No 'Grain, No Gain

Another migrane.

Woke up with the dim threat of the approaching storm. Maybe coffee will clear this up.

Nope, here he comes.

This wasn't the fall-on-the-floor, writhe and moan for two hours in a dark room, seeing fireworks explode in my skull and hearing every sound on earth migrane. Those are horrible. This was the farm team: more like someone trying to pry my right eyeball out with a large screwdriver. Tylenol actually provided some palliation, though the demon couldn't be completely exorcised: it must leave of its own accord.

I sat in my livingroom all day with the curtains drawn and tried to get some work and reading done on the computer, getting up every few hours to pop another pair of Tylenol. A kind of uneasy, dug-in, WWI-type war of attrition. He let me see, walk, and think; I recognized his sovereinty over my nervous system and lived in visible fear of a major offensive.

Don't think this was a picnic. When I say "lived in fear of a major offensive," I don't mean to imply that I was distant from the battle No, siree. There was constant sniping and small-caliber gunfire, the ground was constantly vibrating from the mortar shells, and an occasional rocket attack, which felt like an ice pick had been plunged into the top of my head. Try to read the news, or get off the couch with an ice pick in your head. How about a little fire, Scarecrow?

I went outside and drove two blocks to the store about 7PM. Forgot to take sunglasses, and heading west into the sunset was a mistake. In the store, I was glad I had the shopping cart to hold onto after about ten minutes. I was getting a little shaky & shuffled along as if I had an energy-draining flu. I managed. And treated myself with ice cream.

So not debilitating, but still incapacitating to a great degree, and at it for more than twelve hours, which isn't at all unusual. I don't think the pain will keep me from falling asleep, so won't have to stay up most of the night until I'm so pain-exhausted I lose consciousness, and I'm grateful for that. And if I'm fortunate, everything will be rosey by morning. That's good, because I have a lot of papers to grade that I didn't get to today.