Migraine Madness - Part I

This is going to a long, boring post. You don't have to read it if you don't want to. And reader beware, I am also going to fully flaunt my inability to choose correctly between lay and lie, so therefore I choose indiscriminately. I'm too exhausted to go visit Grammar Girl for help and I'm not up to having her make me feel guilty about mixing my verb tenses, too. My apologies to you for both the dullness and the poor writing quality of my migraine story. Blah.

That is quite a lovely couch, is it not? For 10+ days it was my haven. On Wednesday, March 15, I got a little headache on my way to work. I don't really get headaches so I loosened my ponytail and stopped at Sonic for a Coke. The secretary at my job offered me a migraine pill, which I took. I figured that would be the end of it.

Yeah, right.

By 11:30, I was in the car driving home, trying desperately to stay upright long enough to not crash my car. By 11:45, I was down for the count. I had a headache like never before. I was sort of okay if I was laying down, but standing or even sitting up sent me waves of nausea and felt like my head was being squeezed in a vice.

The next day, the headache was still there. I took a sick day and spent Day 2 resting and laying flat on that beautiful couch and was humored by the fact that migraines are real. I previously had a vague idea that they were conjured up by lazy whiny people who don't want to go to work that day. On Day 3, it was no longer humorous that I was unable to function. I made Pat take me to Urgent Care. It is hard to go to Urgent Care when you can't stand up for more than 5 seconds at a time. They are not at all accommodating with the check-in process. There is no laying down for the blood pressure test. Finally, the put me in a little room. They gave me two shots in the butt. Ow. We went home...and waited...and no change.

On Day 4, Saturday, I made Jamie take me to get the prescription from Urgent Care filled. Target was blessedly fast and I was back on the lovely couch quickly, which was a good thing because I still couldn't stomach being upright for any time at all. I missed the CityScape race, which turned out to be not such a bad thing since Christy ended up having to work that day anyway.

Day 5 - now this was really getting ridiculous. In addition to the pain, I was bored, lonely and frustrated with being unable to do anything. I could look at my blackberry in short increments so facebook was my only means of entertainment. That is pretty sad. And I had to miss soccer! UGH! I made Pat take me to the Emergency Room. Just like Urgent Care, they weren't so accommodating with my need to lay flat, but they finally got me into a room. They gave me some drugs that knocked me out before Nurse Karen was even done injecting them into the IV. I think she might have misread my weight and given me a little too much. They did a CT scan and blood work. Scans were all clear. They asked me if I felt better. Um?? I can't even move my little finger and you just informed me that I don't have a brain infection...so, yeah, I'm feeling FINE. :) I slept the rest of the day but woke up that evening with no change in the pain or nauseousness.

Day 6 - I did a little research on my blackberry in bits and stops, as much as I could handle. Migraines typically last from a few hours to a few days. Okay...it's been more than a few days! Time to worry? Someone on facebook suggested a chiropractor so I dragged my ass to one near the house. Waste of time and money.

Day 7 - Guess what? We are getting a new roof on our house! The insurance is paying for it and we needed one anyway, so all good. All good unless you have a migraine and there are people banging and stomping and screaming above your head. I rallied my energy and drove to a friend's house where I spent the day in silence. This day also happened to be Pat's birthday. His parents were taking him out for dinner. To surprise him, I had Christy take me to the restaurant to meet them. He had been so nice and supportive of me this whole time, I felt like a jerk to miss his birthday. I laid my head on the table for the entire meal...well, except for the half hour I had to go lay down in the truck. :) Happy Birthday, Pat!