Hi Rose, I am not able to fully answer your question, I am sure the advisors here will have better answers than me, but I do know a little about shingles. The problem will not be the virus being in your body. It is there now, and will always be there, it has been there since you had chicken pox presumably as a child, it is the same virus. all of us who have had chicken pox (which must be nearly all of us !) have the herpex zoster virus in our bodies. We get shingles when for some reason, usually because we are a bit run down, the virus decides to reactivate itself. When it does we are infectious.....not for shingles no one catches that, but for chicken pox. The infectious period does not last too long...until all of the virus rash has crusted over. When the spots are still wet you are infectious. As they come sequentially over a period of days the infectious period may last about 2 weeks or so. You have already had it for 3 weeks, and it will be 7 by the time you have had your surgery, so you will be well beyond the infectious period by then I should think. It goes in your favour that you seem to be having a mild outbreak, that is good. Like any viral infection shingles can take a long time to fully recover from and to feel your best. That will be a major deciding factor I would think. The OS will not want to operate on you unless you are feeling 100% well. If you are still feeling "post viral fatigue", he/she may be reluctant, as your immune system may well be be still down, making you more vulnerable to post surgical infection. If your surgeon feels that is a risk, he/she would not want to take it. Would it bother you too much if your OS decided to re schedule for a month or so later? Hope that doesn't happen but best to be prepared.
You are due to have surgery on my birthday! I am also waiting for a date for BPKR in August.
I wish you well, Dinah
United States
