Sweetheart's weekend

The weekend with my sweetheart started on Friday. Made special foods. Fed him. Catered to his needs. But it's not what you think.

Last Monday started with pain centered around his left eye. The doctor suspected trigeminal neuralgia. By Thursday night it was twice as bad - like "trying to push the eyeball out of its socket".  Bumps appeared on his face. Three calls to the after-hours advice nurse and a night of extreme discomfort. He almost woke me at 3am for a trip to the emergency room.

Friday morning at the doctors. The revised diagnosis: shingles - his first attack. The prescription for Vicodin caused a delay at the pharmacy but any waiting was nearly unbearable for him. So I took him home, and returned for his meds.

I set up his med schedule. Administered drugs and eye drops. Ensured he had water. Cooked the few foods he could tolerate: jello and pudding. And even spoon fed him. My sweetheart expressed his appreciation for this nurse-maid many times.

Today he's better though half his face looks like hell – lesions, swollen eyelid, enlarged lymph node on the neck. I am back at work knowing he has healed enough to administer his own meds.

That box of chocolates will wait until his appetite returns.