Shingled And Swindled

About 10 years ago, I was infected with chicken pox. If I remember correctly what my late mum had told me before, I already had a bout of chicken pox when I was a child. If that was true, then according to my doctor, I belonged to a very rare group of patients who got afflicted by chicken pox a second time. (Most people would have had acquired immunity to chicken pox after they have had it for the first time.) Either that or I was particularly jinxed.

And boy, was I jinxed! Early this week, I had herpes. No, not genital herpes but herpes zoster or commonly known as shingles.

I understand that after a person recovers from chickenpox, the virus goes "undercover" and manifests itself years or even decades later as shingles. This usually happens during a period when a person's immune resistance is low.

Fortunately with the abundance of medical information on the Internet, I managed to diagnose myself even before my doctor did. I told my Section Head that I might have shingles and was consulting a doctor. Then I found out from a colleague who had shingles recently that I should consult a GP and that the medicine and consultation would cost from anywhere between $100 to $200.

So I was quite pleasantly surprised that my GP only charged me $85 for consultation and a one-week supply of acyclovir (800mg).

Hmm... my colleague could have been both shingled and swindled. Haha.

Perhaps the best thing that came out of this painful and itchy episode is that I got one week's medical leave. :p No wonder, the Chinese call shingles sheng she "生蛇" (growing a snake) and malingering chi she "吃蛇". Haha.

Wee Kiat, on hearing that I was on MC said, "Your shingles and 1 week's MC is scheduled very well - when your MC leave expires, the long Good Friday weekend inspires. Ha! Ha!"

He continued relentlessly with this story of his wife who is a retired teacher:

"This reminds me of the time when my son was born, back in 1967. He was born in mid-November and at that time mothers were entitled to 6 weeks' maternity leave. Well, being mid-November the maternity leave coincided with the school vacation period. So, when the maternity leave expired so did the school vacation leave. My wife went back to teach on Jan 3. Ha! ha!

So, what's the moral of the story?"

My reply to him was: "Never try to conceive in mid-February when your wife is a teacher."

Hmm... looks like my colleague wasn't the only one who got swindled.