10 days since the start of Nanowrimo.

I have missed 2 days of showing up.

Because I got my shingles vaccine and had no idea it would slay me.

“Just a sore arm,” I was told. “Like the flu shot. Arm soreness! That’s all.”

3am following the vaccination I was frantically Googling ‘SHINGLES VACCINE SIDE EFFECTS” on my iphone as I shivered and ached and wondered if it was food poisoning from the Romanescu Shrimp I cooked for dinner.

Luckily, the CDC site calmed me. Side effects from the shingles vaccine are, in fact, common, the very effects I was experiencing, and may last 2-3 days.

“CINZANO!” I sobbed with relief, waking my husband, who rasped, “What’s wrong!”, and, when I told him, stumbled downstairs to get me Tylenol and another bottle of sparkling water as I staggered to the bathroom and dry heaved for a while.

So listen, when it’s your turn for a shingles vaccine? Maybe do it on a Friday. Stock your pantry with your fav soups. Fluff your pillows. Move your bottle of Tylenol from the downstairs PETS CUPBOARD to your bedside table. Drink. Water.

Maybe try saying CINZANO instead of WTF so your radar-ears teen doesn’t immediately think it’s fine for him to F-bomb his way around the house because you are F-bombing from your sickbed.

CINZANO-ON-ICE also works, for me. But just CINZANO, like you might shout SHAZAM, replaces WTF quite easily. For me.

If I ever tried Cinzano? Would have been decades ago in college. I don’t know why CINZANO popped into my head as an automatic F-bomb replacement?

But I’ll take it.

Setting Nanowrimo timer for 60 minutes–as soon as swallow Tylenol.

Yours in Nanowrimo joy and remembering that actually getting shingles is far, horrifically worse than getting the vaccine, than feeling like crap for a day because you pulled up your Big Girl Pants and got vaccinated vs. being hospitalized with a virus that can attack your eyes and drive you insane as it swarms the rest of your body for weeks and/or months,

PB