Shingles a real pain; increasingly a problem for older Americans
Until recently, I never knew much about the disease of shingles, also known as herpes zoster, a disease caused by the same virus that causes chickenpox. Once a person has had chickenpox, the virus remains inactive in the body in certain nerves. More than 90 percent of adults in the United State have had chickenpox, placing them at greater risk for shingles. If the virus becomes active, usually later in life, it can first appear as tingling, itching, or pain which can progress to a blistering rash. The pain can vary from mild to severe.
One of my heroes, Sally Pierone, wrote me about her rather mild case of shingles: “I took an anti-viral prescription the day I was diagnosed. I beefed up on Vitamin B, applied anti-viral cream and tried everything anyone suggested. It lasted about six weeks and was like a mild sunburn. I was really tired and that was the main thing. I rested and watched TV and felt entitled!”
There are more than one million cases of shingles diagnosed each year, up to half occurring in people age 60 and over. Because 85 percent of the older people interviewed for a national survey said that they knew very little about the disease, the Older Women’s League is sponsoring “Spotlight on Shingles: Know What You Can Do,” in cooperation with the American Pain Foundation and Merck & Co., Inc.
For more information, visit www.spotlightonshingles.com or to get a free brochure, call (877) 747-5474.
In the red
“Equal Pay Day” is April 24. This day is celebrated in April to indicate how far into the year women must work to catch up with what men made in the previous year.
It’s also celebrated on a Tuesday, because Tuesday marks the day of the week in which women’s pay catches up with men’s pay in the previous week.
Organizations are finding ways to call attention to “Pay Day” such as having a bake sale in which men pay $1 for a cookie while women pay 77 cents to make up for the disparity in pay.
Nationally, women are encouraged to wear red on the 24th to symbolize women’s pay being “in the red.” We often hear “It’s not the money; it’s the principle,” but in this case, it is the money.
A new book for us
“Walking on Eggshells – Navigating the Delicate Relationship Between Adult Children and Parents” by Jane Isay is an engaging and practical book, which Isay says she wrote because she “had a hole in her heart.” She loved and missed her children even though they lived nearby, and she learned to trust the notion that our children, no matter how distant they seem, still love us.
The book is a collection of interviews with 75 people ages 20 to 70. She quotes members of happy and unhappy families and learns from all of them. I loved her words on Giving Advice: “They don’t want it. They don’t hear it. They resent it. Don’t give it.”
The chapter headings such as “In-laws, Stepparents, and other Aliens” are a clue to the style and easygoing messages to parents, i.e., “Keep your mouth shut and the door open.”
This is an upbeat book, full of wisdom and encouragement which reminds us that we are not alone.
Book lovers wanted
The Annual Moran Prairie Library Book Sale is June 8 and we are in need of gently used books, CDs, and software for the sale.
Please bring donations to the library, 62nd Avenue and Regal Street, or call (509) 893-8340 for pick-up of large quantities.
All proceeds from the sale are used to provide programs for children and library patrons.
This has become an annual rite of spring and your chance to help.
A closing poem
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds. …
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
–William Shakespeare, 1609