As far as I knew, I was naturally immune to chicken pox. My parents exposed us (accidentally, I think) as kids and neither my brother nor I got it. He ended up getting it at 16. I went on to teach preschool pre-vaccine; at least 3 of my classes came down with it but I had nothing.
At 35 I got shingles. Turns out, I don’t get a rash with varicella. Which led to a bit of difficulty diagnosing it because a) I was sure I’d never had chicken pox, and b) there’s nothing to go on without the rash except “oh my god I’m in pain give me drugs”.
I’m up to 3 bouts with shingles now but my insurance still won’t pay for the vaccine because I’m too young. I’m gonna go see what Costco charges for it and pay out of pocket because it’s SO. SO. TERRIBLE.
