Adventures in Migraines

I can't say that I am a fan of migraines, but the last one I had actually resulted in something good.

I've been getting them with more and more frequency, probably 3 times a month over the past couple of months, which has been pretty unpleasant to say the least.  I went to the doctor, and she has scheduled me for a CAT scan to make sure I don't have a tumor or something, but otherwise I just have to collect information and try to figure out any kind of pattern to them.

On Wednesday night, I had a really, really painful one.  It is my job to put Vinny to bed every night.  Lately he has been too scared to fall asleep on his own, because developmentally he has gotten to the stage where he knows something about death and is afraid of being alone.  So I have sat there and played on Melvin (the tiniest, babiest computer) until he falls asleep -- thus the recent spate of prolific postings on this blog.  But on Wednesday, my head just hurt way too much to be able to do that.  And of course, that evening he was particularly hyper and not ready to fall asleep at bedtime.  I was getting angry and because I was so frustrated and in so much pain.  So I went downstairs to Jeff and asked him to help me.  Jeff went upstairs and lay down the law, telling Vinny that Mama was going to bed because her head hurt really badly, and that Vinny could goof off and play if he wanted to, he just had to stay in his room.  There was some crying, but Vinny did it.

The next morning, Vinny pointed out to me that he had been promised a prize for falling asleep all by himself and staying in his bed all night.  (This prize had been dangled in front of him after he returned from that week at Grandpa and Grandma's, where he had fallen asleep by himself with no problems, in an attempt to convince him to do the same thing here, but to no avail at the time.)  Upon confirming what had happened that night with Jeff, I agreed and awarded him the prize: sunglasses with blinking blue lights on the sides (one of the best pieces of swag we picked up at the conference).  Then I told him if he did it again that evening, he would get another fantastic prize.  The next morning, he was rewarded with another piece of light-up swag.  And yesterday I told him if he did it for the next two nights he would get yet another prize.  Last night was a success, and I anticipate tonight will be too.

I think he'll be falling asleep on his own for the foreseeable future, which is a great thing!  So for perhaps the first time ever, something good came out of a migraine!

Travel and Home Again

We took Vinny to his Grandparents' house on the Wednesday before we left for the conference, because we wanted to take a CPR/First Aid class on Thursday.  We did, and are now both certified in CPR and First Aid, at least for the next year.

We left on Saturday, driving to New Orleans.  We spent one night in a beautiful new hotel for a bargain price (the gubmint rate, since I was on business travel!) before arriving mid-afternoon.

Jeff had a great time in New Orleans -- he explored the French Quarter and went on a cemetery tour.  I spent the majority of my waking hours in the convention center, although I did get a chance for an evening beignet excursion to Cafe du Monde, and to go out to dinner one night with my boss and his wife (and Jeff too), and another night with Jeff alone.  I tried a lot of new foods, including rabbit, which tastes like a cross between chicken and pork.

Finally the conference was over, and before leaving New Orleans, we went on a swamp tour.  We saw lots of alligators and other creatures, and we got to hold a baby alligator.  Then we started driving.

We stayed in that same hotel at the same gubmint rate -- unfortunately I suffered a migraine when we got out of the car for dinner, so Jeff made the executive decision to stop.  We arrived home on Saturday evening -- only to get up early the next morning to go pick up Vinny.

We spent the afternoon with Jeff's sister and brother-in-law, allowing Vinny to play with his cousins.  It was a lot of fun, especially for Vinny, but we had to leave earlier than we would have liked, to make it home at a decent hour.  I was terrified that the migraine would make a reappearance, but luckily I remained migraine-free.  This morning marked the return to our regular schedule -- Vinny to school and me to work.

My Poor Sad Head

Last Sunday, we decided to go on a hike with my dad and bonus mom.  It was all great until about five minutes in, when I realized that I was beginning to see the signs of a migraine.  Sure enough, my vision went bad and when it returned, the pain began.  We were still hiking at that point, because I didn't want a little headache to ruin everyone's fun (including my own).  The trail was beautiful and the weather was perfect; the company was great too.  I went home afterwards and slept a bit, but and it got a little better for a while, but the next day, I just felt miserable.  I went to work but only survived a half day, and came home and slept most of the rest of the day away.  I felt better on Tuesday but I did not begin to feel like myself until Wednesday.

