Living with Migraines

We’re heading to the mountains this weekend for two days of skiing.  Can’t wait!!  I only manage to go once a year now, but it is still a wonderful chance to get away and do something I love.  Aside from the headache I usually get the first day or two from being in high altitude, it’s a happy, happy time.

I see the physical therapist tomorrow that I used to see.  She works on my shoulders and neck, helping relieve the tension, as well as working on me with my posture and exercises I can do at home to relieve tension and increase the strength in those muscles.   She’s a wonderful person and I always enjoy chatting with her - it will be nice to see her again.

I have my appointment tomorrow at the headache clinic.  This evening, I’ll go through my journal and make some notes about my migraine history over the past few months, so that I have some recent ‘data’ to discuss with them.

I need to schedule a visit to the eye doctor, speaking of appointments.  Trying to take ballet class without being able to see clearly is less than ideal, but wearing my glasses doesn’t always work well either.

The rain is pouring down right now, and I love sitting here just listening to it.  I wish it rain more often.  I don’t mind rain at all.  It’s the dreary, cloudy days where nothing seems to happen that wear down my spirit.  But rain is action, something to hear, smell, see and feel!  And hopefully, it also means SNOW for when we go skiing next month!

Today is Presidents’ Day, and the three of us are going roller skating today. We have some free passes, and we’re going to call some friends and see if they can join us. A couple of years ago, DD gave me roller skates for Christmas. They’re very similar to the skates I had growing up - white with pink wheels. I think we’ll have a good time today! I haven’t felt all that great this weekend, but today I feel pretty good and I intend to keep on feeling good!!

We got some rain last night which was a very pleasant change for the winds two days ago. I love rain and wish we had more of it, but So Cal just doesn’t get a lot of rain most years.

It is incredibly windy today - so windy that the sound of it woke me up early this morning! I could hear our patio furniture blowing over. I hate these hot East winds, and so does my head. I feel pretty good this morning, so I’ll take that as a good sign and do what I can to hold onto it.

Ballet was tough last night, and I felt rather flustered several (OK, more than just several) times during barre and center. But I’m learning to recognize those feelings creeping up and trying to place them out of the way, where they belong, so that I can continue to try and concentrate, and give the combinations my best effort. My classmates (the regulars) are starting to get to know me a bit better too, and I could see that at one point a couple of them were reaching out (figuratively) to me last night during one particularly confusing turning combination. It’s nice to feel a little bit “known” there now, after 5-6 months of lessons.

I am so glad to have a day off this Monday!  DH has the day off too, so all three of us can be home together, or go do something together.  Nice! :)  DD has a party to attend tomorrow, but other than that we are plan-free.

I’ve got twinges of a headache nipping at me right now.  I’ll take some advil and then head off to ballet in an hour or so.

Hope everyone has a good weekend!

For some reason, my muscles in my neck, shoulders and back have been exceptionally tight the past couple of days.  I woke up in minor pain from it this morning (what a great way to face the day).    I keep trying to roll my shoulders around, stretch out gently, but it really isn’t helping.  I need someone to get in there and really loosen everything up.  Wish I could do that tomorrow instead of working. ;)  Wouldn’t that be nice?

Last weekend was fun, celebrating DD’s birthday.  Monday, however, she stayed home from school, sick, and I stayed home with her.  She’s feeling better now, thankfully.  Sometimes just taking one day to rest and recuperate goes a long way towards healing.

I got up early today, for some reason.  Normally I get up between 6:15 and 6:30, but today I was awake and ready to get up at 5:40 when DH’s alarm went off.  This almost never happens to me - I’m the kind of person who rolls over and goes right back to sleep, hitting the snooze once or twice.   But for whatever reason, my body was ready to be awake and out of bed, so I listened to it.  It was nice to have a less hectic morning, I must admit.

I finished Eat, Pray, Love and need to write up my review of it.  By and large, I’m glad I read it and found it to be mostly inspiring and thought-provoking.  I still found it hard to get past the fact that she was basically paid to go off for a year and do exactly as she pleased, but I also need to remind myself that she wasn’t writing a how-to book for finding God or pleasure.  She was merely recounting her own life experiences and weaving them into a tale for others to read and do wiht as they please.

Today is my daughter’s 7th birthday!  We’re having a  small party in a couple of hours.  Nearly everything is ready, aside from frosting the cupcakes and slicing some cheese for sandwiches.  We’ve got half chocolate cupcakes that we’ll frost with homemade chocolate buttercream frosting and half confetti cupcakes (white with sprinkles) that we’ll frost with regular buttercream frosting tinted pink.  Yummy!

DD crawled into bed with us at some point last night, so I was able to say happy birthday to her immediately upon waking. 

Been feeling mildly achy for going on three days now but am enjoying this time of the year regardless.   Celebrating my daughter’s existence does that for me.