April 17, 2014

Taking things slow

I had an MRI yesterday. It was a little difficult, because I had a terrible migraine, and hadn’t been feeling good the entire day. I drove myself to the hospital, which was a bad idea. There was no waiting time, which was a first, and which was a blessing. I went straight back to have my imaging done. I managed to zone out during the imaging, but it was hard, because I had the migraine, and MRI machines are VERY loud. Also, after the first set of images, they take me out of the machine, and inject contrast into my veins. Normally, it’s not an issue, but since I had just finished up the steroids, my veins were angry, and extra sensitive; the contrast made me feel even worse, which made it harder to ignore the jackhammering going on all around me.

When the whole thing was over, it was time to go home. I felt absolutely awful, and was not looking forward to driving home. My migraine was even worse, and I was definitely feeling the side effects of the contrast. When I was about halfway home, I started debating whether I should pull over and vomit on the side of the road, or if I could make it home first. I ended up speeding home (thank goodness I didn’t get a ticket) and running into the bathroom, when I was best friends with the toilet for a while. I got back in the car to go pick up the kids, who went to a friends house after school, but didn’t have to drive, because Troy pulled up with everyone. I went back inside, threw up some more, then went upstairs to bed.

I had Thaddeus bring me my emergency migraine pills, and I laid down with a heating pad around my neck and an ice pack at my temples. I tried to sleep, but the pounding my head was too much. Instead I just laid in my cold, quiet room and tried to not think about anything. At some point, I fell asleep, because when I woke up, it was dark outside, the house was quiet, and Troy was in bed next to me watching television. My migraine had receded enough that I could stand without needing to throw up, so I went downstairs and got my own drink. I appreciate that my family will fetch things for me, but it’s really nice to be able to care for myself.

This morning, I looked at the MRI scans. I’m not an expert at reading the images, but I’ve had enough that I know what is typical, and what is not. I definitely have active lesions and swelling, which confirms that I am having a relapse. My last MRI was practically clear, and this one was not. It’s still not as bad as the initial MRI though, that one was terrible. (That’s when all my doctors were astounded that I was still able to walk.)

Anyways, today I’m feeling better, and I have lots of things around the house that I need to catch up on. HOWEVER, I am NOT catching up on everything, because I know that if I do, that I will get sick again. So I’m sitting in bed, with my trusty heating pad, doing homework. When the kids get home, they’ll get some work assignments. Every time I think I have some sort of cleaning/chore routine worked out, I have to change it. Thankfully, we are familiar enough with all the housework in general, that it doesn’t kill us to switch things up. And on bad weeks, we have our M&M’s, and everyone knows that at the very least, these are the chores that must be done.