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Roller Coaster Weeks of May

Week of May 9th: I was still on prednisone until Wednesday.  But I was exhausted every day.  Gideon ended up staying home with a fever Tuesday through Thursday and we pretty much laid around during that time.  My head pain may have been low, but my body was completely out of energy.  So we sat, watching TV, playing on our electronics, napping a lot, even Gideon.  Head pain actually remained low until Saturday, but finally on Wednesday, I got some energy back and so did Gideon, but was still running a low grade fever so I kept him home one more day.  We had a fun day of going to lunch, Walmart, lots of garage sales and then to Miss Tammy’s (his daycare before I lost my job).  Man was I whipped when I got home though.  Friday started my day with a sore throat and pain into the chest.  I was thinking it was a yeast infection from the prednisone especially because I had it down there and on a place on my stomach…so not fun.  I just felt crappy all day.  I tried to go into town, but only lasted an hour and then back to bed for me.  I woke Saturday with a migraine starting but didn’t let that get me down…at least with the help of Imitrex it didn’t get me down.  So we packed in the car and went to a few garage sales and had lunch out.  By Sunday I was completely exhausted and slept almost all day.  Migraine most of the day when I woke in spurts.  I did rally in the evening to get the kitchen cleaned, the boys to clean their bedrooms and bathrooms and organized the laundry to fold and hang…it was really beginning to pile up.

Week of May 16th: Monday in bed all day with a horrible migraine for which I finally had to take a Toradol shot just to take the edge off.  Tuesday I woke with the migraine, but took Amerge ( a Noratriptan that takes quite a while to take effect but works for a long time) and went back to bed until 1:30pm.  I got up showered and felt like I had some energy back again.  I was supposed to meet a friend for a late lunch/ice cream but that fell through, so I13265911_10154115930606897_534315005628657821_n went and ate at Taco Bell for a late lunch by myself.  I ran a few errands and hit Goodwill for a few amazing finds…Body Glove surf suit for Gideon $8 and it fits perfect, white leather Keds for $4 for me which is what I was looking for and a pair of garden shoes for $4 and I love them, they are bright green and make me happy 🙂 And then went crazy and folded all the laundry, hung up hanging clothes put it all away..and if that wasn’t enough I emptied out my entire closet to make room for all of  my clothes that not only fit but were some amazing garage sale finds and to make room for my new addiction: LulaRoe.

The rest of this week is a mystery to me really.  I woke up on Wednesday with a great deal of energy and very little head pain (1/2).  So I called my friend Mindy and we went to lunch and hung out all afternoon and chatted all day.  Then in the evening the family went to Josiah’s school for a walk-a-thon type thing and I walked 1 1/2 miles.  I was so scared…I knew I would end up with a migraine that night or the next morning, but the mystery is…I didn’t.

So Thursday I woke up feeling ready for the day and spent the entire afternoon with my friend Carrie, hitting garage sales and Meijer towards the end of the day.  Friday I went to Josiah’s field day at school for 3 hours which was so much fun and I am so glad I was able to go and participate in something this year with the schools.

Then went to ready care because a pain in my neck, possibly lymph nodes had been bothering me, he put me on antibiotics and sent me on my way. I slept until 3:30, visited with my parents and then we all headed in to Gideon’s school for his school Carnival. And again I was so pleased and excited that I got to participate in something with the kids for their school.

Little to no head pain all day and into the evening.  I did do a Toradol shot, but that is because my body was aching 🙂  Then my parents took the kids and Dan and I just hung out all weekend, hitting a few garage sales.  Saturday night we hung out with our friends Stephanie and Jared until 1:30 in the morning.  Still no head pain.  I was even wearing my regular glasses without the tint.

Same for Sunday…I did have a bad reaction to food, but other than that another great day.  It’s a mystery!  I was actually having feelings of guilt because I had gone so long without a migraine.  How weird is that?  I was also very confused…was this going to last, was the medicine working, I just didn’t know.

Week of May 23rd: Monday was another great day.  I spent most of the day relaxing at home though just in case.  But it was nice and quiet and had no responsibilities that day and that felt good..no where to go!  Then as I was on FB a notification came up from one of the virtual garage sale sites and I just happened to click on it.  It was a piece of property.  10 acres of land, with great hunting potential.  I contacted the owner and asked if we could take a look at the property.  So after we had all eaten, we headed out 14.5 miles from our house was this beautiful piece of land.  Oh my goodness, we were instantly in love.  Rolling hills, woods, the view, the potential to maybe build some day, photography potential.  So we walked all the way to the back of the property which was quite long.  When we got to the wooded area it was tough to walk because of all the prickers, so Josiah and I chose a different path and we ended up in the swamp.  It took all of my energy to get to the back of the property and then I was digging for extra energy to get back.  We saw 4 deer and a rabbit in our short time there.  The sun was setting and we were in love.  We didn’t really think about how we would pay for the land, just how beautiful it was and the potential it had.

