Sick Day and Some Thoughts

For the past three days I've had a cold that has ranged from bad to blah to very bad. Right now I'm almost on the mend, though I did need the extra day off work.

Last night was downright terrifying. Let me start back a bit. Tuesday I still felt gross and it was raining, so I decided to push all my errands off to Wednesday thinking I'd be feeling a bit better. Wednesday I happened to feel worse, but figured since it was my last day off, I'd make the most of it. The previous day's rain made the air frigid (somewhere in the 30's), so running around town was painful. I managed to get most of my list done (an oil change and haircut. Yes....my hair is now cut!). When I came home I felt miserable. My fever started to spike up and I had a terrible migraine. I ended up passing out around 7pm from the pain, waking up occasionally, crying because it hurt so much. My husband ended up joining me in bed around 9 or so. I think that was when my migraine was at it's worst. I had taken Tylenol for it, but it had no effect. I just grabbed my head and applied pressure and cried hoping that some pain would leave. Instead I started seeing flashing lights. At first I thought I imagined it, but it happened a couple of times and at one point my vision in my left eye was blurred. I had never had migraines with auras before and it scared me for one particular reason. If any of you take birth control pills, then your doctor has probably mentioned the risks of blood clots and strokes. Although it is not a high risk, it is still a risk. There are some things that increase these risks: if you smoke and if you have migraines with auras. I get migraines 2-3 times a year, and this is the first one with an aura (that I can remember; there was only one other migraine that was worse than this one).

I called in sick today and my migraine stuck with up until about an hour ago. With last night still fresh in my mind (and my husband's) we have decided to talk to my doctor about other forms of birth control. Even if this was a once in my lifetime occurance, it's not worth the risk. I feel some nervousness about the changes we may have to make, but I also feel a peace about it. I wish my migraines didn't raise my risk factor, since the pill is affordable and convenient, but I know there are safer alternatives to family planning.

On an upside, I have been sitting in my husbands sweater, watching The Wonder Years, eating PB & J and drinking coffee. Since my headache is pretty much gone, I can't say that this day off is too bad. I'm also enjoying running my fingers through my new short hair. I went to the beauty school in town ($6 haircut. woot!), and the girl did a really great job. She had only been cutting hair since November. It didn't turn out exactly how I wanted it however...the teacher came over and snipped out all the fun imperfections. Oh well. I still like it better than the boring mop I had before.

Cheers!