Why You Need To Go See A Shrink - Part 2: Peace In Your Heart

While we have made progress in our society acknowledging that mental health professionals as not just for "crazies," we still hold a stigma against seeking out this kind of help. There's this fear that this person will somehow "change" someone's personality or that this person will force a person to make changes that they disagree with.

First off,: a therapist doesn't brain-wash his or her clients. They don't tell people what to do or how to live their lives. They listen to a problem, diagnose the issue and prescribe a way to help a person feel happier and healthier. With a psychiatrist there may be drugs invovled and with a counselor there may be group therapy as part of the prescription.

Here's the thing, just like with a medical doctor, you aren't forced to take the prescription.

How do you know whether or not you need to go talk to a professional? It's the same thing with any other medical issue. If a medical problem is getting in the way of the quality of your life and is preventing you from doing what you want to do, then you need to go see a doctor.  If your fear, anger, insecurities, or other emotions are getting in the way of your life, go seek mental help.

It isn't healthy to have your skin constantly itch and it's not healthy to have conflicts take over your thoughts for extended periods of time. 

It is not the responsibility of people who love you to be your psychologist. Yes, these people can listen to your problems and provide advice and encouragement. However, it is not fair to burden them with issues beyond their ability to aid. While you may think that your loved ones can give you better advice because they know you, sometimes it's their closeness to you that keeps them from providing perspective and objective advice.

If you are thinking about going to find someone to talk to and you are are hesitating don't forget a couple things:

• You are not alone, You know someone who has talked to a professional to deal with an issue in his or her life. You may not realize it, but you do. 
•  Ask as many questions about confidentiality, qualifications, procedures and whatever else you want in order to make you feel comfortable.
• If you don't like the first person that you talk with, don't give up.  Try a different professional and keep trying until you find someone that you get along with. 

We are in the midst of a nation wide conversation about health care and mental health. As we examine the systems in our society and how we take care of our own, we need to reflect on how we take care of ourselves.

We have to move past our own machismo our own ego and seek help when we need it. If we don't, we are sentencing ourselves to a life that is less full-filling and we are hurting the people around us. If you care about the people that you love, then you owe it to them to take care of yourself.

At the point in your life when feel you need you it, go talk to a professional. You deserve peace in your mind and peace in your heart.

Why You Need To Go See A Shrink - Part 1: My Moment

Everyone has moments their lives when they need to go see a doctor. Even with the healthiest of lifestyles, there are broken bones, high fevers, appendicitis and other issues that arise.

Everyone also has conflicts, insecurities, fears and mental issues in their lives that require the help the help of a psychologist, psychiatrist, counselor or therapist. And even with the best of friends and spouses, we all hit moments in our lives when we need professional help.

That moment for me was in a dining hall.

The first time I went in to see a psychologist was my freshmen year of college. Growing up in the Seattle area, being Asian was a non-issue. There were no Asian clubs in my school that I was aware of and I was rarely reminded of the fact that I was Asian. That all changed when I went to college.

There were a variety of Asian clubs that invited me to join. I was the first Asian friend for some people I met. This made me feel uncomfortable but what hit me was hardest was one night in the dining hall. I walked in and as my card was swiped I saw two long tables filled exclusively with people who were Asian. This made me feel so uneasy that I left the dining hall I immediately without eating dinner.

This felt like the most ridiculous thing to react to and this idea that I had "issues" with being Asian sounded ridiculous. How could I talk to anyone about this? Northwestern University made a big deal about the fact that they provided free counseling and psychological services so I figured, why not take advantage of this and get my money's worth out of this college.

The first session was awkward. I didn’t feel right telling a stranger about my feelings. But there were two things that made this experience worthwhile. First was the fact that when I told the psychologist my problem she didn't laugh at me and validated my feelings. And second, at the end of the session, while my issues with being Asia were still present, I didn't feel as bad about my problem.

For the remainder of my freshmen year for about six months I went in for weekly sessions. Sometimes I had a lot to say and sometimes I had nothing to say. I read some books and wrote some reflections as part of my therapy and gradually, eventually being reminded of being Asian stopped bothering me.

