Day 19

This headache!  Nineteen days now... I am better.  I feel better.  I still have a head ache, but on a scale of 1 to 10 I would say it is a 1.   I am fine. Really.  In the grand scheme of things, I think I am pretty good.

I'm blogging this because it is too much to put on a facebook post.  Those of you who care enough will click on the link and read all about it.  If you do not, I will spare you.

I went to the Medical Center in Elberton on day 5 and saw the nurse practitioner.  She prescribed migraine medication and it did nothing for me.  Other than make me light headed on top of the head ache.  I went back that Friday (day 7) and saw Dr. Jonathan Poon.  He said maybe it's a cluster headache.  We'll get you some oxygen and an MRI next week.

It turns out it takes an act of congress to get oxygen for a headache.  I finally got my tank four days after seeing the doctor.  That was day 11.  I actually got a second tank from a different supplier that came on day 14 that sits untouched.  On a side note, one of the delivery guys told me I should do mushrooms - that he has seen it work on other patients.  We'll call that plan B.

Anyway, day 14 rolls around, and my headache is down to a 2-3 on the pain scale.  I get my MRI and discover it is a special kind of torture - especially with a headache.  Laying in that coffin, listening to those hideous noises with a head ache....Thank goodness I've been meditating and had that to fall back on.  Horrible.  At this point I have given up on all forms of pain medication.  I do my oxygen 3 times a day, I take magnesium oxide and vitamin B2, and go about my day because what else can you do.

Monday evening Dr. Poon calls me at the end of the day to tell me the MRI was in.  No tumors, nothing extreme, but there are a few findings.  One, I have damage to my sinuses from previous sinus infections and we need to treat that aggressively because it is affecting my level of pain.  And two, there are some spots that he does not like, and a Neurologist should look at them.  He is not certain; after all, he is not a specialist.  But sometimes these type of spots can be a sign of MS.  So better safe than sorry.

MS.

I try to calm myself down.  I don't even tell Michael because he is getting up at 3:45 in the morning to drive a truck load of plants to Atlanta, and the last thing he needs is this distraction.  Plus, if it were that serious they would rush me to the neurologist right away, right?  The next morning the doctor's nurse calls me and says "I got you in to see the Neurologist tomorrow.  Can you make it?" Um... sure.  SHIT!  Tomorrow?! No Bueno.

I tell Michael, we tell each other all the things you tell each other to try to make yourself feel better.  That night I take Benadryl because otherwise I won't sleep.

The amount of paperwork I had to fill out at the Neurologist was insane.  The whole time I'm thinking of President Bartlett on The West Wing..."relapsing remitting non fatal..."

One thing I learned today, is that the nurses in the Athens area must refer to this Neurologist as Dr. McDreamy... how could they not?  Super nice and very good looking.  He thinks I have a migraine.  A MIGRAINE!!!! a three week long (so far) migraine.  He says migraines come in different forms.  Apparently mine like quality over quantity.  I had a few in my 20s.  I have a 10 day headache in my 30s.  His thought is that this is how I get migraines.  He is not concerned with the spots on the MRI because they would be consistent with the migraine long term too.  I do not have other symptoms of MS, so he is not that worried.  He can't completely disregard it though.  It's possible, but I would need a battery of invasive tests to confirm something he doesn't think is really there.  He sent me to get blood work done -  13 tubes of blood ya'll! (They were not all the way full, but still 13?) He also wants me to go back in four moths for a follow up and see how my headaches are.  He will probably get me a second MRI then to see if there are any changes to be concerned with. 

All in all, he was very kind, very calm, and very cute so what can be wrong?  Oh!  I still have a headache though... And the neurological exam was interesting.  In the last two weeks I have learned a lot about migraines, cluster headaches, MS, and supplements.  In fact, Dr. McDreamy says of all the things I have done for my headache he bets the most effective are the Magnesium and the B2.  How about that? 

Most of all I have learned just how much we take for granted feeling well.  I am healthy 95% of time, and I take it for granted.  I'm going to try not to do that ever again.  If I do, remind me of the 3 week head ache I had in 2017, will ya?

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