yipee kai yai yeah

Well, yesterday (Tues. the 14th) was a stinkin' fantabulous day. No pain whatsoever. I even went to my niece T.W.'s women's college basketball game. She is going to the U of Idaho, playing for the Vandals. They were up against the Portland Pilots (U of Portland) and lost. The whole family enjoyed the game because for virtually all of her college career she hasn't been able to play due to injury. What's great, is that her first game back, she played in the closest campus to her hometown. Almost all of her aunts and uncles got to see her play. And, I didn't even have to wear earplugs or worry about not feeling good.

Today was great too. I went walking, about 4 miles, had my kidney stone check-up (still lots of stones but we're going to wait another 6 mos. and see what happens), ran a few errands, and went to a friend's house for the afternoon. It's amazing with how just a few days of feeling perfect I already start thinking about what I'm going to do with my new life: get a job, be a better housekeeper, invite friends over, etc. I think it would be just grand if this was FINALLY the time where the well stretch far outlasted my previous record of 22 days.

So Botox is tomorrow afternoon and I'll post all of the details about that. I think that so far, the decreased Lamictal is helping, the propanolol (as I haven't had any pulse problems/artery pain) and the MigreLief. I'm hoping that the Botox will be the icing on the cake. Don't know how much all of these things will help the menstrual migraines yet, but I am hopeful.

Wait, did I say that???????

Ya, Sometimes Life is Like That....Sometimes...

So this weekend, 3 day Veteran's holiday, I braved it and took the kids to stay @ the Breakers Hotel in Long Beach, Washington. I say braved it, because since I was the sole parent and sole chauffer, I knew I would really need to depend on my health to go.

Fortunately, it worked out great. Not just because I was able to control my headaches ( I had a few but was able to manage them), but also because there were two big storms this weekend. The trip to the Coast on the Washington slide was blocked on SR4 just 20 min. from my house due to a slide that happened from a previous storm just a few days ago. Fortunately, the Oregon side via Astoria was not blocked and is a little easier to travel anyway. I was just crossing my fingers and hoping that this route wouldn't be blocked too. Then I'd have to drive way north to Raymond and then home. Do-able but an extra long trip.

Friday I felt pretty good even with all of the driving. I ended up with a slight headache in the evening but was able to control it with tiger balm and an ice pack. It only lasted for a few hours...when I put the kids to bed I realized that I had only come in the contacts that were in my eyes. I forgot to bring my glasses and extra contacts. I am totally blind w/out them and didn't want to risk getting stuck there and not able to drive, so I loaded the kids up and drove all the way home to get them. 2 1/2 + total driving hours on Friday. Yikes! Made it home after 11 pm and we slept in our own beds.

Saturday morning we were out the door by 7:30 a.m. Felt some pressure in my head and was pretty irritable. By the time we got to Astoria, Oregon I decided to take a frovatriptan. Of course, like usual, the head not only felt better but the irritability went away too. Strange.....

It was a beautiful sunny day, a complete surprise for such a stormy weekend. We walked on the beach for a few minutes, went downtown and gave the kids each $10 to spend @ the arcade or on whatever they wanted. Then we went back to the Hotel and the kids went swimming. They have a nice sized indoor pool there. Woosh it was noisey in there, but they swam for about an hour. We rented Cheaper by the Dozen 2 from the Hotel lobby and watched that in the evening along with the latest episode of Little People Big World. Also, I had bought the kids a 400 piece puzzle before we left town and I helped them work on that too.

This morning it was time to go. First I took the dog for a walk on the beach. It was so windy that I could barely even walk against the wind. It was crazy! But as soon as I crossed back over the dunes it wasn't so bad. A good time to get out of town before the 85 mile an hour winds were supposed to pick up.

