If it wasn't for the constant sinus headache, these last few days would've been merely miserable. With the addition of the pain, they're as close to unendurable as my feeble brain can imagine.
Let's take Monday as an example.
The headache from Sunday was still in full force, kind of like a knife sticking into the middle of my brain, so there was no point in staying in bed after feeding the cat at 5:30 a.m. Might as well eat some breakfast. But first, gotta take the probiotic stuff (aka antacid) and then wait half an hour before eating because otherwise Bad Things Happen (not sure what, but the instructions say so).
Can't take analgesics with probiotics. They have opposing methodologies. One soothes the stomach, the other rips holes in it -- because everyone knows a bleeding stomach is the first step on the pathway to being pain-free! (Also liver damage and heart damage, but who's counting?) So my plan is to wait until about an hour after I get to work, after everything is going gangbusters in the digestive department, and then dose up with the analgesics to lower the inclination for my head to explode.
Only ... I forgot to stock up on the migraine meds in my little portable med kit. And they don't have meds at work (because lawsuits). So unless I'm willing to run out to the store and purchase some additional meds, I'm outta luck.
There's simply too much going on at work for me to take a break, so I decide to tough it out. Like an idiot. Which means I'm extremely busy and extremely in pain, all at the same time.
Then during lunch I decide to email the guy who is supposed to provide a semi-truck and driver for our upcoming Marching Band Invitational, to let him know what time we'll need the driver to come pull the trailer. Didn't think it was a big deal. Our band is going to perform at 9:15 pm, so we'll leave the school parking lot around 7 and get to the performance site in plenty of time.
The reply to my message is curt and too the point: the driver cannot work after 6 pm because then they'd have to pay him overtime, and they can't do that.
Flabbergasted. That's me. Just simply flabbergasted. Huh?? After all this time (years) providing us with a semi and a driver to drive it, they balk because they'll have to pay a little overtime? For a tax-deductable, community-supportive event??
As the guy in charge of Transportation for the Marching Band, now I'm in a panic. Less than a week away, and I don't have a driver or a truck to haul our trailer! Crisis time!
A quick email to the Band directors results in a school-wide plea for anyone who knows of anyone who might be able to drive. And provide a truck. (Although we can probably rent one.) My anxiety level rises ...
Meanwhile, at work, we're hosting a group of tours through our aircraft systems demonstrator. One of the participants, while playing with our simulator, manages to break a major component -- one of those components that is irreplaceable due to being obsoleted. And we have more demos coming this week! More panic time! And my anxiety level increases even more ...
At the business end of a very long day, my headache has not abated, but it is time to head over to the school for Marching Band practice. No time for dinner; I have to be there early because we are going to be on the field tonight. And when I get to the school, none of my pit crew are there. Exasperated, I start taking equipment out of the trailer and down to the field. Some of my crew show up about the time I get back to the trailer for another load. Finally! Now we can kick this thing into high gear. Only, they don't. Instead, they complain that I'm rushing. I look at my watch: we were supposed to be on the field by 6:15 and it's now 6:30! How can this be rushing??
Finally get all the instruments down to the field. I had asked the other guys to check the tire pressure on our carts once they got down to the field, but they didn't. Not sure why. So I grab one of 'em and together we start to check the tires. Three are near-flat, and one of those has the stem all twisted around so bad that the pump won't work with it. So we have to pull that wheel off the cart (while the Percussion is playing their instrument) and fix it. Then pump up the other ones.
After practice, my crew takes the instruments back to the trailer while I put away the podiums and lock all the gates in the stadium. In the dark. Because the directors have shut off the lights -- to save money? -- while I was still out there. My blood pressure is climbing...
Back at the school building, I had hoped that most of the carts would already be put away and we would be ready to go home. But most of the carts were still sitting in the parking lot, waiting to be loaded into the little trailer. So it's another half an hour before I'm able to finally call it a night and head home. Exhausted. Head still hurting. Ready for bed.
But there is another crisis: Adam's car is acting up again. He hit a pothole or two on the way back from school and now the wheel is making a "grinding" noise.
I'm too tired to deal with it. He doesn't have to be at school til 5 pm tomorrow. I'll get up early and take care of it. My head is screaming for bed.
==
It's so hard to get out of bed in the morning, so I don't. At least, not til eight. Then after a quick bit of breakfast toast, it's out to the garage to find out what is going on with Adam's car.
It doesn't take long. In fact, it's so obvious, it hurts. One of the bolts that holds the brake caliper is missing. Which means that Doofus (me) didn't torque it down correctly, and it shook itself loose while Adam was driving, and the pothole caused it to leap from its screwy prison to freedom.
Lucky for him it was the lower bolt. Had it been the upper bolt, the forward motion of the rotor would've jammed the caliper and pad assembly and brought the car to a shuddering and rather sudden stop. As it was, it free-floated on the rotor and, although grinding metal and sounding horrible, it didn't do any permanent damage.
I had extra bolts, so I put one in place and torqued it down. And double-checked all the rest of the bolts for good measure. Then took his car to work for a test drive. And it worked fine.
But my head still hurt. All day long. Even now.
Cheryl says ragweed is extra-high right now. So not even my allergy shots are enough to thwart the Evil Allergy!
==
In other news, of the far more interesting type, James will be coming home in late October. We can't wait to see him!
Let's take Monday as an example.
The headache from Sunday was still in full force, kind of like a knife sticking into the middle of my brain, so there was no point in staying in bed after feeding the cat at 5:30 a.m. Might as well eat some breakfast. But first, gotta take the probiotic stuff (aka antacid) and then wait half an hour before eating because otherwise Bad Things Happen (not sure what, but the instructions say so).
