HERPES ZOSTER (shingles)

Chuck started having a headache on Tuesday; Thursday he asked me if there was a rash on his head, under his hair, behind his ear. When I went to take a look I couldn't see the rash under his hair, but I DID see this terribly red splotchy rash on his neck. Friday morning his headache was worse and the rash had postules (blisters) on some of them. He called the doctor's office and talked with a nurse to find out if it could be a reaction to the flu shot he had on Tuesday. She said probably not, but that if it got worse he should see the doctor. Saturday morning he was up at 3am with a raging headache that wouldn't quit.
So we went to the ER over at the new hospital and one look at the rash and the doctor said, "You have shingles." I had actually "Googled" his symptoms and come up with the same diagnosis. But Chuck said he didn't think he had chicken pox when he was a kid. Wrong!
They gave him two Percocet for the pain, we had breakfast, and then he had a nausea attack and ended up fainting on the bathroom floor -- scraping his arm on the wall, breaking his glasses, and landing on his face. As many of you might know, I am not really good in an emergency -- I mostly just stand there and scream -- which is what I did in this situation! But he said he was okay, so we cleaned him up, bandaged his arm and put him back in the recliner (with a bucket by his side) with a warning from me that he NOT get out of the chair. After a couple more episodes of nausea, I called the ER back and they gave him a Rx for the nausea.
I went over to Target and got that Rx and it has really helped him. He still is in a lot of pain and he says the area of the rash feels like it is on fire. It has spread a bit more since Friday and the most painful rash is the one that is on the back of his head, close to his ear.
So he has Perocet, Prednisone, Famciclovir, and Ondanesetron. I had to get a chart started so I can record when he takes each Rx.
The doctor said this outbreak could last anywhere from 1-4 weeks (or longer). We had planned on starting our drive to Seattle tomorrow, but we are definitely not going anywhere for at least a week -- hopefully we will be able to go within 2 weeks -- we'll see how he does. Right now he is in a lot of pain and he isn't able to be up very long before he needs to lie down. He is able to read the paper, do some Sudoku, and watch a little TV. The worst part for him, is that now he has to eat MY COOKING -- he has been doing all the cooking for years, and he's very good at it, so this is not a good thing -- for EITHER of us! I am really good at grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. And cold cereal is REALLY good, don't you think???
Oh, and it seems this was just not a good week at our house -- the water heater went out Friday and on Tuesday I had to take my car to the dealership because the speedometer quit working and I couldn't start the car in park. The diagnosis: mice had chewed through the wiring in THREE different places. We're glad we have just started a new week - whew!