A strange thing happened last Saturday. I visited a friend who lives near the Caboolture River late in the afternoon. Stayed for perhaps 30 minutes. It may have been a little longer. I didn’t check.
When I arrived home I started getting my evening meal. I felt a strange sensation on my back. Not a sting, or pain. Just put my hand to my back and felt a huge blister. I went to the bathroom and despite my attempts to get a look at it, I could not see it. My neck is clearly far too short. I need to be a giraffe!!
I was curious and wondered what to do. Nothing I could think of….. Later I went to bed and slept as usual. In the morning I could feel that the blister had burst. Living on one’s own means that there is no one there to check for me. Later in the morning, after my shower, I took a bandage over to a neighbour across the road. She owed me a favour or two, as I was the first person she called some months ago when she found a snake in her house.
Is it Shingles?
She looked at my now burst blister and though it looked like Shingles. Eeek. I have had Shingles before – and know it is not a good experience!! She put the bandage on, and I returned home, pondering about seeing a doctor. I made some phone calls and found that the Caboolture Super Clinic was open so I headed there.
Eventually, when the doctor inspected my back, he was curious. I had no pain, no itch, but there were now about 13 blisters in the same area. He took a swab – maybe it is Shingles, but with no other signs or symptoms, he was curious too. He gave me some pills to take, and I have to wait for the lab results.
Was it a Red Back Spider?
A friend suggested it was a red back spider bite. Could it be? I checked on Dr Google. Apparently, if such a spider had bitten me, it would have ben very painful. That didn’t happen. Wikipedia has an interesting story here.
The blisters have burst, and my skin is slightly itchy, and I think a little red. (Need a long neck to see it closely). Today, maybe I will find out the result of the swab.