Trying not to jump to conclusions

Here's a cutimous picture from the photo shoot w/ my great niece miss petuniah peach. We had such a great time. My husband's family is so large that it's impossible to have intimate, personal time w/ 30+ people in a room. Friday, I got Miss Petunia Peach all to myself (so to speak). It was wonderful, because I got to see her little personality, get plenty of time holding her, and just find out what she's like.

She's a cool kid. And I think, will be very smart. She could stare at you for hours w/out blinking, it's amazing. And she's so serious. I mean, she smiles, but she just studies people, studies the world. Very quiet and calm too. I love her! And we had such great fun taking pictures of her.

I didn't really eat lunch before I left home and by the time I ate dinner I was quite hungry. I think I waited too long to eat. And all things considered, I got by pretty well w/ that even though I had a slight headache when I got home. Driving home in the dark with the flashing bright lights in my eyes probably didn't help either.

I didn't take anything before I went to bed and was able to sleep just fine.

Saturday morning I still had the headache when I woke up. It wasn't too bad and I tried to ignore it. But by 11 a.m. I realized that if I wanted to do more than ice my head on the couch all day that I would need to take something. Also, I was feeling in such a funk I realized that it was probably time to start the prozac that i'm supposed to take the 10 days before my period. It's hard to say when it will start since I'm just coming off the birth control pills, but I'm right in the ballpark. Feeling that way, well, it's just a sign.

So I took the frovatriptan, endured feeling quite moody for a few hours and was still able to go to celebrate Thanksgiving with my side of the family. I think I would have had to stay home if it weren't for the frovatriptan, and the Ativan too. I took the Ativan because the irritability problems that I get w/ my cycle started to flare up and it was either go to bed and pull the covers over my head or take a chill pill. I decided that since I was fighting a migraine I didn't need the added irritability. I think I made a good decision because the headache went away, I was able to enjoy my family, and I got a good night's rest.

I even woke up this a.m. with no headache and had a 100% day. However, by this morning, I was getting really discouraged at the botox, as it wasn't seeming to be helping me. I kept telling myself that after two weeks I'd have more days under my belt as proof to whether it was going to be working or not. Just because the first few days were less than perfect didn't mean that the next few wouldn't be better.

At least today, anyway, has been great. I've also noticed that the botox has really affected all the muscles in my forehead and on the sides of my head too. It feels tight. Do you know what it feels like to put that clear packaging tape on your face? That's what it feels like, like if I try to raise my eyebrows I feel tightness, firmness.

I suppose this is how you lose the wrinkles. I sure hope it will significantly impact my headaches. I'm sure I could endure another disappointment but I really really want this to be a go for me. Maybe it won't be THE answer, but just so it could help a significant amount would be so nice.

I'm trying to be patient and not jump to conclusions about it. It's going to be what it's going to be....all I can do is enjoy the good day I had today.

It's a Done Deal

Well, it's a done deal. Here's a most blurry-ish self-portrait of me AFTER the botox. It only took about 15 min. and there were at least 15, maybe 20 injection sites. You can see a little bump right between my eyes, and that is one that was raised for a few minuites.

It felt like someone was poking me with a safety pin so wasn't what you would call painful. But I got two on each side down by my eyebrow and those made me jump a little bit.

Definitely not a big deal.

The doctor said that 7 out of 10 people find relief. So much relief that it can decrease the pain level, frequency level, and the need for medications by 75%!!!

Truly amazing. Now I'm waiting to find out if I am in the majority or the minority. I was pretty cocky/confident at first. We even went out to dinner to celebrate! But like a dork, I ate corn chips and salsa, guacamole and mushrooms w/ my steak fajita. Except for the steak fajita, all those are NO NO's. Within a few hours I started to get a migraine on the left side which radiated all the way down my neck. I iced it for 20 min. and tried for a few hours to see how it would go w/out a frovatriptan, but by the time I went to bed there was no doubt in my mind that this was a migraine. It made no sense to try not to treat it at that point so I took the frovatriptan.

I woke up feeling great!

At first I thought I would have to cancel my great-niece's photo shoot because I had to go buy backdrop material first and she lives an hour away. It will make for a busy day and I thought I may need to take it easy. But I've been feeling so good that I decided to go ahead and do it. It's just that I'm trying to stay w/in my 2 frova's a week parameters. I DON'T want to go to Urgent Care because I get the third headache that I am not supposed to treat, AND I do not want to lay around miserable because I can't treat it.

That's why I have to take care of myself if I need to, keep things low key and be careful about my eating and my exercising. *Unfortunately it looks like I won't get to go walking today....*

Last night showed me that if the Botox helps, that doesn't mean I can just start shoving anything in my mouth that I want to. I'll need to continue watching what I eat/drink w/ all the other migraine prevention things I am learning to do.

Before Botox Photo

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???????