I'm glad to be feeling better, but I am getting concerned because I have had several migraines over the past month, which is unusual for me.  I wish I knew what exactly triggered it and I'd quit doing that!

Back Home Again

I made it home safe and sound on Tuesday, one day later than I had planned. The delay was because when I got out of my car to pump gas, I got a migraine! Luckily, this happened right outside of my hometown, so I just called my dad and bonus mom and they came and picked me up and let me spend the night. If it had happened anywhere else I suppose I would have had to find a hotel room.

Then, on Thursday, I got another migraine! I was so angry and disgusted about that. I don't usually get them in such short succession like that. It made me feel a little worried that something is changing (for the worse).

But it hasn't been all headache, all the time, around here. (Well, okay, it pretty much has. Because even though I didn't have an aura obscuring my vision on Tuesday, Wednesday, and most of Thursday, I did still have a headache -- enough of one that I chose to wear my hair down rather than in my usual ponytail.)

It was great to be home and see my number one fans again. Jeff was relieved to be no longer single-parenting it, and Vinny just thinks I'm lots of fun, which is very affirming. Last night he and I made some gingerbread dough, which we rolled out into gingerbread cookies this morning. I used the cookie cutters of his choice (two different gingerbread people cutters, as well as the slightly less Christmas-themed shapes of hearts, flowers, butterflies, and squares) to make the cookies, which he then decorated with various candies before I popped them in the oven for seven minutes.

I used the gingerbread recipe in The Joy of Cooking, which I had never tried before, but they turned out quite well. The only problem I had was that the dough comes out of the refrigerator hard -- I had to chip away at it with a fork in order to get some pieces out. Even when it cools to room temperature it is still quite hard, and rolling the dough is a major upper-body workout -- along the same lines as sawing a gigantic squash, only you have to do it more than twice. My left arm was in a fair amount of pain by the end of the whole deal.

But, once you worked the dough, it made some fantastic gingerbread cookies. They held together better than any other recipe I've used. Vinny was able to decorate them with no problems. And most importantly, they were really really delicious. I got a chance to eat one before packing them up and sending them off with Jeff and Vinny to Granny and Granddad's.

I have the house to myself this weekend; they're coming back on Monday. I plan to spend a significant amount of time sleeping and trying to get rid of this blasted headache (yup, my hair is still down today).

My Head

It hurts. I had a migraine this evening. Bleargh.

Actual 5K Results

Yesterday was the 5K race. I successfully completed the race, although again I did not run the entire distance. Here I am pre-race with my number one fan, who had to be awakened before his usual time to make it to this race:
And here we are taking off right at the beginning of the race:
Jeff and Vinny were participating in the one mile fun run/walk, which started once the 5K participants were out of the way, so Jeff was able to take a few pictures of me running:
And here's the youngest race participant, making his way along the track:
Afterwards, there were some fun activities, like a little petting zoo with chickens, goats, sheep, and rabbits:
And an inflatable bouncy castle:

As for the race results, I finished the race in about 41 minutes. This is not as good as my time at work, which makes me suspect that the run at work was not actually 5K. But I did make a few beginner's mistakes that cost me some time.

I was pretty excited to be there and started off running too fast, which wore me out faster than I should have. Next time I will try to ignore all the people around me and know my slow and plodding pace.

Also, I got dehydrated. I didn't drink enough before the race because I was trying to have an empty bladder for the race (all that jostling makes me have to go and I don't have the best control anymore). Then, they were offering water and I probably should have taken some, but I thought I was almost done with the race so I declined. In reality, I was maybe about halfway through.

After we went home, I had a migraine, so I think I really was dehydrated. I still have not figured out how to balance the conflicting objectives of staying hydrated and not peeing in my pants. Any advice from you experts out there is greatly appreciated.