A couple years later when I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease (which I discussed in this earlier post). I went to therapy again to learn how to control my stress which was having a direct effect on my disease. This therapy not only helped me with the Crohn’s but changed the way I handled problems and conflict in my life.

None of this therapy changed who I was. What it did was help me realize the kind of person I wanted to be and gave me the tools to become that person. 

Because I Have Crohn's Disease - Part 2 of 2

(click here for part I)

My mom is kind of like Forrest Gump’s mom except she’s not as nice.

Don’t get me wrong, my mom is one of the nicest people on the planet but when it comes to advice she’s tough and doesn’t let people be victims.

When I talked to her after I was diagnosed with Crohn’s, I remember her being silent for a second and then instead of expressing sympathy she told me about her life.  My mom revealed to me that she has had to deal with allergies since she was a child, mostly in the form of hives. Only in recent years with new medicine and the availability of foods without preservative has she been able to get this under control.

My mom told me to deal with Crohn’s. She was strong enough to live life with hives, therefore I could live life with Crohn’s. It’s part of my life and I had to make it work. I couldn’t let this thing petrify me.

The problem was that it did.

After being diagnosed with Crohn’s things didn’t immediately get better.  Instead of being a relief, knowing that I had Crohn’s, the diagnosis meant that I couldn’t forget about it.

This all occured when I was doing job interviews. I remember packing toilet paper and an extra pair of pants whenever I went to an interview for fear of my stomach turning on me.  While I’m glad to say, I’ve never had an “accident,” I’ve had a lot of close calls especially during that period of time.

The fear of having an “accident,” is something that we all have felt at some point in our lives. It’s a horrible feeling.  There really is no reason to be embarrassed about this, but when it happens you feel alone and powerless. Like a soldier in battle, you start making deals with God if you can just make it to a bathroom in time.

Crohn’s was going to change my life, so I figured I could either let it scare me or I could take control and make those changes positive. I started going to a psychologist for biofeedback training and consoling. I started exercising. Most importantly I took a careful look at what I was eating and I made sure to never miss a of medicine.

Somehow the combination of all of those things worked.

At one point in my life I feared not being within eyesight of a bathroom. That same guy in the past six years has gone on a 20-hour long bus ride with a group of teenage band students, traveled through Europe, hiked through remote areas of this world, and survived, no more than that, triumphed in some of the most stressful situations in my life.

I’ve done all of these things and more with Crohn’s.

Crohn’s is still a challenge. I do have occasional flare ups and there are times when I need to cancel on social events at the last moment because of my Crohn’s. Most of the time I don’t tell people, because I am still irrationally embarrassed by it and I don’t want people to pity me.

If you have a medical problem that hinders your dreams and the life you want to live, face it, deal with it and make it better.  It's not going to get improve by ignoring it.  Chronic digestive issues lead to major, sometimes life-threatening problems later in life so please get yourself checked out.

Because I have Crohn’s Disease, I need a pill box to keep my medications in order.  Because I have Crohn’s Disease, I’ve now had two colonoscopies an experience that only people my parents’ age can relate to.  And because I have Crohn’s Disease, I’ve learned that if you take the bad things life, the parts that aren't fair and you embrace them as part of who you are, there's strength that is revealed that can take you to places that you never imagined. 

Because I Have Crohn's Disease - Part 1 of 2

“Dude, is that a pill box? What are you . . . like 80 years old? Why do you need to take so many pills?”

“Because I have Crohn’s Disease.”

We all have quirks with our bodies. Some people have bad knees or get migraines; my thing is that I have Crohn’s. When I was born my stomach wasn’t full developed. Feeding me wasn’t an easy task for my mom and I didn’t have much of an appetite during my childhood.

As I entered my teenage years and got through my growth spurts, I started eating more like a regular teenager but my bowel movements (BMs) were often irregular. I did have a stool sample checked out when I was in high school but nothing came of it. I learned through trial and error that I couldn’t eat like other teenagers and that it seemed like a lot of different foods set my stomach off in a bad way.

