The rule of thumb is the faster you seek treatment for herpes zoster, the sooner the damaged nerves heal, and the sooner the pain subsides. I didn’t know what the mess on the right side of my face was, but thought it was a drug reaction to an antibiotic my dentist gave me after root canal surgery. This story has no happy moments! Sorry. Root canal. At least it’s something normal people have done, not one of these one in a million or 39 examples in 150 years of records (or whatever it was) deals!

The chain of events is a blur. All I know is I made an appointment to see my doctor, the veteran MD who’d never seen a worse case of herpes zoster in all his years practicing medicine. It was a week or more after onset before I saw my doctor, plenty of time for the…

When the first tooth fell out, I contacted my dentist. By the time I saw him five or six teeth joined their little brother. I placed them in a Zip-Loc bag in case he needed them. I guess I thought he could use them in a prosthesis or something. Pain does odd things to how one thinks and reacts. He took the teeth. (He’s a nice guy, and probably didn’t want to tell me there was no point to this exchange.)

He contacted an orthodontist, who examined my mouth, which now lacked six of the 32 normal tooth count. He researched the odd condition, and noted I was only the 39th known person to experience this condition because of herpes zoster. The records went back to the 19th Century. Yes, once again, I was a case study for a specialist who called in all his interns for a chance to…

I suffered a shingles attack (herpes zoster) in October-November 2007. It left me disabled and scarred, and postherpetic neuralgia still plagues me each and every day.

You know it’s bad when your doctor, a veteran with over 30 years’ experience, states, “This is the worst case of herpes zoster I’ve ever seen.” Yeah, not the second or third worst. Not just your garden variety stuff: The worst. Should I be proud?

The pain is everything you’ve ever heard it is. At one point I called on God or Satan to end my pain. I screamed out a challenge: “I will follow whichever one of you ends this pain!” (Thank God I live by myself!) Neither showed up. Neither sent a representative. I suspect the goat sacrifice wasn’t adequate. Perhaps they were going for a human sacrifice.

After two, three weeks of hospitalization, first to contain the herpes zoster, which affected…

I received my first award today and I feel honored.  (Can I put this on my resume? – lol) Because it is my first award, I’m not sure what to write. I’ve been blogging for three months and prior to that had not done any writing for many years – not counting historical research papers for college.

Smilngbug  http://smilingbug.wordpress.com/ nominated me for the WordPress Family Award. Please visit her blog here:   http://smilingbug.wordpress.com/2013/08/06/a-wordpress-family-thank-you/

Thank you, Smilingbug for nominating me for this award.

As a condition for accepting the nomination, I am presenting 15 awards to deserving bloggers.

This part is difficult.  I follow many more than 15 bloggers and I add new blogs to my reader every day who also deserve the award.  I am posting 15 blogs that I read regularly but want the rest of you to know that I enjoy your blogs as well.   Some of the blogs make…

Octomore is Bruichladdich’s contribution to the ‘peat-war’ going on on Islay right now. It all started back in 2009 when both Ardbeg and Bruichladdich started peating their whiskys to hell and back, and since then there’s been an ongoing rivalery  on which of the distilleries can bottle the peatiest whisky with the highest ppm. Looks like Bruichladdich is winning ppm-wise, but having tasted both I find the Supernova from Ardbeg to be a bit peatier on the nose and palate. But then again, what does it matter!? It’s not about phenol parts per million, but about enjoying what’s in the glass whether it’s peated or unpeated. So let’s get on with the review..

Nose: Fresh and citric, not as peaty as expected. More elegant in a way, but don’t worry, there is plenty of peat indeed. Heather, sweet licourice, salt and smoked cheddar cheese. Some earthyness as well and some…

It’s Arrived! The Philosopher’s Stone EP Release is right now!

Listen & Download here

Philosopher’s Stone EP on iTunes

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Philosopher’s Stone EP on Spotify

For anyone who doesn’t follow the news, the world ended about six months ago.  At least it was scheduled to.  On the winter solstice of the year 2012 there was a large and unintelligible hubbub regarding the end of the Mayan calendar, some interpretations calling for the end of days (or something to that effect).

Of course everyone had a different way of coping with the coming of the implosion of the world as we know it.  Some prayed.  Some went on spending sprees and engaged in orgies.  Others outfitted themselves with Kevlar suits, strapped AR15s to their backs, and wrapped a belt of hand grenades and flash-bangs around their waists, preparing for the inevitable zombie apocalypse.

This, of course, was all in vain.  Not so much because the world didn’t end, but more so because, if I have learned anything from popular culture, you cannot prepare for a zombie…