Aug 1st: We are still in St. Ignace.  I woke with minor head pain which is always a good sign.  I went swimming with the kids.  Napped for a couple of hours.  Then we walked around town for a while.  However I was completely down in bed with a migraine at a 5.  I slept from 6 pm until 8 am.

Aug. 2nd: Today was a very, very , very long day of travel.  We started out the day by leaving around 10:30 am and then we found out that Mackinaw Bridge was closed due to winds and storms.  We went back to the hotel for a little while and went to the Mystery spot (see blog post).  Spent 2 hours in a traffic jam to get across the bridge.  We drove for about an hour and ended up in a 2 1/2 hr traffic jam.  During this time I had an allergic reaction to peanut butter and I had a full blown migraine.  So I had to take Benedryl and Zofran to get through the rest of the ride home.  But we made it home safely, just a bit later than expected and on pins and needles.

Aug. 3rd: See very long blog post!

Aug. 4th: Pressure headache most of the day.  I took a nap in the morning and afternoon.  When I woke I finally felt back to baseline after travel.

Aug. 5th: I noticed that I have been waking with a baseline head pain for several days in a row now.  Pain is located in the forehead above the eyes.  Slept for 4 hrs and finally feeling better around 3:00.  Although still groggy.  I did rally a bit and then head pain sent me back to bed.

Aug. 6th: I did a lot of driving today.  And slept in between driving and then slept from 3:30 to 5:30 when I got back home.  Starting to think that driving is a trigger.

Aug. 7th: Fatigue can be as debilitating as head pain. I felt unbelievably fatigued all day and remained in bed until 3:00. Then finally got up to hang out with kids when head pain began escalating so now I am back in bed both fatigued and with head pain. I am anxious to go back to the Dr to hopefully find some new options.

Aug. 10th: Meeting with all of my docs today. First up was the neurosurgeon. He is recommending another nerve block. All 3 docs still to go this afternoon

Aug. 11th: Stomach pain kind of came out of nowhere and I just felt sluggish and slept a lot.  Between this and the frustration with the doctors my depression is getting worse.  In addition my head pain was at a 5 and I had to take Toradol before the day was up.

Aug. 12th: Migraine again today, more stomach cramping, and I slept just about all day.  And the depression continued to get worse.  More Toradol, benedryl and zofran.

Aug. 13th: Stomach cramping got worse today and lead to nausea.  It turns out I forgot my morning meds which lead to more head pain and more Toradol, benedryl and zofran.

Aug. 14th: Took the kids to day care very late today because I could hardly get out of bed.  I went right back to bed as soon as I got home.  The head pain also continued to be bad but I just stayed in bed.  Stomach pain continues.

Aug. 15th: Finally the pain let up!  The kids went to my moms…coincidence, I think not 🙂  I got to hang out with my friend Stephanie at her garage sale.  It was really warm out…maybe that is why my head pain finally let up.Stomach pain continues.

Aug.16th: Another warm day hanging out at the garage sale.  Baseline head pain.  Stomach pain continues.

Aug. 17th: The break was short with a storm a brewing.  I slept until 11:00 had breakfast and slept until 3:30pm.  It hit and it hit hard…out of nowhere Migraine from 3 to 5 in an hour.  Back to bed and a Toradol shot the pain was so bad.  Stomach pain continues.

Aug. 18th: Cleaned the house for about 20 minutes with mild headpain.  Kids came home and the head pain increased.  After physical therapy I was at debilitating level and went to bed as soon as I got home.  Stomach pain continues.

Aug. 19th: Slept until 10am. Stomach pain continues so I decided to try a liquid diet today and start taking Miralax…hopefully moving things along.  Head pain was steady at baseline all day.

Aug. 20th: Pain in my abdomen became almost unbearable.  Probably due to stress because we were meeting with a mediator with our renters to see if we could work out a deal…they chose to go to court.  Head pain was quite bad as well, and I had to take Toradol to manage.  Sleeping became very difficult today due to both the head pain and the abdominal pain.

Aug. 21st: both head pain and stomach pain continues to get worse.  Abdominal pain was so bad that I couldn’t sleep again until 3am

Aug. 22nd: Another day of pain.  So I decided to take Toradol so I could finally spend some time with my family…outside while the kids and Dan made the old jeep work again 🙂  Good times!  Only with meds..but thankful for meds.

Aug. 23rd: Slept until noon, woke for an hour, slept for another 4 hours.  When I finally woke my head pain and abdominal was down so we went to Mcdonalds and walmart 🙂

Aug. 24th: Finally got back in the pool..it felt great.  I didn’t really swim, just relaxed in the pool, but at least I had the energy to deal with it.I was able to even make dinner.  Head pain was low and only went to baseline 3.   I went swimming today…well I got in the pool and floated and tread water for an hour. But it felt wonderful to be back. Josiah is all signed up to be back with the Tiger Sharks and starts up with their summer stroke clinic and Gideon is signed up for Level 1 that meets on Sat. And Dan will be joining in with us any time he is able.  Onward to a healthier attempt at living with these headaches. They aren’t going anywhere and I have really grown accustomed to the daily headache that never leaves. I know that there will be days that I won’t be able to swim, but today was a first step that I have been scared to take for weeks. As my children now say to me “smell my victory” Silly kids but I feel it was a small victory and look forward to more pool time.

Aug. 25th: Woke with a migraine and went back to sleep.  I did make it to PT which with migraine a little bit but left me with head pain.  I did go swimming and then home to bed with severe head pain.

Aug. 26th: One step forward two steps back. Just another day in the world of chronic pain.  Took Gideon to daycare and then slept.  Made it to PT and the pain increase by 5:00.  I finally took Toradol but the pain didn’t go down very much.

Aug. 27th: Migraine hangover day.  I was really out of it and groggy.  Head pain remained at a baseline pain.

Aug. 28th: Head pain was very low today even with lots and lots of walking.  I took the kids and met with a friend at MSU.  We went to the Children’s Gardens, Dairy store, Sparty and we even got to watch the marching band.  Such a great day after a long few weeks.

Aug. 29th: Just a blah day, groggy, tired ad slept a  lot.  By the end of the day head pain had made it to a 4 but I just went to bed…shouldn’t have done that because….

Aug. 30th: I woke with a raging migraine.  I thought a shower might help, but the new dandruff shampoo I bought (T-gel) lead to an allergic reaction…I couldn’t stop coughing.  So I washed it out as fast as I could once I realized what was happening.  When I got out of the shower I took Benedryl to stop the allergic reaction and Toradol to help with the pain.  I finally stopped coughing and went to sleep but the migraine really didn’t go down by much.

Aug. 31st: My mom came to help clean.  So I was pretty busy all day.  Head pain was at my baseline most of the day but by the end of the day the pain started to increase so I headed to bed.