In college my digestive system actually did pretty good. The schedule of college of classes with lots of break in-between meant there wasn’t a level of stress around going to the bathroom, which I later found out was a major factor in my Crohn’s.

I ate like other college students and did some partying. Even though I had some instances when my stomach wasn’t happy, for the most part, I didn’t think about my digestive system. Then in my second year of grad school I started student teaching and things got bad.

Working eight-hour days in a high stress environment resulted in stomach cramps, diarrhea, constipation and other levels of digestive discomfort. It got worse in the Fall but I seemed to manage it but then when that Spring hit, I couldn’t take it any more.

Jamie Lee Curtis is right on those Activia commercials. Irregularities in your BM’s are not normal. If you have diarrhea for more than a week straight, you need to see a doctor. After suffering through months of discomfort, I finally went to see a gastroenterologist. This resulted in a colonoscopy (they basically sent a camera my butt) and a biopsy (taking a sample of tissue in my lower intestine).

After the procedure and some tests were done I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease. In short, Crohn’s is a inflammatory autoimmune disease. This is a chronic condition in which certain factors, environmental, genetic and others effect the digestive system in an abnormal way. Diarrhea is a normal and necessary function when a person gets food poisoning. The difference is that a person with Crohn’s may get diarrhea for being stressed out or for no explainable reason.

I did not take the news well when I was told I had Crohn’s. I was really angry. First off, I was put on a lot of medicine to calm my digestive tract down and at the same time begin taking maintenance pills to keep my system calmed down.

At that time, I was taking ten pills a day.

This was ridiculous. This wasn’t fair. What did I do to deserve this? Why did I have to have a colonoscopy at a twenty-four year old and then find out that he has a chronic disease that will never leave him?

I had already spent way too much time worrying about whether I’d make it to bathroom in time, wondering what would happen if I ate something and thinking about my digestive system as opposed to my life.

What did having Crohn’s mean for my future?

Brown Corduroy Pants

One of the memories that came up during today was one time when I was walking down the street with my father.  I was at the age when I was old enough to walk but young enough to need to reach up to grab my father’s hand.

My dad was wearing brown corduroy pants.  As I was walking down the street I made sure to keep my eyes on his pants so I wouldn’t loose track of my dad.  It was a busy sidewalk and the different people and the changing scenery caught my attention.  Every couple steps I’d remember that I needed to stay with my dad so I’d look around find those pants and relax knowing that I was safe.

Then something caught my eye or maybe I had a question for my dad so I reached up and grabbed my father’s hand to get his attention.  Then a voice unfamiliar to me spoke and I looked up and saw that I had grabbed the hand of a stranger.

Where was my dad?  Was I lost?  Before I could panic, my dad only a couple steps ahead saw what happened, apologized to the other man and took my hand.

As we continued walking I was embarrassed but more than that I was confused how I could make a mistake like that.  I was so sure.  I just had to follow those brown pants and I would be fine, but that wasn’t enough.   

I had figured out that all I needed to do was watch what was at my eye level to be safe and to stay with my dad.  But in that moment I realized it wasn’t enough.  I had to look up.  So I learned to look at people’s faces to know who they were and where to go in my life.  As I got through high school, I realized that this wasn’t enough and that I had to look deeper than the surface of people’s appearances to find security and strength in the people in my life.

Reaching up and grabbing the hand of that stranger still haunts me.  That feeling of shock and disorientation has never left me.  I am afraid that that maybe the “brown corduroys,” the goals and the beliefs that I’m using to guide my choices belong to a complete stranger and are an illusion.

I guess the only way to find out is to reach up and grab that hand. 

If the hand you hold is what you think it is then your path is confirmed but if it isn’t well, dad was a only a couple steps away and so just as long as you keep walking and look up, you’ll be okay. 

Week 30: What Diversity Means In Education

The first time I became aware of “diversity” as an issue in education was during the my Freshmen Convocation at Northwestern University. This was a welcoming ceremony at the beginning of the year in which then president Henry Bienen welcomed my class to the University.

