Category: Family

Migraines

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As we were getting ready for dinner, I had a migraine. It had all the classic symptoms with my eyes “going” as I call
it, so I immediately took two Excedrin Migraine pills with some water and bread to keep it down and then the pain hit. And it lasted for eight hours.

Granted, if I HADN’T taken those pills, I would have been horribly sick to my stomach and in worse pain for a longer
period of time, but this wasn’t great just the same. It was tolerable. I got up and ate a bowl of the spaghetti that Dave had cooked up for dinner about two hours later and then went right back to bed.

Thankfully the pain was gone on Monday morning, but I had the hit by a train feeling that my family continues to compare it to after a migraine.

Both my sisters, aunt and mother have migraines. Apparently, once you hit menopause they go away…at least in our
family. I hope that’s the case with me!

Although I haven’t been able to read any conclusive evidence that aneurysm sufferers also have migraines, I couldn’t
help but think that some of the head pain I was just experiencing with this one was added on to because of the aneurysm. I think people who have aneurysms don’t and do have migraines, so I haven’t read a direct connection. I hope so,
for may family’s’ sake.

Of course because the Excedrin has caffeine and Aspirin in it, I was wide awake the entire time, which then leads me to think in bed…and that’s never good! LOL I think about my time in the hospital and the pain I endured there and what IF this isn’t a migraine and another aneurysm developing…it all comes to light when the might starts playing tricks on you under the influence of drugs. I hate that.

Second Day of Work

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I promise I won’t bore anyone who might be reading this with a daily account of each day I go into work, but the second
day went better than the first.

I felt better and more comfortable there this time and still only worked about 5 hours. I don’t want to push it. I
have a headache tonight, but nothing as bad as it was Tuesday night. Dave dropped me off and picked me up again.

A few people have started to ask me some more pointed questions about what happened. I think most people don’t understand it or know what an aneurysm really is. I know I didn’t know that much before I had one.

I’m still VERY tired though. Yawning a lot and my eye lids are extremely heavy. I tried a few times to just sit and
close my eye at my desk. Right now my eyes are bothering me the most at work. Getting used to “new” surroundings again and new lighting, a different monitor from home. It’s all different.

It feels good to be useful and needed again though and to have a little bit of my independence back.

Today is the 4 month anniversary (or annieversary
as they say on the Brain Community message board.) of the rupture. I’m doing pretty good considering what COULD have happened. I have to keep reminding myself of that when I get frustrated. I survived.

First Day Back at Work

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I went in for my first day of work yesterday. I showered the night before, so all I would have to do was fix my hair and face, eat breakfast and get my clothes pressed. Turns out, that may have been too much! LOL At least I’m not used to doing those things in a hurry anymore, so I was tired before I ever sat down in the car. Dave drove me to work.

Two other people have been using my office since I was last there on Oct. 4th, so I spend most of the day taking back my office, computer and my files. I had a lot of filing to do.

Just as it was when I arrive home from the hospital, it was a bit of a time warp in my office. File folders waiting for jobs to be completed and filed the week of Oct. 5th, were still sitting there on my desk. The catalog pages I had completed and had proofed, were sitting on my desk. My clock had stopped. My calendar on the wall was still on October. Just very strange. I had to become reacquainted with my office and my “stuff”.

I brought along some healthy snacks to munch on and made myself get up from my computer and walk down to the lunchroom to get them, as well as drank a lot of water. I was hoping to work until 4:00, which a lot of people thought highly ambitious my first day back. Turns out, they may have been right. Around noon time, I was pretty sure I shouldn’t push it until 4:00. I listened to my body today. I knew I probably COULD stay there until 4:00, but knew I SHOULDN’T.

So, after I ate and closed my eyes again for 10 minutes, for the 2nd time that day, I let Dave know I would need to come home. God bless him, he left immediately and drove the 30 miles up to pick me up. I was horribly tired and had a pretty nasty headache for about four hours in the evening.

Today, my head feels better, but I’m really, really dragging. I’ll try the work thing again tomorrow and see if it
continues to get better.

It was great to see everyone again. I really missed them and their humor. I laughed a lot, which I needed. I missed
the social interaction and feeling a part of something. It was small taste of getting my independence back again.

I am, by no means, ready for a 40 hours work week. But it’s a small step forward.

The Ultimate

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The day I was wheeled into the operating room for my coiling, my boyfriend Dave, quit smoking.

To my knowledge (and I’d know if he were at this point!) he hasn’t had a cigarette in almost three months. I’m so very proud of him and am so thankful he did that. He needed to. He has low-grade emphysema and it’s also not good for people with aneurysms. I seem to recall the ER Doctor saying something to Dave about it as I was leaving the ER to get
into the ambulance for transport.

Although it was a horrible situation that caused him to quit, I’m glad things turned out this way. It’s so nice NOT
to smell that first thing in the morning and to smell it on his clothes, car and breathe. I hope it continues.