must be grace...

Wednesday was my neuro appointment. Woke up with a tiny baby headache. By the time I got to the appointment it was 2-3 and on the way home it was reaching a 4. Since I had no more drugs at home that I could take I could either cheat and take the percocets I'm not supposed to take or have my husband take the rest of the day off of work and take me to the clinic in Vancouver, Washington for an i.v. treatment of Depacon. I opted for following the rules.

I have never got a depacon i.v. before and let me just say, it's much easier to get i.v.'s like this when the pain is only at a 4. At a 6-8, very uncomfortable. I'm so glad I wasn't reliving October.

Let's just say that it took 5 hours for the depacon to work, but at least it didn't make the pain worse. I did also have to take two Aleve and I don't know how much they helped but I took them as well.

Thursday was a great day, a nice break from the day before.

Today, Friday the 8th and my son's 8th birthday, I woke up with a stiff neck. As the morning progressed it got quite painful and was moving up my head on the same right hand side. However, sometime while I was getting my haircut (which usually makes it worse), my headache up and disappeared. I didn't take anything for it but did rub tigerbalm on the muscles in my neck.

Not sure what happened, it must be grace. Whatever it was I LIKE IT! With taking frovas 3x last week, I need to hold off a few days before I get another one. And, I don't really have the time to drive to Vancouver (30+ min.) to get a Depacon treatment, especially when it takes 5 hours for it to work AND I can't drive myself.

Here's a cutiemus picture of my cornball kid today on his birthday

Measure of Faith

I took this picture because last night the weather man predicted that the Cowlitz River (near where I live) would be 15 feet above flood stage. That's quite a bit. This morning on my walk....there it is! The weather man's not always this accurate. I am sure he is thankful when he is, especially in important circumstances like this, where people's homes and livelihoods could be effected.

Sort of like my day yesterday.

I had been waiting for my doctor to respond to my e-mail about the lamictal possibly increasing my headache frequency. He got back to me in such a timely manner, it really helps me to trust him in his care for me. He said that lamictal does have the potential side effect for headache, amongst a few other things, but I wasn't experiencing those. He agreed that I should go off immediately and check with my psychiatrist on how to do that in a safe manner. I was so "high" after I received that e-mail and soooo relieved. Oh, and he also prescribed a new "resuce" medication called Depacon. It is administered by IV and I'll have to drive 45-75 min. to get it. But, I can't start using it until I'm completely off the lamictal.

I told my husband that I never thought I would be excited to go back to my previous headache pattern, which was quite frequent. But it would be so much better than what I've been experiencing lately. It's crazy, but it's true.

So Sunday and Monday were pretty much headache free and this morning I started feeling slightly irritable and sensitive to noise, but not as bad as usual, and then within an hour, slight pressure in my right temple. It's usually always in my right. So, instead of waiting around, I took a frovatriptan right away. Within an hour I was feeling 100% w/ no pressure in my head and I've continued to feel fine all day.

It's so nice to have a few days' break. Even though technically I had a migraine today, it didn't effect me at all and so I don't even count it really, although technically I have to.

I got out for my morning walk, which was so interesting today because the rivers, dikes and sloughs are flooding. Even people's yards who live in wetland areas (which is quite a bit of this area). Had to get some photos of that. Then I came home and typed a letter for the teacher's at Meyer D's school. I have asked the principal if I can put some of the calendars I'm selling on the staff room table. I just have not been able to market any accept for here on the internet. (thanks people!) So everyday that I feel good now, I have to do something towards selling a few more. I was hoping to have sold 50+ by now and I am quite short of that mark. Don't get me wrong. Anything I'm able to take and give away will be a blessing, but I have a goal and I'd sure be encouraged if I could reach it.

Also, my husband is going to be giving some financial advice to a friend this evening. The good thing about that is that I HAD to do some housework which I desperately needed to do. I was feeling so tired late in the morning. But once I started doing a little at a time it eventually faded. Thank God!

It seems like such a long time since I sensed something really important about my health, like a clue in the puzzle which is my life. An idea that was whispered to me in my Spirit for me to take action upon. It builds upon the measure of my faith and encourages me so much, even if it falls quite short of solving the problem entirely.

It gives me hope.