What next?

Mother now has shingles. She had chicken pox as a child, and now the varicella zoster is back for a return engagement, causing itching and burning on her left side. People with compromised immune systems, such as those with cancer, are especially vulnerable to shingles. With any luck, Mother has gotten diagnosed and treated early enough - before the pustules form - that she won't suffer any undue complications. She does have to be careful during the pox stage that she doesn't expose anyone who has never had either chicken pox or the vaccine. The shingles virus is not directly communicable, and unlike chicken pox, which can infect others through coughs or sneezes, is infectious only through touch. An person infected this way would get chicken pox rather than shingles.

Shingles is the big reason to get children vaccinated against chicken pox. The childhood disease isn't usually that bad, but shingles can be hell.