Migraine

Woke up this morning with a bad migraine. That hasn’t happened in a long time, thankfully. I used to get them more frequently, but I’ve been mostly free of them for months? a year? Something.

I have a friend who once told me that he doesn’t know that he’s had ever had a headache that he could remember. We almost weren’t friends after that.

I have a bum left shoulder that gives me grief from time to time. I think it’s partly to blame for the headache this time. I overused it yesterday. I woke rather nauseated, and my eyes hurt. I crawled out of bed, went and woke the children, found ibuprofen, and crawled back into bed.

Fifteen minutes later, the boys came into our room, turned on the light, jumped on the bed, and commenced with any number of heinous cheerful things. I groaned. Steph got them out pretty quickly. She knows how I get when a migraine hits.

I stayed in bed as long as I could, but I had to milk. Steph was leaving at 7:30 to go visit Alicia, per Walter’s request. I told her goodbye as I stumbled out the front door, keeping my eyes closed and covered as much as possible. I’ve never been drunk or had a hangover, but the pain of a migraine makes me think it may be similar.

The ibuprofen was helping. As the pain lessened, so did the nausea. I milked the cow and goats in total silence. The girls came by, screaming delightfully about something glorious they’d found. I closed my eyes and asked them to please go away. Silently. Unfortunately, they’ve seen me like this before, so they slipped away and shrieked joyfully at each other out in the field.

Why does everything have to be so loud!

By the time I’d strained the milk, I was coming out of the cloud of pain. I made coffee and had a cup. That helped. An hour or so after the ibuprofen, I was in a more functioning mode. I helped the children with their food before going to sit in the dark. My eyes were still tender.

I was ready to go ahead with devotions by the time they were finished eating. We sang, and it only slightly made me want to pull out my hair. Noise is a killer when you have a migraine. I tried braiding the girls’ hair. Not easy to do with your eyes shut.

The children went to clean up the kitchen. I sat on the couch with my eyes covered while monitoring the boys. They could mostly play on the swings just outside, which was fine. Walter was a bit grouchy, so I put him down for a nap.

Finally, Steph came home. I think it was around 10:30. Alicia had sent a sack of apples home. I took the wheelbarrow out to the road to bring them in for Steph.

She made pancakes for brunch. I ate a couple, then went back to bed. I stayed there until mid-afternoon. I got up feeling a a fair bit better; it was only a throbbing headache in my left eye by this point. Much more manageable.

I took more pain killer and went to write in the office. Who turned up the brightness on this machine?!

Sermon is prepped. The cows and goats are in. I need to go milk again.

Pro tip for productivity: Avoid migraines.