I know why they aren't working now. Maybe.

I have had, for several years, a problem with my right thigh going numb. It started by going just slightly numb whenever I laid on my back to sleep. In the past few years it has gotten worse. It now gets very numb to the point of pain if I don't change my position - I guess to one that lets the blood flow normally. (I think the lack of blood flow is what causes the numbness, but I'm really not sure.) One of the times that my thigh goes numb is when I'm on my feet for awhile - like when I go grocery shopping. It has been bearable, until now. Now it seems to double up with the shingles to cause the same excruciating pain that started with the shingles. And this is why I had so much trouble yesterday.

I talked to the doctor over a year ago about the numbness. Without a lot of discussion he said there was nothing that could be done about it. I plan to bring it up again at my next appointment, Nov. 9th. And I need to learn more about shingles. I thought that it eventually "goes away," which mean the pain goes away. I have taken all the anti-viral meds and the rash is almost gone, but the pain continues. Not as often as before, but it's still there, and still can immobilize me.

On another subject, tomorrow morning I'll have my ultrasound. Maybe I'll have an answer to what's causing my abdomen to grow.