We had a pretty good drive home, not to wet but it was windy. Much better driving conditions than on Friday. We stopped for lunch/dinner @ the Logger Burger in Knappa, OR and I did a good job finding a meal on the menu that is migraine friendly. I had a green salad with carrots and beats w/ croutons and Ranch dressing, along with grilled chicken breast and baked potato. I haven't been real sure if baked potatoes are o.k. or not, but I didn't add sour cream and I didn't eat the skin (i love it but I read that the skin is high in tyramine).

We got home around 1 pm, rented a few movies and just kicked back the rest of the evening watching Sand Lot 2, Heidi, E! True Hollywood Story on Pink, and Extreme Home Makeover. I started to get a headache around 6 pm that started by the side of my nose on the right side and spread to my right temple, but I put some tiger balm on and iced it for twenty minutes. I drank some mint tea and within about an hour I started to feel fine. It was also time for my next dose of MigraLief and propanolol. I find that often in the mornings right before I take it and in the evenings right before I take it, that I feel pressure in my head. Within 20-30 min. of my taking the doses I often feel better. I think this stuff might be helping! Also, I've been encouraged this week in how my headaches have responded to non-prescription treatment and have dissipated on their own. That is very encouraging.

Only 4 more days until Botox. I sure hope that this will be the last big piece of the puzzle I need to get my headaches under control!

2 great day, wahoo!

Thanks to all of you who have been praying for me. I had a fabulous day on Halloween and was able to go to tse and max-ay's chaotic classrooms for their parties, get in a short walk and make all the rounds for the kids' trick-or-treating.

I am so thankful and greatful that I got to do so. I know the kids feel ripped off a lot of the time....and they are.

It broke my heart when Shelley told me what max-ay said to her in her car the other day:

max-ay: where are you guys going trick-or-treating at? (their dad was sick and i told them if i couldn't take them out that Shelley would.)

shelley: we're going to the street of screams at the mall. that's where we always go. it's really fun.

max-ay: can i go trick-or-treating with you guys? my mom doesn't have any energy. she never has any energy. she doesn't get to do stuff with us.

shelley: well max-ay, your mom gets a lot of migraines doesn't she. she always wants to do things with you. let's hope she can go, but if she can't then i will take you with me, ok?

*I think what max-ay meant by energy is that when I am hurting my thinking shuts down and in order to take care of myself, I lay around, I mean, who wouldn't. Usually it's 3x a week that I get one, but the last month has been brutal, almost daily. And my kids know that.

About a week and a half ago on a Sunday when I was feeling good, the boys had P and C over as well as Super Star's little brothers. Then, when Super Star's parents came by, we invited them to stay for dinner because I had cooked up a prime rib, so we had plenty of food.

*tse made a comment to his dad @ bed time: I didn't know mom was feeling so good today.

(I don't remember the last time we had people over for dinner. The hubs really misses that and it's one of the things that he feels ripped off about. We have the gift of hospitality and we love to have people over. But seriously, no friends have come to dinner for at least 6 months, at least..)

Anyway, off of my pity party. Yesterday was fabulous, today was fabulous. Besides getting the Halloween pics all edited I even got a little housework done. wahoo!

Also, tonight I increased my lamictal (mood stabilizer and anti-migraine med) and Monday I started the MigraLief 2x a day. Like I said a few days ago, MigraLief is a combination of magnesium, B2, and feverfew. My "lady cycle" is almost over and I've been really lucky not to have migraines all the way through it. Just 5 days instead of the 7 i sometimes have. Also, I think the beta-blocker propanolol is really kicking in as today I've felt really tired, a little light headed and even took a nap which I never do unless I'm sick.

But like the hubs said when I talked to him @ work today. As long as there's no pain, who cares....we'll deal with the rest.

It's my time now. It's time for these to get under control. I don't know what life lesson I was supposed to learn out of all this, but I do know I have a bucketload of compassion, and extreme understanding of chronic pain, knowledge and empathy about mental illness, a tiny mustard seed of faith (which evidentally is all that's needed to move a mountain...) and finally, the ability to not suffer in silence anymore but ask for help.

It's my time, and I want this to end A.S.A.P. No more, I think I've had enough.