"Normal" Life

By jennyc Monday, March 17, 2008

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This pain-free week, I've spent some wonderful days with my family! I've played board games with the kids, gone to a hockey game, watched my children do several Easter egg hunts...I guess there's nothing much exciting about all of these things (to the "average" person). For me, though, these moments are very special! I try to make as much of these days as possible!

I know that my nerve blocks and rescue meds do not cure my migraine disease. I know the migraines will return--but I hold out hope that my newest preventive combo will make my attacks much more manageable. Right now, these things give me little glimpses into what life might be like without chronic pain. It'd be wonderful if EVERY day were pain-free...but then I wonder, would my days mean as much to me as they do now? Or would I take things for granted?

As much as I hate migraine disease, I know it has made me more aware of just how special "normal" life can be...

Heart jenny

A conversation with my medications.

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Comments (6) | Add comment

Eileen Gray

3/17/08 8:47pm

Jenny!! Cry I hate when you make me do this girl! Hey at least they are happy tears!

I know what you mean about the "migraine free" time. You try to cram in as much as you can because you don't know how long it will last and you want to make the very best of it! It's like working on someone else's clock.

I never thought I would love seeing doctors - but yes! My new neuro is the bomb! He rocks! He "gets it" because he too is a sufferer.

I think that if it came down to it, even with my dislike of needles, I too would be doing a happy dance on nerve block days!! LOL Knowing that you have some time off from the pain and depression that it causes - even if it's not a cure - at least it gives you some time of clarity to think of the next step.

I'm so happy you and your doctor are making such a great team! You, my dear, have come such a long way from when you first got here. I know we all still have so much further to go, but I am so proud of you!

Ok, I'm going before my keyboard is soaked in tears.

Yvonne

3/20/08 9:12am

Jenny,

When I got to the end of your post, I realized it was you. My heart went out to you immediately. You have been through so much.

I'm glad to hear you are making improvements and have got to spend some quality time with your family.

I will keep you in my prayers.

Yvonne-MigraineMom

Megan Oltman, Health Guide

3/20/08 10:20am

Jenny bless you for grabbing onto all the bits of normal time you can! That is our challenge. I don't know if we'd go back to being oblivious and ungrateful if the pain all went away - but just that we need to make the most of this given moment since it's the only one we know for sure we have. I'm so glad for you that you are getting pain-free time!

Heart Megan

Karen L

3/20/08 2:22pm

Hi Jenny. I completely understand everything you've said. A few years ago when I had Botox injections in the same areas, I got that "glimpse" at normal life too. Unfortunately, it didn't last and in the end, it almost felt like a cruel joke to me. The places on your head that you mentioned are the same places I mentioned in a post months ago that I had operated on. They cut my occipital muscle and the nerve endings at the four trigger points on my hairline. That ended up not working for me but, if you are getting this kind of relief from nerve blocks, you may want to look into this surgery. It has an extremely high success rate - I was just one of the unlucky ones.

I know the desperation you have felt so well. I just want to cry when I read about others going through it.

3/21/08 12:20pm

Jenny, you have given me such hope! Chronic pain is a nightmare, as we know. Don't worry about taking the good days for granted. Once the sun shines through those dark days chronic pain, you only have to REMEMBER the shadows, or maybe glance at a shadow now and again, to recall the nightmare.

I am so excited for you! And your nerve blocks seem to be working, which give me hope too! I am going to ask my new pain specialist if he'll add trigger points to the nerve blocks. Maybe that will help me too.

Thanks again for posting these words of hope!

Kelly, FlywithHope

4/ 8/08 1:12pm

Jenny,

I'm a few weeks late in reading this sharepost. But, it made me cry. I felt like I could've written parts of it.

When you talked about hanging on by a thread and how it feels like the pain is going to swallow you whole and never-ending. Oh my, I know that myself.

I also seem to have a week or so of decreased pain time. It has started to become a pattern for me, and I know what you mean, I cherish it so much. And when I am migraining, I try to remember those times and know that they will come again.

I'm hoping and praying that the nerve blocks will last longer and longer for you.

Heart Kelly, Flywithhope

"Normal" Life

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