Kayla

My name is Kayla. I am 28 years old and this is my story on why I am choosing to vaccinate. When I was about 5 years old my brother and I caught chicken pox. Everyone got them, it wasn't a big deal. We itched and whined and had a few new scars but that was it. We went back to school and got on with our lives with lots of other bumps, bruises, and other illnesses to look forward to. Now I would like to fast forward 20 years later to the fourth of July. I started to notice pain in my back, along my ribs. I shrugged it off at first. I was thinking that I had pulled a muscle over the weekend. A while later while getting ready, I noticed that I had a rash. What? A rash? The doctors said I had shingles. Shingles? How did that happen? I was only 24! He asked me what I knew about shingles? My response was only old people get it and it comes from chickenpox. He laughed at first at the old people part and explained that the chickenpox virus basically sits dormant in your body until one day it comes back at shingles. I left that doctor's office that day itching, hurting and unable to wear a bra. I couldn't go back to work until I no longer had any new shingles bumps and was approved by employee health. Now let's fast forward one more time. I'm 28 years old and I have a baby. Most women who have had children can understand the pain of labor. I can honestly say labor was not as painful as shingles! It has been 4 years I still itch in the same spot. I probably always will. If getting the Varicella vaccine will help prevent my child from ever going through what I went through, then it's worth it.