The next morning I woke up and every joint in my body hurt horribly along with both my hands and both my feet being very swollen. I called the doctor and it was thought that I had some kind of an allergic reaction so I took Benadryl and slept like the doctor suggested. For days the pain went on and nothing helped. In an attempt to find out what was wrong I went to an immediate care clinic and had blood work done. The doctor at the immediate care suggested every diagnosis from Rheumatoid Arthritis to Lupus to a simple virus. I waited days for the results distressed that I may have some lifelong disease I was going to have to deal with.
Finally I got the call that confirmed I was a healthy individual… except my Parvo levels were high. Parvo?! Isn’t that something my dogs were vaccinated for? I did some research and realized there is a disease called fifths disease that is caused by a viral strand called Parvo B19. It was named fifths disease because of its classification as the fifth classical childhood skin rashes. Unfortunately in adults in causes arthritic symptoms that last weeks to months. I got lucky and the symptoms have pretty much gone away, although I do have a flare up occasionally.
On a completely different note I’ve been trying to keep myself busy over the holiday break by baking goodies for the neighbors and making all of my Christmas gifts. I have some new neighbors and decided to go and meet them today and take them some baked goods in hopes of being a better neighbor than I have in the past. They were friendly and we enjoyed a short chat in the snowfall out front as their kids tried to sled down the driveway. While we are on the topic of giving I found a great article on the Psychology Today website about “Gift-love” and the happiness it brings.
Well I’m off to vacuum and put the flannel sheets on my bed… hopefully the cloud cover and snow fall will begin to hold some heat in the Treasure Valley, it’s pretty chilly.
Happy Holidays!
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