Random thoughts about the Pox
So I have shingles. It’s a reoccurrence of the chickenpox - that childhood disease you only get once. Essentially the virus sits dormant in nerve cells including your spinal chord and brain waiting perhaps decades until something triggers it back into acton. Since it resides in your nerve cells, it traces the paths of your nervous system onto your skin. Thanks to our bilateral symmetry this means it's usually restricted to just one side of the body in a limited area.
I don't know why, but the fact that this disease resides in the nervous system makes it seem all the more creepy to me. Potential for zombiedom?
On the other hand, I can wax somewhat poetic about a malady with “pox” in its name, same with the grip, or consumption. Of course shingles just makes me think of craftsmen bungalows.
In my current stage I am contagious. I can't give anyone shingles but I can give someone chickenpox if they’ve never had it before. Consequently I’ve been instructed to also stay away from people with compromised immune systems, or pregnant women.
I’ve been prescribed some antiviral medication that should limit the severity and duration of my outbreak. Thankfully I have insurance as the retail price of these drugs come in at $230. If I didn’t have insurance I would probably not get this prescription filled, and increase my chance of infecting others.
In my new job we have “paid time off” instead of vacation or sick time. Since I just started I don’t have very much of it, however I can do a lot of work from home with my laptop and cell phone. If I didn’t have that luxury, I would probably continue to go to work and not tell anyone about my condition for fear of having to take tie off without pay - also increasing my chance of infecting others.
These personal realizations make me wonder what would happen in a real pandemic if people acted on their own economic self interest. I think in that scenario we are doomed.
If all goes well I should be healing and no longer contagious in a week. May is looking like a better month.