One of the first things Bienen said in his speech was “your class is the most diverse class in Northwestern history.” He then went on to list the demographic of the freshmen student body including hometowns, religious denominations and race.

This statement of diversity seemed odd to me at the time. It didn’t seem so much like an expression of pride but a defensive reaction trying to prove to people something that had previously been doubted. What really made this statement seem ridiculous is that I found out after attending the Freshmen Convocation the following years as a member of the Northwestern University Marching Band who performed at this event, was that Bienen made the same diversity statement to every freshmen class for the next three years.

I grew up in Seattle. At my high school school diversity was so much a way of life that it became a non-issue.  There weren’t racial focused clubs at my school. Yes, we did have cultural fairs but they were as much focused on the Caucasians as the minorities. This idea of diversity never came up.

Things are different now and in my past 6 years as a teacher diversity has become one of the most talked issues in education. It’s something that everyone seems to want to discuss and improve on but at the same many people don't know what to actually do with this topic. . . including myself

My school like most is working on diversity. We not only discuss diversity in our mission statement but we also have a separate diversity statement. It’s been a challenge to really think about the way I teach in a way that truly embraces diversity to better educate my students. I already teach different kinds of music from different cultural backgrounds and I work hard to present material in different learning styles. What else am I suppose to do?

This week I figured out part of an answer. At the beginning of one of my fifth grade music classes, one of the students asked me where I was from. Instead of giving the quick answer of “I’m was born in Seattle, and my parents were born in Taiwan.” I pulled up a world map on my computer, projected it on the screen and told my students about my cultural background.

I explained to them that I identify myself as American even though many people look at me and categorize me as Asian.  I told them how other Asian-Americans more closely associate with the culture of their ancestors and would say that they are from Taiwan even if they were born in America.

I told them about the freedom we have as American to identify with different cultures even if we do not ancestral connections to them. I expressed to them that people's cultural identity changes throughout people’s lives and being “not sure” when something asks you where you are from is valid and brave answer.

My students brought up issues of their background and how they aren’t sure what to say when people ask them about their own heritage. I encouraged them to be honest, state some facts about their ancestors but not to let that limit them in the way they perceives and construct their own cultural identity.

We spent more half the class on this discussion and it had not direct connection to the music lesson I had planned to teach but it was worth the time.

When people look at my father-in-law, Andy, who is a second-generation immigrant like myself, they don't wonder about his heritage as an immigrant because he’s Caucasian. Yet people automatically identify me being from another culture even though I'm just as American as Andy.

While this may seem unfair, it’s the way it is and students are conscious that I’m not Caucasian and when they ask me about my heritage it’s not out of or disrespect but out of a longing to understanding themselves.  They see me as a person who can help explain to them how to understand and handle their own cultural identities. That’s not something I asked for and it’s not a burden.  It’s an opportunity to open up conversations with people and talk about the differences and the diversity that makes our world beautiful.

I still don’t really know what this diversity stuff is really all about but part of me feels like I’ve found one way I can play a part in helping my students understand what I'm still trying to figure out.

This may not be the answer to what diversity means in education, but it's a start.

The Purple Reaction-Year Three

The Purple reaction has been one of the greatest adventures I’ve embarked on.

When I first considered starting a blog in November 2008, it seems like a blogging was the most self-indulgent activity on the internet. Who I am to presume that my thoughts are SO important that people would actually care to read them?

I went ahead anyways, decided not to dwell on other’s perceptions of my blog as an ego exercise and jumped in. I wanted to create a look at music combining the academic analysis that is usually reserved to classical music to popular music. Most of all I wanted to create a source of positivity on the internet, a celebration of the art in our lives and the world we live in.

This blog has always been personal from describing being dumped in my first post (“Since U Been Gone”), to my mother (“The Best Day”) and of course my wife (“The Luckiest”). I did this for myself as a way to document my thoughts and feelings but also in an attempt to help all of you relate music to your own lives.