Grand Canyon

Our Grand Canyon Excursion was a lot of fun. I had purchased a nice package deal from the Grand Canyon Railroad, which included a stay at the hotel in Williams, round-trip luxury-class tickets on the Grand Canyon Railroad, a coach tour of the rim, and one night in a rim hotel. We took the train to the south rim of the canyon on Thursday morning, and returned to Williams this afternoon. We had a bus tour of the canyon rim highlights after we arrived, and then stayed overnight in a nice hotel at the canyon on Thursday night. We walked around and saw a lot of beautiful views of the canyon, from many different angles, and we checked out some of the exhibits about the geology of the region and the like. I also ate ice cream for dinner on my birthday. I don't think there's a better birthday meal than that!

I should add that I was very careful to drink at least two full glasses of water at every meal and a bottle of water between meals, and despite all the hiking and hot sun, I managed to avoid getting dehydrated and did not get another migraine! (I did, however, use the restroom about 270 times.)

We (mostly Jeff) took a lot of pictures of the canyon, the wildlife (lizards, condors, and other raptors), and each other. We didn't bring the cord to connect the camera to the computer along on our trip, so I don't have any pictures to post right now. But I will after we get back, I promise!

Tonight we are in Flagstaff and our plans are to see some of the sights around here, such as Wupatki National Monument and the meteor crater. I will keep you posted!

Greetings from Arizona!

I'm writing this from our hotel room at the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel. We're on our fabulous week-long, adults-only vacation. My dad has graciously agreed to watch Vinny for us while we celebrate our tenth anniversary and our birthdays on this trip. (Today is Jeff's; mine's tomorrow.)

So far it's been fun. We got in to Las Vegas yesterday evening, and spent the night at the Boulder Dam Inn in Boulder City, an historical inn that was built at the time Hoover Dam was being built, as a place for visiting VIPs to stay.

We left there in the morning and drove to Williams, Arizona, where we are right now. Tomorrow we take the train up to the Grand Canyon, spend the night there, and come back on the train the next day.

The only thing that has gone wrong so far is that I got dehydrated and suffered from a migraine this afternoon. So it's an early bedtime for me tonight...

I don't know how much internet connectivity I'll have on the rest of this trip, but I'll try to keep you updated, my vast blog readership!

With Apologies to Woody Guthrie

CHORUS:
This pain is my pain,
It's called a migraine,
It hurts from the surface,
Clear down to my brain,
From the nape of my neck,
To behind my eyeballs:
This pain is known as a migraine.


As I was walking
To the cafeteria,
I saw around me,
a familiar sparkle;
I saw that my eyes
would soon be blinded:
This pain is known as a migraine.

CHORUS

And so I sat at
My colleagues' table,
Just as quickly
As I was able,
Because I knew that
I'd never find them,
With pain that's known as a migraine.

CHORUS

I felt like puking,
I felt like barfing,
Instead of talking
or even arguing!*
Instead I sat there
In all the loudness,
with pain that's known as a migraine.

CHORUS

After half an hour,
My vision cleared,
Things weren't as bad
As I had feared,
But then the pain arrived,
And my mood nose-dived:
This pain is known as a migraine.

CHORUS

I spent the time
After lunch working
On a program
With a problem lurking,
But I soon discovered
The real cause of trouble:
The pain that's known as a migraine.

CHORUS

I had some meds once,
but they expired
(It's been a while
since they were required!),
But it doesn't matter,
Because they don't work
On the pain that's known as a migraine!

CHORUS


* There was a good political discussion about one of my hot-button topics, health insurance, and I could hardly participate!

Adventures in Kentucky

We went to Kentucky for an extended weekend from Saturday to Monday. The main purpose of the trip was to celebrate Jeff's parents' 40th wedding anniversary, but we also found some time to spend with my dad and Marvis.

We made it to Lexington on Saturday afternoon, and had a late lunch with Dad and Marvis, who had graciously agreed to take Vinny overnight so that Jeff and I could enjoy some time alone together. We spent the afternoon walking around the campus of the University of Kentucky, and reminiscing about our time there as students. It was a lot of fun to see the old sites as well as to marvel at all the new buildings, landscaping, and renovations.

