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After Vacation…Back to Reality

As much fun as all my adventuring looked it took quite a toll. Compared to Canada where I had no worries, I didn’t over exert myself, I took naps everyday and all the relaxation resulted in hardly any head pain at all. The second part of our trip was a lot of fun but we did so much. The hikes looked fun but I had head pain at every turn. Sometimes severe! But I so badly just wanted to get away from head pain that I pushed and pushed and by Sat night I had hit a wall. I was down by 6:00, had no interest in dinner and slept fitfully through the night. The ride home was long but I stayed alert because that’s all I could do through the storms and driving at dusk through storm debris.

The drive took its toll but when I got home and came back to reality, I remembered all the bills piling up, the inspections on the old house to be done, the long term disability paperwork that came telling me that none of the Drs and hospitals had sent in any paperwork and short term disability ends in 4 days, the small claims suit from the old renters that needed clarifying with the court, prescriptions to be picked up and a $1000 prescription bill to get refunded because Cobra took so long I had to pay out of pocket, oh and Gideon had to register for preschool today which meant filling out all necessary paperwork and gathering all documents needed and then pick him up because I thought this was when they got to see the school and meet teachers but it was just all paperwork, and then I had to pick up milk and then get Josiah and come home to take a nap only to be interrupted by a phone call from my Drs office saying they reviewed my case and are extending my leave through the end of November but none of the paperwork has been started and wasn’t sure when they would get it in, and finally another call from the well and septic guy telling how much the inspection would be plus they would likely have to dig the well. We have always been nervous that they would make us drill a new well…now we will finally know. So now I lay back in bed not feeling well and with very bad head pain 😓.

I haven’t been posting about my head pain because it was becoming my life and I hated that but the fact is, it is my life that is why the diagnosis includes “new daily persistent headache” which means it never really goes away. I just need to learn ways to live with the pain like putting ear plugs in to go to church, into restaurants or basically anywhere where things are loud and chaotic, which means sometimes in my own home or car when the kids are with me. Or sleep, this I am good at but naps don’t work when you don’t or can’t take them. Or take the medicine that I can only take two times a week for pain because there is no alternative.

Our live have completely changed for this season in our lives. I know I am better than 6 months ago but then again I am not because it still has control over my life everyday. I go back to the Head Pain clinic next Monday. So we will see what the next steps are on this journey.

Mindy Richmond: Heather I Am so sorry all this is going on, but you know I’m praying extra hard for you. Remember God is fighting for you still, just take one day, one hour if needed, at a time. You will get through this and will look back and be amazed at what you have survived and endured. I love you!
Stephanie Jordan Grr.. too much. Praying that the Lord will make His power and peace known in this situation. Love you.
Heather Loose Johnson: Love you guys too. Thank you for being there for me and lifting me in prayer. Sometimes it’s just too much to carry frown emoticon
Shannen Rowe Dubose: That’s A LOT to deal with! I’ll continue praying for you Heather.
Heather Dwyer Trudeau: I was wondering how you were doing, so I’m glad you posted. You continue to be in my prayers
Kathy Smith: Praying for you, honey.
Kristen Long: Hang in there. Text me about lunch Monday if timing works out with your appts. Or if you just want to come over and chat for a bit.
John Silverstone: Still praying.
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The Plan: v 8.0 – Dr. Masih

Really bad night last night. Though the meds I am on provide brief periods of relief they still do not allow me to visit with many people (even 2 sometimes) without having a full blown, pain level 9+, headache. That is what happened last night. After company had left, I was left with a headache, pain level 9+ That lasted from about 5:30 until I was finally able to fall asleep. And then I was awake on and off all night with headache pain. I took a shower this morning and that seemed to help a bit. In addition to the headache yesterday I also made the mistake of not checking the ingredient list of Jelly Belly jellybeans. They are one of the few jellybean makers that do not use artificial flavoring. I tasted the
coconut and thought it’s just a tiny jellybean. Well it got me and for some reason it took awhile to figure it out, oh yah my head felt like it was splitting open. Once I figured it out I took my antihistamine and within
about 25 minutes the stomach cramping had resolved and I only had the head to deal with. Better one problem at a time than two.

I have been feeling like I am going to pass out every time I stand and walk and then I get extremely weak feeling from head to toe. Like I am having to lift a bar bell. I wonder why they never said anything in the hospital before I left. They just said drink lots of water. When my blood pressure plummeted to 83/43 they put me back on IV fluids but didn’t really instruct me how to manage when I left. So all of this advice has been ever so helpful.

So my doctor apt today couldn’t have been timed better. God is in Control …relax. I have to keep reminding myself of this.

Safe trip down. Praying for good direction from Dr Masih

Update from Dr: He agrees with the resident dr who had been treating me in the hospital that this is “just” a migraine. But he also agrees that I am an extreme case. So he adjusted the meds I am on (Increased Keppra, increased Elavil, and stop neurontin). I am to call him back in a week but in the meantime he wants me to look into 2 in patient headache clinics in case the increase in meds does not work. One of the clinics is in Chelsea, MI (Michigan Head-Pain Neurological Institute: MHNI) and the other is in Chicago (Diamond Headache Clinic).

It doesn’t seem like much of a game plan but at least it is something. In the meantime I need to keep overstimulation to a minimum and try to start getting some exercise as I can handle it.

Nathan Gillikin:  Heather, have they diagnosed your headache as hemipalegic migraine? Do some research on that. Hemi headaches are as debilitating as what yours sound like. My wife had a few of those. She had slowed speech and partial paralysis as well. One hospital tried to push meds for stroke one time. I had to step in and tell them about hemi-headaches. Not much is known about them and they are hard to diagnose.

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Urgent Care Visit #2

Headaches sure can be debilitating:(. Home today after a 3 day battle with a headache caused from work  stuff. Physically not stress caused. But a headache nonetheless. My brain feels like it is swelling. I am
ready to just be better and healthy!!

Chiropractor or Urgent care?!?! I called our chiropractor and they’re not open so I decided that the unusual nature of headache will land me in urgent care. So much has happened in the last week that I just wanted to make sure this wasn’t from meds, alleIMG_3986rgic reaction and more drugs. No relief by any meds or Dan adjusting me for 4 days. The swelling is all encompassing in my face, head and down my spine. So could be out of alignment could, be anything. Ugh!

So I went to Urgent care and the doctor pretty much just prescribed me Toradol in pill form (which didn’t do anything) and said t
o take Benedryl.  When that didn’t seem to do anything for the headache, I called back into the Urgent Care and they prescribed me Tylenol 3 with Codeine.  The doctor at the Urgent Care also said it might also be helpful to go to the chiropractor, so I found one in town that was open and went straight there.  That didn’t seem to help either. So I’ll just keep taking the Tylenol 3.