It hasn’t been all about music though. I couldn’t resist writing about my encouter with deep friend bacon as my first non-music blog post. There’s been other subjects like TV Shows (Jon & Kate Plus 8  and Teen Mom), politics (What It Means To Talk About Politics) and of course Buffy my dog. (which are regularly my most read posts).

I haven’t gotten to my original plan of turning this blog into a newspaper column and while this is something I’m interested in the future, I’ve love the freedom and the format of writing a blog. Some of it is simply my love of writing, but it’s also the connections I get to make with readers. Whether it’s in person, e-mails or comments.  I feel blessed to have readers and it blows my mind to think that there are people who actual enjoy what I’m doing.

That all being said, there are some changes coming to this blog. This Fall I’m starting a new job at a fantastic school and this blog will not be able to take up as large part of my life and it has for the past two years. Instead of three posts a week I will scale down to two posts on Monday and Friday. Instead of a full post on Wednesday I will post a clip of something for you to enjoy, a music video, interesting speech or a movie trailer.

I hope you will continue to join me as I continue to explore the wonder and beauty of this beautiful world we share. Thank you for reading my blog whether it’s every post or once a month.

It means the world to me to share what I love with all of you.

Eulogy For My Grandfather

Last Saturday May 1st I attended my Grandfather's Funeral. Dr. Wan T. Tang was born in March 13, 1916 and April 22 at the age of 94 years old. He was a World War II veteran who worked with the Americans as a doctor and a translator. After the war he was a business man working in import and export companies and real estate. He is survived by five children, and eleven grandchildren. The following is the eulogy I gave at his service.

Welcome everyone. Thank you everyone for being here to honor our grandfather. We all traveled to be here, some near, some far but we’ve all taken time out of our lives to share this time together, and I know we are all grateful to each for the effort we have all made to be here. As sad I am on this day I can’t help but smile looking out at all of you and feeling the warmth that only comes from being together as a family.

I'd also like to thank everyone who has come up here and shared their thoughts about grandpa. Speaking at an occasion like this is a difficult thing to do . . . as I am fast discovering.

We take this time as a service of shared reflection. A time for us to think back on the man who shaped each of our lives. Through reflecting on this man, we see our own past, our present, our future.

My favorite memory of grandpa was the moment when Diana first met him. It was during a wedding reception we held in Seattle for our friends who were not at the Chicago wedding.

I have never seen anyone so overjoyed to meet Diana. In the same way that the quickest way into a mother’s heart is treat her children well, grandpa’s enthusiasm was a gestures of respect and love was not only to Diana but to me, embracing someone he had never met before simply because she was important to me.

Grandpa said “hello” and “nice to meet you” with a huge smile and muttered something in Mandarin. He gestured towards my mom to tell Diana what he said and my mom translated “you are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”

I can’t really say, I don’t really know all of what his life means to me. I’m hopping that this weekend will help me figure some of that out. What I do is that I feel grateful for all that he gave, sad for the loss and apprehensive because I know from now on when the morning sun shines on me, it will be a slightly different color because he is no longer with us.

For the past week, I’ve asked myself: where do we go from here? How do we honor our grandfather? The best that I can figure out is that it’s in the choices we make every day demonstrating the values of loyalty, family and love that defined who he was and defines who we are. In this way, he will live forever in our memories, our souls and in our hearts.

Grandpa, I will always be proud to have known you.

The Job Interview

I thought the interview went well. We talked enthusiastically about my background, my intentions and who I was a teacher. I learned a lot about not only the positions but also the school. As I left the interview feeling proud of how I represented myself I hoped that I would be chosen for the second round of interviews.

It was exactly hope that made difficult when I found out later in the evening that “they are moving forward with other candidates.”

Hope is a tricky thing. If you don’t hope for something better you will attain anything in your life that is meaningful. However, if you hang on to hope, it sets you up for disappointment. Sometimes what you feel with hope unfulfilled is more than disappointing, sometimes it’s painful.

