It's Saturday. It's also
7:25 am, and I'm awake. I have an extremely sharp golf ball sized pain right
above my left eye, a dull achy pain in my neck, and I'm pretty sure I'm going
to vomit any second.
I don't open my eyes. I
instead quickly grab for my forehead with both hands and apply moderate pressure to both sides of my temples to
release my sinuses. I know it's not my sinuses, but I just don't want it to be
another migraine. I haven't had a migraine like this in so long. I wait
for my sinuses to clear...
Nothing.
Slowly, I open my left
eye..... Then my right... They're back! Tiny bright lights dance within my
vision. My orbie friends.
"Please be a dream,
please be a dream!" I plead, knowing full well that in reality I am truly
entering a day of nightmare, because going throughout a day with a migraine is
just that. A nightmare.
At first I try to ignore
it. Rub my neck, get some fluid flowing again. Then I decide to be medically
proactive. 10 mg Maxalt, a meltaway tab that tastes like fruit and 4 mg of
Zofran a minty melt. Always taken together and always regretted, chased with a
glass of water and 10mg of Flexeril.
I decide to go back to
bed. After all, no one is up yet, and it is now only 7:46 am.
10:30 am, and I wake up
again. I'm grateful that I was able to sleep some more but it didn't help the
pain too much. The orbies are gone, but I've got some extreme ear ringing.
When we were little, we
used to turn the TV to a static black and white station and watch for what
seemed like hours (it was probably 2 minutes). We would watch to see if the
salt or pepper would win. That's what's going on in my body right now. The
numbness and tingling of my fingers and toes- the battle between salt and
pepper- and the ringing in my ears, the static accompaniment playing in the background.
With each high pitch shrill, I can almost tell you who is winning. Pepper
always won.
At 11:30 as we are
getting ready to go to the game, I realize that maybe the nausea is actually
because I still haven't eaten. I make some toast but then decide that maybe a 9
year olds football game isn’t the best idea for this much pain. A hot bath
sounds better. I don't eat.
The hot bath definitely
gets my cranial fluids flowing. A little too fast. I can feel the flow rush and
hit my frontal lobe with each beat of my heart. They say your brain is the only
organ in your body that doesn’t have pain receptors. They lie.
After the bath, I take another nap. Down and out for 4
hours, waking only a few times because my neck hurts so bad I have to readjust
my pillows to hold my head up at just the right angle. At 4 my alarm reminds me
that I had promised to be social tonight. Another 10 mg of Maxalt and 4 mg
Zofran. I can do hard things.
Fake it ‘til you make it is my migraine’s motto to getting
ready, so with a comfy sweatshirt paired with the perfect pair of jeans and
some booties, I head to the bathroom for some makeup. Mascara and highlighter
were made for days like this. Add a little bit of blush and bronzer, and – yup,
as long as no one looks into those bloodshot eyes, no one will know.
We watch a movie at a friend’s house, and I take yet another
nap, bringing my sleep total today to 19 hours, and it’s only 10 pm! As I
arrive home, I take off my bronzer, do a quick change into some pajamas, and go
straight to the medicine cabinet. 100mg Fioricet, 25 mg Promethazine, and 10
other pills I take just to get this migraine gone. And back to bed. I’ll try again in 16-18 hours.
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