Please excuse my absence....
But just after I took this photo:
I stood up and my head exploded. Well, it felt like it did anyway. I had five minutes of intense pressure and pain, followed by 15 minutes of throbbing. Then, when the throbbing subsided, a sharp ache settled in.
I'd had a nagging headache for the few days preceding the "explosion", and since I don't get headaches, this was all fairly alarming to me. (It didn't help either that I'd just read an article about a guy who suffered a brain haemorrhage while at the gym and died a half hour later!)
After two days of the sharp headache, I saw my doctor and the good news was that there didn't appear to be anything seriously wrong with me. The bad news was, the only remaining diagnosis was "migraine".
Initially, I thought he had to be wrong. Surely I couldn't feel that awful and there not be anything terribly wrong! Then I learned all about migraines, and while it still amazes me that anyone can suffer with them and yet still be perfectly healthy, I do believe his diagnosis was correct.
Headache lasting 4 - 72 hours when untreated: check! Unlilateral location, pulsating quality, moderate or severe pain intensity, aggravation by or causing avoidance of routine physical activity, photophobia and phonophobia: check, check, check, check and check!
The photophobia (aversion to light) made taking photos pretty much impossible. I could not believe how much pain just walking outside caused! I spent a lot of time shuffling around like a mole, with my eyes open only the tiniest amount necessary.
Two weeks on and the pain still comes and goes. And even though the doctor diagnosed migraine, he didn't prescribe anything, just recommended an over-the-counter painkiller, which dulls the pain for a time but doesn't stop it entirely. My back aches too, so I'm going to see a chiropractor to see if that helps things.
This weekend wasn't too bad though, which was lucky because we had two very high-maintenance boys stay with us for the weekend! They are two of four children that belong to one of my best friends. It was lucky in a way that they came, because we took all the kids to the park (to save the house from being completely demolished!) and it gave me the motivation to push through the pain and start snapping again.
At first I got really frustrated, because it had been so long and I felt uncomfortable with my camera, like I didn't know what I was doing anymore. I kept at it though, and I'm glad I did. While I don't think any of the photos I took were great, some of them were good enough to make me keep going.
Friends will be able to see all the photos, so? What do you think?