Then we went out to dinner together and we had a good time talking and just spending time together. We spent the night in a hotel and it was great to be able to sleep without worrying about being awakened. Dad and Marvis said that Vinny was his usual cheerful self the whole time we were away.

On Sunday afternoon, we headed on over to Rhonda's house to celebrate the anniversary. All the kids, their spouses, and their kids were there. I brought a cake that I had made before we left, and Jeff made a salad for the dinner. In addition, we had really delicious steak, baked potatoes, and bread. Jeff gave his dad a picture of his dad and Vinny that he had drawn, and we gave Jeff's mom a keychain digital photo frame filled with pictures of Vinny. We also gave them a card from my dad and his wife. It was a lot of fun to see everybody and get together. We'll definitely have to do it again sometime.

We spent Monday with Dad and Marvis. Marvis is a teacher and the school year is out, and Dad took a day off from work, as did I. We celebrated Father's Day a little early, and gave Dad a joint present from us and Laura, a bocce game. He had become enamored of the game which is called pétanque in France, while he was living there, but hadn't ever picked up a game of his own. Unfortunately, it was raining on and off yesterday, so we didn't get a chance to try it out.

We left Lexington at about 5:30 or 6, and at the time Vinny was asleep, but he woke up when we stopped for gas. I turned around to comfort him, became dizzy, and got a migraine. I took some of my new migraine medicine, but unfortunately it did not help at all. In fact, I still have a headache now, 24 hours later. Vinny cried for most of the way home. We stopped and fed him, but he still cried, until he eventually fell asleep. That did not help my headache any. When we got home, we fed him and I took him to bed.

Even More Migraines

I had another migraine at work today, but I had left the pills the doctor had given me at at home, so I couldn't take them. I consoled myself with the thought that it probably wouldn't have helped anyway.

More Migraines

Yesterday I had another migraine. It started at 12:30 p.m., right when I was heading off to lunch. So I couldn't hardly see the food I was selecting in the cafeteria (not that it mattered; it is all pretty much nasty), and I had to get the cashier to pull the money out of my change purse to pay for my food, because I couldn't see well enough to differentiate between the denominations of bills. After lunch, I called the doctor's office, and they let me come in for an appointment at 2. Luckily by that time I could see well enough to drive to the appointment, although I had a splitting headache. The doctor prescribed some medication for me to try the next time I get a migraine. I hope it works better for me than the other type that I tried when I was a grad student (i.e., better than "not at all").

After the appointment, I came home and slept for about three hours. Then I vegged for the rest of the evening before going to bed. Last night we had a huge storm that kept me awake for several hours. But it didn't faze Vinny. He startled slightly during the loudest thunderclaps, but they didn't wake him up.

Today my head was still painful but not as bad as yesterday. I got some work done despite the pain.

Adventures with Migraines

Until today, I hadn't had a migraine in a long time. I can tell you that I wasn't missing them at all. I don't get the really bad kind that debilitate you for days. What happens is that the migraine is triggered by a flash of light, such as sunlight glinting off a car mirror. I have an aura for 30 minutes, and then I get killer head pain. The aura basically makes it seem like I'm tuned to the wrong channel. The pain lasts until I sleep for a couple of hours.

I can't remember the last time I got a migraine. At one point in my life, I got a migraine every other Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. Then I lost a bunch of weight and it seems like that helped reduce the frequency of migraines. (Of course I can't be sure because there aren't two parallel universes, one in which I lost weight and one in which I didn't.)

Today I had a migraine. It was strange because it wasn't triggered by the sunlight; it was dark when I had the migraine. I walked into a store and felt really dizzy, and then I got the aura. Unfortunately, I was all alone, so I had to wait in the store until the aura lifted. Then I got to drive twenty miles home. I made it home without getting into any accidents.

I'm trying to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight, slowly but surely. I've started back at Weight Watchers. Hopefully I'll be able to lose the weight again and get rid of the migraines.