OK, I've had migraines before. Headaches w/ some nausea and light sensitivity. But today, I had the real deal. My dad gets them like this. I've always thought I was lucky that mine aren't as bad as his were. I rememer every so often, tippy-toeing through the house as a child because my dad was in his darkened room with a migraine, vomiting, the works.
Today, I woke up with a headache. I realized it was a migraine on the way to Church when I was nauseous in the car. I should have had Wes turn around and take me home so I could deal with it and get on top of the situation. But I decided it was just a few hours until after Church and surely I could tough it out and take communion, right?
Wrong.
I got sicker, and sicker and sicker. I realized half way through the service that I'd better not take communion because I'd throw up if I did. (If you are Orthodox, you'll know what I'm talking about. If you aren't, you don't want to know, trust me.)
A friend found me some tylenol. But on an empty stomach, it would not stay down. Problem is, the bathrooms are clear in another building from the Nave. So after taking care of business there, I had to trek back over and get my family to take me home. What a lovely scene, I'm sure. We cleared out well before the end of liturgy. I threw up again in the car. Into my favorite mantilla. Then Wes found me a plastic bag on the floor, and I used that the rest of the way home. Bye bye mantilla. (Well, perhaps I should go rescue it. I might regret throwing it away.)
My head was hurting so bad I was crying. Pain hardly ever makes me cry.
At home I still could not keep anything down. I tried some coffee, I could only nibble some crackers. They came up, too. Finally I just cleaned up and went to bed, with ice on my head. After dozing, Wes came in with some excedrin migraine and some potato salad. The ice really helped, so I was able to take the meds and keep the food down, so that was a mercy. Soon they kicked in and after resting some more, I've been able to quietly watch a movie the rest of the afternoon.
But oh, for a while there I thought I was gonna die. That is the LAST time I'll ever try to tough through a headache on a Sunday morning. Really.
But the potato salad (I'd made it for a cookout we'd been invited to and which we had to miss.) :-( was the best potato salad I've ever made. I think I'll have some for dinner.
So many of my blog posts sound so tragic, don't they? I don't mean for them to sound that way. All of this took place without self pity and with a fairly high level of acceptance. It just was. So that's some progress, isn't it?
I'm grateful for the fact that my headache is mostly gone/at bay right now, and that my husband was so nice to me and took care of me. I'm grateful for understanding friends and for air conditioning and ice packs and excedrin migraine. And even while I was in bed and in pain, it was still possible to utter a prayer or two in my head. "If I descend into the depths of the earth, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast." -paraphrase from memory of a verse in Psalm 139.
Today, I woke up with a headache. I realized it was a migraine on the way to Church when I was nauseous in the car. I should have had Wes turn around and take me home so I could deal with it and get on top of the situation. But I decided it was just a few hours until after Church and surely I could tough it out and take communion, right?
Wrong.
I got sicker, and sicker and sicker. I realized half way through the service that I'd better not take communion because I'd throw up if I did. (If you are Orthodox, you'll know what I'm talking about. If you aren't, you don't want to know, trust me.)
A friend found me some tylenol. But on an empty stomach, it would not stay down. Problem is, the bathrooms are clear in another building from the Nave. So after taking care of business there, I had to trek back over and get my family to take me home. What a lovely scene, I'm sure. We cleared out well before the end of liturgy. I threw up again in the car. Into my favorite mantilla. Then Wes found me a plastic bag on the floor, and I used that the rest of the way home. Bye bye mantilla. (Well, perhaps I should go rescue it. I might regret throwing it away.)
My head was hurting so bad I was crying. Pain hardly ever makes me cry.
At home I still could not keep anything down. I tried some coffee, I could only nibble some crackers. They came up, too. Finally I just cleaned up and went to bed, with ice on my head. After dozing, Wes came in with some excedrin migraine and some potato salad. The ice really helped, so I was able to take the meds and keep the food down, so that was a mercy. Soon they kicked in and after resting some more, I've been able to quietly watch a movie the rest of the afternoon.
But oh, for a while there I thought I was gonna die. That is the LAST time I'll ever try to tough through a headache on a Sunday morning. Really.
But the potato salad (I'd made it for a cookout we'd been invited to and which we had to miss.) :-( was the best potato salad I've ever made. I think I'll have some for dinner.
So many of my blog posts sound so tragic, don't they? I don't mean for them to sound that way. All of this took place without self pity and with a fairly high level of acceptance. It just was. So that's some progress, isn't it?
I'm grateful for the fact that my headache is mostly gone/at bay right now, and that my husband was so nice to me and took care of me. I'm grateful for understanding friends and for air conditioning and ice packs and excedrin migraine. And even while I was in bed and in pain, it was still possible to utter a prayer or two in my head. "If I descend into the depths of the earth, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast." -paraphrase from memory of a verse in Psalm 139.
Comments
For the potato salad my family found out that if you were hungry while making it, it comes out much better because you keep testing it to make sure it tastes right - LOL
Feel better - sorry again.
I've been reading your blog for a few weeks now, and I just love how honest you are - I feel like I'm reading e-mail from a friend or relative, even though we've never met - I live clear across the country, in Oregon, so it's unlikely that we will - in this lifetime, but one never knows.
I'm trying to get rid of a Whole Bunch of Stuff, so I can put my house on the market and move - closer to work, my aging parents and the Church that the Lord is leading me to - it's too far for me to go to every week, since I already have a long commute the rest of the week, but I'm trying to make it to at least one Vespers service, after work (since it's 'marginally' closer than going from home, on Sundays) - I'm not Orthodox, yet, but have been exploring whatever I've been able to find (online, after work or at lunch - don't have a home computer, yet - can't afford it ;-) since about Sept. of last year, so I know what you mean about taking communion, even though I'm not able to do it, yet - you were definitely smart not to attempt it yesterday!!
I think your blog is wonderful, precisely because you Do write what's really happening and that you Don't make it sound "tragic", even when bad things are happening - you make it sound like what it is: life (or Part of life - thankfully, it's not all bad ;-)
Anyway, I'm glad you're feeling better and hope your migraines don't last for several days!! (My brother used to get them, but I think he's grown out of them(?)
gina