What do we do? Give up and be satisfied with out lives the way they are, never take a chance and never dream beyond our circumstance? Part of me admires people who can. That’s just not me.

Can you imagine working a job that doesn’t really challenge you, being in a marriage with a wife that doesn’t motivate you to be a better you, and living a life with friends who accept mediocrity in how you treat them? I can't.

Can you imagine not feeling that drive, that spark inside you that gives you the courage to face another day? You can’t.

It is exactly that spark that is my spirit. What feeds my spirit is looking for the sun beyond the clouds and even though sometimes the darkness in the sky seems impenetrable, We can’t stop searching.

Life is meaningless if you let that spirit die inside of you.

There are many different reasons that I can explain why I didn’t get to the second interview. Maybe I didn’t have the right experience, maybe the other candidates were simply a better fit or maybe my personality didn’t match the atmosphere of the school. I’ll never really know so I guess it’s best not to dwell on it.

As Joseph Campbell said, "The adventure you're ready for is the one you'll get." This job simply wasn't the right one for me. I feel lucky to have had the opportunity to had this interview and it was a great experience regardless of the results.

So on to the my next adventure. I’m not sure what it’s going to look like, but I hope, no I know it will be a great one.

Hallelujah by Justin Timberlake/Leonard Cohen/Jeff Buckley/Rufus Wainwright

On January 22nd, the entertainment world came together to raise money for Haiti. Movie stars made pleas for donations and answered phones while pop musicians supplied the music.

Some artists like Madonna performed songs from their past.



Other artists like Jay-Z and Bono composed music specifically for this event.



Some artists like Justin Timberlake covered songs by other artists and it was Timberlake’s performance of “Hallelujah” which is the top selling single from the Hope For Haiti Now album on itunes and is currently the top selling single as well.



“Hallelujah” originally composed and performed Leonard Cohen in 1984 is unique song in popular music. It’s never been a number one hit but it’s a widely covered and loved song that has inspired generations of musicians and songwriters. Known for spending inordinate amount of time writing his songs, Cohen is an artists’ artist, a true craftsmen of music who has written some of the most memorable music of our time. If your life hasn’t been influenced by his music, I guarantee you that an artist that you love has been.



I can’t begin to explicate the lyrics of this song. The allusions in this song are as thick and interwoven as a T.S. Elliot poem. Images personal, historical, religious are spoken through words that are angry, regretful, bitter, depressed and joyful all at the same time.

The fact that I can’t really effectively articulate what this song is about in words is credit to the power of this song. Music can express different levels of emotion all at the same time. This song is a beautiful tragedy, it's a mournful celebrations, and “it’s a cold and broken hallelujah.”

“Hallelujah” has become a tradition, a test, a way for artist to really show if they have “it.” Because of the ambiguity in the lyrics and the colors of emotions that Cohen painted, artists can bring forward different shades through their interpretations. This is something that few artist have effectively done and Jeff Buckley’s interpretations is one of the most successful.



Stripped down and bare, Buckley’s recording features his light tenor that contrasts Cohen’s powerful baritone. Where Cohen sounds like an old man looking back on life, Buckley’s version is a young man making a revelation about the nature of the rest of his life.

Probably the most famous cover of this song is by Rufus Wainwright who’s cover was featured on the soundtrack of Shrek.



Wainwright’s faster and almost detached interpretation adds a sense of wonder to the darkness of this song. when Wainwright sings it almost seems like he’s being uncaring but it’s not so much that as viewing from a distance what it means to be human.

Knowing all of the performances that came before and the responsibility to treat “Hallelujah” with reverence, Justin Timberlake took an enormous chance. If he failed, if his interpretation faltered, and was disingenuous at all it would have come across flat and uninspiring. Instead, Timberlake proved that they were true artists performing “Hallelujah” with great care and artistry.

Is “Hallelujah” the most appropriate song to reflect on all the lives that have been lost and the unthinkable living situations of the survivors? Yes.

