Timing changes everything

The shot penetrated the muscles.
The pain lasted less than a heartbeat.
A foreign liquid released into the body.
A protection for the body against enemies.

With such shots there will be pain.
The skin hot and sensitive to touch.
Excruciating pain, the focus on pain.
Five days have passed, the pain remains.

Something is wrong, pain persist.
Was the shot wrongly administered?
What was done cannot be undone.
The mind cannot think, pain dominates.

Another opinion was seeked.
Anti-inflamatory to counter the shot.
Three days later, pain is constant.
And on the skin a red rash joins in the fun.

The timing of two incidents coincides.
An infection below the shot; about to erupt.
Shingles emerging; a tetanus shot given.
And everything changed in that moment.

Was there contact with a carrier?
Ten days, but who’s counting. Still feel pain.
Stopped taking painkillers; no relief.
How long will pain dominate? A preview of hell?

(I struggled writing this. What bad luck to get bitten by a stray dog…..get a tetanus shot….in pain for so many days not knowing the shingles virus was infecting the area where the tetanus shot was given. The pain constant on the upper left arm, back and front of the left shoulder and back of the neck ….areas where the virus has erupted.)

By C.E. Pereira
(30-10-2016)