The Long March

 No, Beans, not THAT Long March.  That tale, which is pretty interesting, is better handled by Sarge's writing skills. Hint, Hint!

So far this Month has passed quite slowly.  Not that there hasn't been a lot happening.  I mean last February I thought "Shingles" was something that you put on a roof.  

I'm MUCH smarter than that now.  I'm now very aware that Shingles has the ability to launch a grown person THROUGH the roof.  No, Beans, so far at least, I haven't contracted them and I did get the vaccine, so "Please Lord".  However, there are several Mrs. J shaped holes in the ceiling.

Initial treatment, as suggested by the PA, was Calamine lotion.  This worked...sort of.  It's main shortcoming was that I had to apply it by hand.  Yes, I used disposable gloves.  However, the dabbing of the lotion triggered a VERY sharp nerve reaction in my beloved wife.  

As I think back to my days in the Military, I think her comments would make a Marine blush!

Then I remembered a comment from HTom in last Monday's post about Icy-Hot with lidocaine.  I was pretty sure my name would be on next week's Obituary page if I tried anything named Icy-Hot on her. It would read, "juvat died last week under questionable circumstances. The jury, all of whom seemed to have been Shingles survivors, ruled Mrs. J not guilty after hearing her horror story of medicinal application. "

So...Went back to HEB (Texas' version of Piggly Wiggly, Beans. Only Better.) Talked to the Pharmacist, who's a good friend of mine, about Lidocaine options.

She took me by the hand and marched me out to the Pain Reliever Aisle and pointed to a section of Lidocaine Aerosol sprays.  I purchased 2.  Yes, I know that's borderline hoarding, but if HEB ran out when Mrs. J ran out...Well, did I mention the obituary page?

Brought it home, gave her a spray.  Low and behold, the Angels started singing.  However, that only took care of part of the issue.  The nerve synapse firing was still keeping her from sleeping at night.  And, if Mrs. J don't sleep, ain't nobody sleeping.

One of the advantages of post-military retirement is you get to choose your Doctor and he/you don't PCS away from each other. And the military pays. As a result, you get to know your Doctor and he knows you.  

So, we've found a GP that we really like, been with him for 15 years or so.  Doesn't pull any punches (Yes, Doc, I know...Lose weight), but knows his stuff.  Mrs. J had an appointment with him this week as a follow up for other "Not Shingles" related issues.  She'd called ahead  as the appointment approached and explained the Shingles situation and asked if she needed to reschedule. "Not necessary, we'll take precautions."  

The other condition part of the appointment is completed, Progress is good.  The Doc then asks about the shingles.  Mrs. J tells him about the nerve pains still being a factor.  He offers to prescribe a potential solution, called Gabapentin.  That drug is usually used to treat epileptic seizures, but can help calm nerve pain from Shingles.

Surprising no one whatsoever, Mrs. J agrees.

Works like a champ!  She takes the med before bed and sleeps through the night.  As do the rest of us. It seems like it has been quite a while since that's been happening. Between the sleeping through the night and the rash starting to fade away, we're hoping praying that this episode will soon be over.

On a different note, the Long March to having a working woodshop is one step closer to completion.

We have Electricity.  Apparently one more thing the Biggest Idiot Democrats Ever Nominated screwed up was the electrical part supply chain.  My electrician had ordered Circuit Breakers for the shop back in January, but they were on Back Order.  They finally arrived this week.  He asked if he could schedule a time to install.  I told him "Anytime between right this second and when you finish installing them."  The next day, I have electricity.  Next step is Insulation.  Then Heating/Cooling.  Then Moving. After which the Fun begins again.

As a distraction from "other" March events, I did complete a couple of projects in my old shop, a couple of name plates for our two guest houses.  Small and easy, but they turned out pretty nice and our guest's have commented on them.  So...  I've got that going for me.

Finally, Mrs. J got me a Roomba for Christmas. Its name is Clive (seriously, you get to name your vacuum in the setup program. It texts you when it starts a job and when complete). Vacuuming is within my cleaning skillset (the other skill in that set is loading and unloading the dishwasher.  Folding laundry? definitely not in the skillset at least if the word "correctly" is included), but Mrs. J thought the Roomba might assist me with the job.  

We got the thing set up and have been using it a bit.  Works pretty well.  However, we have two Korat cats.  Beautiful Silver Gray cats, very affectionate and mellow.  Their one drawback is they shed.

Puny Hooman, why did you wake us up from our nap?

Yes, they shed...Lots.

Clive requires FREQUENT de-furring

I'll leave you with this. You know, sometimes you get encouragement in strange ways. Somebody left this on our guest house firepit.  I thought that was a very nice way to send a message of encouragement to folks you don't know.

Encouragement? You can't out do The Big Guy!

Peace out y'all.  One way or the other, we'll get through this!