Can't take analgesics with probiotics. They have opposing methodologies. One soothes the stomach, the other rips holes in it -- because everyone knows a bleeding stomach is the first step on the pathway to being pain-free! (Also liver damage and heart damage, but who's counting?) So my plan is to wait until about an hour after I get to work, after everything is going gangbusters in the digestive department, and then dose up with the analgesics to lower the inclination for my head to explode.
Only ... I forgot to stock up on the migraine meds in my little portable med kit. And they don't have meds at work (because lawsuits). So unless I'm willing to run out to the store and purchase some additional meds, I'm outta luck.
There's simply too much going on at work for me to take a break, so I decide to tough it out. Like an idiot. Which means I'm extremely busy and extremely in pain, all at the same time.
Then during lunch I decide to email the guy who is supposed to provide a semi-truck and driver for our upcoming Marching Band Invitational, to let him know what time we'll need the driver to come pull the trailer. Didn't think it was a big deal. Our band is going to perform at 9:15 pm, so we'll leave the school parking lot around 7 and get to the performance site in plenty of time.
The reply to my message is curt and too the point: the driver cannot work after 6 pm because then they'd have to pay him overtime, and they can't do that.
Flabbergasted. That's me. Just simply flabbergasted. Huh?? After all this time (years) providing us with a semi and a driver to drive it, they balk because they'll have to pay a little overtime? For a tax-deductable, community-supportive event??
As the guy in charge of Transportation for the Marching Band, now I'm in a panic. Less than a week away, and I don't have a driver or a truck to haul our trailer! Crisis time!
A quick email to the Band directors results in a school-wide plea for anyone who knows of anyone who might be able to drive. And provide a truck. (Although we can probably rent one.) My anxiety level rises ...
Meanwhile, at work, we're hosting a group of tours through our aircraft systems demonstrator. One of the participants, while playing with our simulator, manages to break a major component -- one of those components that is irreplaceable due to being obsoleted. And we have more demos coming this week! More panic time! And my anxiety level increases even more ...
At the business end of a very long day, my headache has not abated, but it is time to head over to the school for Marching Band practice. No time for dinner; I have to be there early because we are going to be on the field tonight. And when I get to the school, none of my pit crew are there. Exasperated, I start taking equipment out of the trailer and down to the field. Some of my crew show up about the time I get back to the trailer for another load. Finally! Now we can kick this thing into high gear. Only, they don't. Instead, they complain that I'm rushing. I look at my watch: we were supposed to be on the field by 6:15 and it's now 6:30! How can this be rushing??
Finally get all the instruments down to the field. I had asked the other guys to check the tire pressure on our carts once they got down to the field, but they didn't. Not sure why. So I grab one of 'em and together we start to check the tires. Three are near-flat, and one of those has the stem all twisted around so bad that the pump won't work with it. So we have to pull that wheel off the cart (while the Percussion is playing their instrument) and fix it. Then pump up the other ones.
After practice, my crew takes the instruments back to the trailer while I put away the podiums and lock all the gates in the stadium. In the dark. Because the directors have shut off the lights -- to save money? -- while I was still out there. My blood pressure is climbing...
Back at the school building, I had hoped that most of the carts would already be put away and we would be ready to go home. But most of the carts were still sitting in the parking lot, waiting to be loaded into the little trailer. So it's another half an hour before I'm able to finally call it a night and head home. Exhausted. Head still hurting. Ready for bed.
But there is another crisis: Adam's car is acting up again. He hit a pothole or two on the way back from school and now the wheel is making a "grinding" noise.
I'm too tired to deal with it. He doesn't have to be at school til 5 pm tomorrow. I'll get up early and take care of it. My head is screaming for bed.
==
It's so hard to get out of bed in the morning, so I don't. At least, not til eight. Then after a quick bit of breakfast toast, it's out to the garage to find out what is going on with Adam's car.
It doesn't take long. In fact, it's so obvious, it hurts. One of the bolts that holds the brake caliper is missing. Which means that Doofus (me) didn't torque it down correctly, and it shook itself loose while Adam was driving, and the pothole caused it to leap from its screwy prison to freedom.
Lucky for him it was the lower bolt. Had it been the upper bolt, the forward motion of the rotor would've jammed the caliper and pad assembly and brought the car to a shuddering and rather sudden stop. As it was, it free-floated on the rotor and, although grinding metal and sounding horrible, it didn't do any permanent damage.
I had extra bolts, so I put one in place and torqued it down. And double-checked all the rest of the bolts for good measure. Then took his car to work for a test drive. And it worked fine.
But my head still hurt. All day long. Even now.
Cheryl says ragweed is extra-high right now. So not even my allergy shots are enough to thwart the Evil Allergy!
==
In other news, of the far more interesting type, James will be coming home in late October. We can't wait to see him!
2 comments:
Certainly sounds like you've been miserable. Sorry to hear that! I hope things work out for your truck and driver combo. We've got four people qualified to drive our church van, but three of them are in poor health, so sometimes we are without a driver. Do you do the nasal washes? Caleb gets some relief that way. It's been so bad around here, he's actually volunteered to take claritin. He never takes drugs, if he can help it. Guess he decided he couldn't help it. Must be worse all over the country.
Haven't done the nasal washes. Been doing the nasal decongestant, though. Does that count? Worst part of the whole deal is that the headache sometimes goes down to a dull roar, but it's always there, just waiting to ramp up into a hurricane. Hard to get motivated to do anything around the house when the ol' brain can't think. Just wanna lay down and nap. But there's too many things to do around here. Basement, basement, and more basement.
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