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And then I had no more guilt, I knew the answer to the questions I was asking myself…the13241196_10154132262611897_3871821648081814738_n head pain returned and with a vengeance.  Ugh.  I went to bed with the pain rising and woke with the head pain at a 5.  I took an Imitrex and went back to bed because I had a hair apt later that day and of course I had to make it 🙂  By the time I 13233015_468205046703984_2698938692415491479_ngot home the meds were worn off and I was back to bed and in bed all day Wed and Thursday.  Friday, I woke with the migraine still, but took Amerge because I was done with the pain.  Luckily by 1:30 when I woke up the meds had done their job.  So I went in to town to see the back about financing the property (after chatting with Jennifer our realtor, she told us that there was a possibility of financing and I made some calls and found out that was indeed true).  I got all the information about getting pre approved for the loan and what it would take to get the loan.  20% down…ugh.  If we got the property for $32,000 with realtor fees we would need $7000 to put down.  No idea really how that could happen.  So I put that aside and started driving until I found a garage sale sign which lead me over towards the property.  I decided to go look at it again.  When I got out of the car, I felt this amazing peace.  So I decided to pray about this property and if it was to be in our future or not and to please make it clear 😉  One can always ask!  And wouldn’t you know it, when I left the property, 2 houses down there was a garage sale.  If you know me, or have at the very least read this thread, I love to garage sale.  It must be a sign, right?  🙂  hehe j/k  I won’t disregard it, but I won’t put an offer in based upon that “sign” 🙂  I picked up the kids from school (a treat since they have to ride the bus and walk home) and then picked up pizza.  My parents met us at the house and took the kids off for the weekend.  After they left, Dan and I sat out front and just enjoyed the peace and quiet and listened to the birds and talked about our day without interruption.  And then the guy next door started mowing…inside I go.  Allergies are kicking my butt this year.  So now to spend Memorial Day weekend however it takes us.  But I will gather all the necessary documents needed for the pre approval for sure.

 

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Vacation with Migraine

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I took a nice long break from my blog while I was on vacation in Florida.  Mostly because the beginning of the vacation was dealing with head pain and migraines and fatigue that I never got on my computer and the second half of the vacation was spent keeping my little man, Gideon, comfortable because he became sick on Tuesday (the day I finally got medicine that would allow me to have more energy and less head pain, prednisone).  All in all we did make lots and lots of fun memories and have so many pictures of course that I am sure we will look back on this vacation with many happy memories.

Then we got home late Sunday night got the car unloaded, unwound and went to bed.  Monday I spent the entire day in the ER with Gideon…luckily his fever broke and he is doing much better, but he has been home with me all week.  Now it is looking like both boys will be home tomorrow and maybe Friday for a snow day.  Guess I am going to have to wait until next week to truly unwind.

The one thing I have to say about vacation with migraine is not as I expected.  I think I was expecting to go on vacation and everything would be great…a vacation from migraine because I said so…but it was not so.  So “My Family’s New Normal” keeps taking shape.  Everything was so much better when I fought to get a script for prednisone though…I was finally able to have the vacation from migraine and life 🙂  It was also very well timed so that I could take care of Gideon as well.

In the days to come I will write a few posts about my vacation and post a few pics!  But I am looking forward to having things wind down here at home.  Unfortunately with a winter storm comes more head pain.  Migraine started as soon as I awoke this morning.  Might be a long rest of the week and weekend!

That’s all for now folks!

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Fatigue

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.

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August 2015: Journal Entries

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.

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Big Day

6/15/2015 Monday’s are great!  I went to McDonalds (and not in the play room) to relax alone while waiting for a script to be filled. After a crazy and emotional week last week it feels wonderful to be alone and peaceful.

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Since I was feeling well all morning I went off to Walmart to do some shopping.  I was doing well but then fatigue hit, so I had to sit in the shoe dept and rest.  Fatigue is a pain in the butt.  Just when I think I am getting ahead, then I am knocked back down.

Then Gideon and I had dentist appointments tonight.  Gideon was really excited about first dental visit and he did awesome.  I was feeling nothing but anxiety about the sounds and pain I would likely feel so I did a Toradol shot in the dentists office.  By the end I was exhausted and ready to go home and to bed.

Tuesday: The following day I spent the day in bed resting and recovering from the Big Day on Monday.  I slept for 14 hours and when I did wake I had bad blurred vision and double vision.

Wednesday: Another bad head pain day.  In bed again all day.  I finally tried Imitrex and the side effects were awful.  Within about 10 minutes of taking the medication my head started to constrict…which sucks when your head already hurts.  Even though there were terrible side effects, at least it reduced the head pain.  But not likely to take it again.

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Settled in at my Parents

All settled in at my mom and Bobs for the week. Headache is manageable most of the time and for that I am so very thankful. I am extremely fatigued so the combination of the headache that makes me want to rest and the utter fatigue walking from one room to another are going to prove a long road to recovery. It sounds like I should team up with Melinda Richmond to beat the fatigue, get enough rest and drink enough water so my blood pressure will stop plummeting. I continue to hover around 90/55 or so. Gotta keep drinking water, getting rest and somehow start to get some exercise (in time). But for now I continue to rest.

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Getting ready to move in with my parents

Starting to gather my things to make the trek to Midland to stay with my mom and Bob. I am in no shape to stay alone and Dan had to get back to work on Monday. So Gideon and I are heading to Midland. I have a feeling that the rehabilitation road will be a long one. I walked from one end of my house to the other (and we do not have a large house) and I was so fatigued that I slept for 3 hours. The Toradol injections and meds have helped keep the headache at a manageable level until today when it started to climb a bit but not horrible. Just needed to lay down in a dark quiet place with rice bags and a heating pad and all is well. So any of my Midland friends if you are out and about I should be there tomorrow some time.

March 19th