Friday afternoon

 This headache is, like, tidal.  It ebbs.  Then surges back.

I was OK long enough to do some laundry, take a shower, clean the litter boxes, go to my bank, go to Walmart - started coming back.  Big heavy black clouds sitting over my part of the city but no rain.  

It's more a tightness in my neck right now. I decided to try my aunt's sure fire fix (I haven't, before), one tylenol and one advil taken together.  We will see how that works.  I also have tightness in the front of my head and a drilling pain, off and on, in one or the other temples.  Just not a fun couple of days let me tell you.  

And I don't even know the trigger, most of the time I can point at something like chocolate or nuts and say "I ate that and got sick".  I keep yawning, too.  I was lying in bed at one point, a trusty cat by my side, thinking of the oxygen therapy they started doing for migraines, how it actually helped.  If I were a lotto winner I might have called someone to, literally, bring it.  

Couldn't hurt!  But I have to depend on room air and my lungs.  That was the nice thing about the check, I can order some more of the HEPA filters for the A/C.  I got some really nice ones from Amazon back in January I figured my system needed all the help it could get.  https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CR9JHWS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1  They certainly did the job and I will be getting more when the deposit clears.  Both Ron and I are allergic to cats.  This does a good job grabbing the dander.  

Although we are apparently very unusual in that we keep the thermostat pretty high.  When I tell other people that they can't believe it.  So the system does not run that much to be honest.  I am comfortable most of the time, unless I am wracked with a migraine or a hot flash, and I have pretty much nailed the hot flashes with the menopause herbs.  [Dong Quai, Wild Yam from Swanson vitamins)  I also have a fan pointed at my bed which helps.  But do I walk around saying "Oh, it's hot"?  No.  

That was one huge selling point for the City of Houston - it is nearly always warm and humid, which I prefer.  CA was cool and dry, most of the time, or cold and damp if you were talking about San Francisco.  Great if you appreciate 60 degrees and damp, overcast, weather.  Not really my thing although I do crave cold everything when I have a headache.  

Traditional Chinese Medicine would have a lot to say about that, that I have a heat imbalance and need to eat more fish, greens, cucumber, etc, "cold" foods, take "cold" herbs, etc.  I was into that for a while.  I found this herb, Radix Ophogonosis that was great for my dry allergy cough.  I used to buy it in China town.  Ron would go with me although one shop keeper said he was "bad luck" being blind and wouldn't let him in the store.  I took out my money, showed it to him, and said "I'm taking this with me" and stormed off, dragging Ron.  

I do tend to go Mama Bear around Ron.  One thing I bought today: a notebook to organize all his medical paperwork.  Actually he calls me the Pit Bull.  [laugh]  Guilty.  

Both Ron and I needed a protector growing up.  I think it is a little like my great-niece, she did not have that either.  Now that she is expecting I venture she will be an excellent mother because she understands her child needs a protector, and the child's needs will come first on occasion.  Ron and I may very well have been good parents in that regard, God will tell me one day.  

I absolutely believe it is God's will for me to be child free right now.  I was curious and looked up surrogates, and embryo adoption, so my google search history looks very pathetic.  But I was just curious.  Apparently an embryo adoption is about $3K.  That's not bad considering you may very well get a child out of that.  One without all the family curses.  [thumbs up]  I did find it sad they are legally seen as property and not humans.  I am a pro lifer and believe life starts at conception so an embryo is human...but not all see it that way.  

The last couple days I was recalling when I was a little girl with these migraines saying "Mommy" (I called my stepmother Mommy/Mom up until about age 16) "My head hurts" and I would be sobbing with pain which would of course make the pain worse.  I am glad I didn't do that to a child.  

That would be awful.  Ron is asleep that seizure pill is great for knocking him out.  He is good about asking is it time for his pills and taking them when I give them.  He did stop taking the vitamins.  Oh, well.  I will accept that as long as I can keep getting the prescriptions into him.  And he doesn't want another trip to the ER.  

I did up all our pills together.  That was pretty comical, I had to "fix" it a few times.  But Ron has all his meds on the table and I have all mine over by my computer.  On occasion, rarely, I have messed up doing my own pills so I am vigilant about checking to make sure it's all there.   

Next time, I will sit down, do his, finish, do mine.  Too easy to fork it up.  I didn't... but I could have.  So I like to be smart.  

The Tylenol/Advil cocktail did help considerably.  That is a nice surprise.  Oh, and I almost forgot, I got some of the Voltaren arthritis cream for Ron.  He is eager to try it but says nothing hurts right now.  He was hurting earlier before I left which is why I got it.  It used to be prescription, and very expensive.  A doctor had written some for him but we couldn't afford it.  Now we will see if it helps and I feel OK about a $10 experiment, especially if it helps.  If it does help I will get a couple more tubes next time I am flush and will have it on hand.  

I just hate to see him suffer; I want to feel equipped to deal with his issues.  Anything that can help is welcome in my tool chest.  

Speaking of tools I did get my medication on board.  Hopefully that will also help the headache.  Depakote is supposed to be good for that.  

I am going to have to ask my doctor about Keppra as it is a seizure drug, and seizure drugs are often used for bipolar disorder.  Do I want to take it?  No,what I take works for me.  But I am curious to see if it is used, as well.  Many other seizure drugs are commonly used for migraines and or bipolar now.  It works for some reason on all conditions.  One reason I started on the Depakote.  It is supposed to help with headaches.  

I am unsure if it has, actually.  But it does help with the mixed episodes so I will do it for that.  

I need to go to bed pretty soon if I am getting up at 5 to give Ron his medicine.  I am very uptight about every 12 hours on the dot.  I was looking through the discharge papers and they said most repeat seizures are from not taking medication as directed.  That makes sense and that is nearly entirely preventable.  

I do need to make up a card I can carry in case I am injured and unable to talk so they would know to send help for Ron.  And help for the cats as well.  But most people are really only going to care about Ron.  

Well, I am feeling pretty human so glad I tried the cocktail.  I can do that again I have plenty of both Ibuprofen and Tylenol.  Hopefully I will sleep OK tonight too.  I haven't the last couple nights which is bad.  

Happily I haven't had to do much vending work and Ron has been pretty low key.  I can sleep in tomorrow after I give him his medication.  

And my pills agreed with the glass of milk and a granola bar.  I was a little worried about that.