Bugs, Both of the Medical and Computer Variety
The wife and I both took an extra day off to acclimate from the time change. Which was good, as we were both up by 4am. We were completely unpacked, and had all our laundry done, folded, and put away by 6. We decided to go to an early breakfast and then grocery shopping. And after shopping we decided we were going to keep up the good exercise we got in Europe and joined the local rec center, for access to their gym equipment, indoor track, and perhaps pickleball in the future.
When I had woke up that morning, I felt like I had razor burn on my neck. Checking in the mirror, there was definitely a small, dime-sized rash, and what looked like small whiteheads. Which was puzzling. The wife suggested it might have been friction burn from the strap of my duffle bag I was carrying cross-body style through the airport, and I thought she might be right.
After walking out of the rec center, and once back in the car, I realized that razor burn feeling was much stronger. And, worryingly, much larger. I checked the mirror, and sure enough, that rash was now easily the size of a quarter and disappeared below the neckline of my shirt. I pulled it aside and discovered it went down my neck to my shoulder. What’s more, those little whiteheads were now full blown blisters, some the size of peas.
Great.
The wife was convinced I’d picked up Ebola somehow (she tends to worry), so we immediately went straight to Urgent Care. After a short wait and even shorter examination, the doc asked if I’d ever had the Shingles vaccine. Which I have. But apparently the vaccination was no match for the stress of the vacation, as I had a full-blown eruption going down my neck and shoulder now.
We picked up my prescriptions (topical cream and if that didn’t work, steroids), and then decided to lay low the rest of the day.
And naturally, on top of that, I got one of my patented “End of year colds that always turns into bronchitis”. So we signed up for the gym, and I immediately got sick.
Thankfully, the topical cream worked wonderfully and I was all cleared up within a few short days. And the bronchitis never materialized.
You know what DID materialize? Malware. On ALL my websites (I host about a dozen sites for friends and family). So I’ve been working on cleaning that mess up for the past week. A pox on all malware creators.
Essentially, I got hit with a biological virus and a digital one in the same week. Go me.