Susan has been diagnosed with shingles, a nerve-root infection caused by Herpes Zoster, the virus that also causes chicken pox. The biggest problem is the painful sores she's got right now, but they should clear in a few days. There's some risk of a neuralgia that could occur later - nerve damage under the skin at the infection site that causes chronic pain in about 20% of patients.
It's a blessing we were able to get her treated with anti-viral meds within 72 hours of the rash appearing since it may have moderated her symptoms. Her symptoms were classic - painful, non-itchy rash on just one side of the body, headache and malaise, with no fever. The rash is contagious for the virus; but those infected would get chicken pox unless they had them already. Shingles can occur later since the virus lies dormant and may spring to life when some has a weakened immune system like Susan. We're thankful to finally name and treat her condition, ending our current mystery.
She'll have an MRI/MRA scan today since her medical team is concerned about blood found in her spinal fluid that could indicate an aneurism. This scan will also be an early view of her tumor instead of the MRI she would have had in two weeks, so I'm sure we'll have a chat and tumor update in the next few days.
We'll meet with her medical team in a few minutes to confirm the outlook, next steps, and find out when she can come home.
