Saturday 6th May 2023: I know I said I wasn’t going to blog but that’s what this blog is about, recording the day to day stuff. I am now convinced that this is definitely shingles and my god it is not nice at all 🙄 I started with an ache in my wrist that I couldn’t work out how or why it was like that, then my whole arm was aching over the next couple of days. I had a red patch appear on my upper arm but at no point did I feel unwell in the slightest. My shoulder then began to ache, like toothache or when the cold gets into an old broken bone. The red patch began to develop into pimples and in the crease of my right hand a red patch appeared that was ‘stingy’ that’s the only way I can describe that. Next the skin down my forearm started to feel as though someone had quickly waved a flame over it and I began to get shooting pains in the arm. The red patch on my hand developed into a blister and another tiny patch of blisters came up on my shoulder blade. At this point I was beginning to wonder if it was shingles, on the Thursday the pain was intense and a rash appeared all down the area from the elbow to the wrist and I was taking paracetamol and ibrufen alternately which took the edge off but not away. I called the doctor who wanted photos, I sent those and then she issued anti viral and stronger painkillers. By now I had blisters all down the off side of my right arm and breaking out in the palm of my hand and up my fingers. If you have had shingles you will know how painful it is and all different types of pain, some shooting, some long deep aches, some like you brushed against stinging nettles, I have a good pain threshold but seriously these rank up near a 10 😬
So I am very frustrated as I cannot get on with anything at all, if it was confined to the arm and shoulder I would just put up with the discomfort but being on the palm of the hand makes things very difficult indeed. I can’t make a fist as that is painful, I can’t hold anything, basically I can’t do much at all 🙄 I really wanted to crack on with flowers and planting and promoting the flowers more once our holiday was over but instead I am sitting around fretting about what needs doing. I am hoping that things will have peaked either today or tomorrow and begin to get better though it can take weeks.
Tuesday: Ooooo I have had some days of pain and discomfort but I am hoping it’s turned a corner and starting to get better. I can now touch my arm and skin without pain so that is progress, the blisters are flattening out and although more patches broke out they have not turned to blisters (I guess the anti viral is doing its job) I am also able to use the finger tips of my right hand to do some things which is useful. We have had dinners cooked and bought to us or gone to theirs for dinner and Shelley has been over to do some domestic jobs that help John out a little. Here is where I say hoorah to ready meals 😂 not highly processed but the veg that is already chopped and bagged, I can put that in a steamer bag to microwave, ready made mash also lol. John could peel and chop but he will also be doing the animals as well as going to work and doing all the jobs I would normally do so better give him a bit of a break 😜
I have flowers being collected today, I managed to go round and slowly cut enough for them on Sunday then Shelley made them up into a bouquet and wrapped them yesterday when she came. I am still hoping to do Friday flowers this week and have asked Charlie to help, I will walk round with her and tell her what to cut and once stripped they will condition and I will get someone to help wrap them 🤞
Thursday: Yesterday I felt better than I do today and consequently I feel a little depressed 🙄 I keep trying to chivvy myself up but I am worried that when I get to the end of the anti virals it will flare up again. The pain is much much less but still there, the blisters are healing but very slowly and I just keep thinking that I don’t have time for this lol. The weeds are going mad in the garden because of the rain and then the sun, I have seedlings that need pricking out, plants that need planting out, flowers that I should be cutting by the bucket full and selling to do. Instead I feel dormant and I know that resting will help heal quicker but it’s very frustrating. The thing is that if I don’t get the planting done I won’t have anything when I am better 😏 I have had some fairies helping out when they can 😁 the girls have been brilliant cooking meals, coming to do housework and cutting flowers for orders and Friday flowers. Today Shelley will be over to wrap flowers ready for tomorrow as I want to keep up continuity and I asked Mum to come over and pull some of the weeds or do some pricking out whichever she feels able to do. This is a first for me as I usually wouldn’t ask anything of anyone, that is stubborn pride for you which I have been guilty of all my life 😂 If I could just get my hand better then I think I could cope with the rest of it but being unable to do much with it is extremely frustrating ☹️
Friday: I am able to almost make a fist now and have much more grip which means I can at least do some work though I still have blisters on the hand so I need to be careful. Mum came up again this morning to do lots of weeding which is fabulous. Yesterday Shelley made up the flowers and I put those out first thing this morning, I have a couple of deliveries to make later today. I was able to go out and weed some of the smaller raised beds as the soil is quite loose and I also planted into those beds as again the digging was easy even with my left hand. I planted up tomatoes and cucumbers in the small tunnel, they might as well be in there as in the greenhouse. I still have plenty to plant out and plenty of annuals to sow but I am not so panicked now that I know I can do a bit myself.
I finished the course of anti viral today so I will wait to see if it keeps going in the right direction or if there is a set back at all 🙄 Hopefully not as I have some important orders coming up for various occasions and a workshop to teach lol.
Sat & Sun: I am still only functioning at around 60% but I keep trying, the overall pain is much less but the deep aches at night or when sitting down are intense and very very annoying. The whole rash and blisters are slowly drying up though it is slow progress 🙄 Meanwhile I have been able to do a bit of planting and weeding (in a fashion) so at least I feel that I am achieving something and moving things along a bit. I still have direct sowing to do but hopefully they will catch up quickly once established. John has been busy doing everything else really so no wonder he is complaining he is tired. He even managed a semi roast with pre cut veg and pre peeled potatoes plus a cook in the bag chicken, it didn’t look terribly appetising but it was good and it tasted ok lol.
I have some big occasion orders to get done this week so I have been looking at ways to make this easier, late evening I got John to cut a branch I need as I would not be able to apply enough pressure on the secateurs to do that and I will cut the rest of the flowers into a small container that is easy to carry and transfer to the larger buckets that are already filled with water, so it will be a lot of backwards and forwards with loads but I will get there 😁 As John said this time last week I was lying on the sofa in a lot of pain and sleeping so things have definitely improved, just not quick enough for my liking 😂
Have a good week 🥰
frieslandfarm (flowers) 