When we listen to great music, we associate emotions in the art to experiences in our lives. We relive these moments and reflect on what they mean in our lives. “Hallelujah” somehow encapsulates what it means to struggle, to need, and to celebrate to be alive. It forces us to consider what we value, what we need and what we believe in.

Hallelujah.

Shingles

I have shingles.

No, not the stuff you put on your roof, rather the adult form of chicken pox.

God has a weird sense of humor. I got through a whole year of working in an elementary school full of children who see daily hand washing as optional. In addition, my school had at least one confirmed case of the H1N1 flu, otherwise known as “swine flu” but hilariously known as “Hamthrax.”

Here’s the deal with shingles:



When you have the chicken pox or any other virus, the virus doesn’t completely leave the body. For one reason or another (probably for me the stress of the last couple days of school) the chicken pox virus comes raging back in the form of shingles otherwise known (well only to doctors) as the “varicella zoster virus.”

So, I technically didn’t “get” shingles from anyone. Everyone who has had the chicken pox or the chicken pox vaccine has the virus inside of them laying dormant. In my body, the virus got bored and decided to have a party. I can’t give anyone else shingles unless they haven’t had chicken pox. So if you are an adult who hasn’t had chicken pox steer clear away from me (not that you need another excuse to avoid me) and go get yourself a chicken pox vaccine.

According to shingles.com over 90% of American over the age of 15 have had the chicken pox. The chances of someone who has had chicken pox getting shingles is 1% for people age 80 to 90 years old, .5% for people age 50 to 60 years and .25% for people ages 20 to 50 years old.

WOAH. .25%?!? Are you kidding? 1 out of 400 people, and I was the lucky winner!?!?

This wouldn’t frustrate me so much except for the fact that I NEVER beat the odds when it comes to playing games, gambling or in general living life (I’m kidding. I’ve actually been incredible lucky throughout my life, that’s just the shingles talking).

Those are pretty slim chances. What’s even weirder is that my brother had shingles a couple years ago and one of his best friends is working through shingles right now. The chances of me not only having shingles but also knowing two other people who have had shingles at my age is . . . um. . . . I think I just multiple the chance of getting shingles by the chances of me knowing someone who has shingles twice. . . ok so that’s 1/64,000,000. Either I can’t do math at all (which is a possibility) or those chances are pretty slim.

So there is good news. I did catch the shingles early, so my outbreak is mild. We live in the day and age where we actually have effective anti-viral medications so my doctor put me on Valtrex. Ok. . . time for the Valtrex jokes. . . If you don’t’ know what I’m talking about watch this commercial. . .



From the prescription information: This medicine [Valtrex] is an antiviral used for treating shingles, cold sores, and treating, suppressing or reducing the transmission of genital herpes in patients with normal immune systems. It is also used to treat chickenpox in children and teenagers. It is also used to suppress genital herpes in patients with HIV infection.

Note how shingles is the first use for Valtrex and genital herpes is the last one listed. Don’t you love how herpes is more marketable in our society then shingles?

Not that I feel the need to defend my um. . . “cleanliness,” but NO Kathleen, when I found out I had shingles I didn’t just up my prescription of Valtrex. Seriously Kathleen, YOU’RE A DOCTOR, let’s be a little bit more sensitive here. Well, your comment was not nearly as bad as the reaction I got from Elizabeth, who is a med students . Immediately after I told her she retreated about six feet away from me like she just realized I had leprosy.

I guess that’s why Elizabeth is still in medical school.

I’m not really in that much pain, I just really crotchety. My left chest and back feel sore and there’s pain that comes in waves, enough to make my twinge but not enough to debilitate me. I can sleep just fine especially after taking a couple Advil’s. I’m kind of tired, which makes sense as my body tries to fight this thing off but not so bad that I can’t do stuff, I’m just moving at a slower speed.

To my knowledge songs about shingles. If there is, I don’t want really want to hear them. So let’s just chill out, relax, and enjoy, a little “You Sexy Thing” by Hot Chocolate.



Nothing says “You Sexy Thing” like a suit with black and white vertical stripes.

Hope y’all are having a great shingle-free start to your summers.