Sunday, November 8, 2020

It's The Little Things

 For the past 10 days or so, my constant companion has been a headache. It never goes completely away, just subsides enough for me to get stuff done, but it is always there in the background, waiting to strike again. Yes, I have checked my blood pressure, yes, I have diligently taken my allergy meds and doubled the Flonase. Ibuprofen, Tylenol and aspirin have been rotated. They just keep it in check.

Some things seem to make it worse. Things like answering the phone, checking in campers, barking dogs, and trying to be the voice of reason for HeWho and his dietary habits. Actually EVERYTHING makes me irritable. My computer suddenly refusing to download pictures from my phone. Then asking HeWho to try and him telling me he downloaded 1015 pictures with no problem. I only wanted 20. The latest 20. The ones I took a couple of days ago of all my canines frolicking in the back yard. 

Those 20 photos are not to be found and the fact that he is not here this very minute makes my head ache. I am resigned to the aching head and am counting down the hours until bed time. This is when I will slide beneath the freshly laundered sheets with the bed in my favored position, the TV playing softly in the background. I will be completely relaxed, drifting slowly towards sleep and relief from the constant head ache ......

and then .... Cujo will decide to jump down from the bed to drink some water. Hearing his paws thump the floor will not jar me out of my stupor, but his presence at the side of the bed, demanding to be lifted back up to the bed will. In the event that Cujo remains in the bed and doesn't disturb me, Toni Louise will decide to go into a spasm of marathon scratching and contort her body so that her freakishly long legs with pound into the side of my head. Sometimes her long talons will even enter my ear canal, and as she continues scratching will rhythmically scratch the inside of my ear.

Barring all that, HeWho has started talking in his sleep. Nothing remotely intelligent, but it still wakes me. Then I spend restless hours attempting to get back to sleep. So, what with the headache and the lack of sleep, I guess you can say that my temper is a little short.

Being November, you would think that things would slow down dramatically. But it hasn't. By November I am ready for a lull in activity. I want to feather my nest for a long winters nap. I want to be free to do whatever I want without interruption. I don't want to answer the phone and take a reservation for next October and listen to a litany of musings about which site I think would be the best one for the caller. I don't want to listen while someone over enunciates the numbers of their credit card agonizingly slow, or in lots of three numbers, as opposed to the normal four. 

In case you don't know, all credit cards have 16 numbers. All Visa cards begin with the number 4, Master Card begins with number 5 and Discover, the number 6. No need to tell me which card you are reciting numbers from, much less spell the card. I already know. If you look at the card, you will see that the numbers are separated into lots of four. Because 16 is equally divided by 4, this makes sense. 16 is not equally divide by 3, therefore making it easier to make a mistake.

It is the little things, right. The tiniest things that can send you over the edge and make you wonder if, perhaps, your medication should be recalibrated. Good thing I already have an appointment pending on Wednesday. For 10 minutes. With the cardiologist. How do I know that only 10 minutes has been allotted to me? Because the appointment for HeWho follows mine ..... by 10 minutes. Now I wonder if the doctor will spend 10 minutes asking me about HeWho and his bad habits. That is what happened last time I had an appointment right before his.

Yes, I am a little irritable.


9 comments:

Leslie U. said...

Many years ago I had a headache that never went away. I would get lighter when I took pain meds but never left. I was out of town with my family and was planning to go to the doctors when I returned. The night I got home I was on the phone with a friend sitting on the floor, got up when I was done and popped my back. Suddenly that headache was gone. Apparently I had a pinched nerve in my back that was causing it. Wonder if yours could be something like that.

River said...

It sounds to me like a stress headache, you have far too much on your plate and are in need of a long holiday away from it all. Wishful thinking, I know, because you will still have HeWho and the dogs on your mind even if you leave the park for a while. It would probably help a lot if HeWho took proper charge of his health issues and if the dogs didn't sleep on your bed.

Catsngrams said...

I am so sorry that you cannot get rid of your head ache. I will put you in my prayers.
Take care and rest.

Carla

Val said...

Toni Louise is so kind to scratch your ear for you! I can understand how her legs seem freakishly long, compared to your other low-slung pals. Hick has developed a habit of SLAMMING HIS ARM BETWEEN MY SHOULDER BLADES while he sleeps. Or PRETENDS to sleep... Like he's trying to dislodge a piece of butterscotch candy from my trachea.

Three things seem to initiate my headaches. Lack of sleep (the back-slamming doesn't help). Going outside at certain times of year (must be an undiscovered allergy). Wearing a mask for a prolonged time, as in casino or doctor's office (breathing in my own foul breath). Sometimes alternating ibuprofen and acetaminophen will cure it, sometimes a nap, sometimes it has to resolve itself over a couple days.

10 days is too long! I hope you find relief and the cause.

Amanda said...

Leslie may be onto something. I used to be a martyr to migraines - and this sounds in the migraine family - and the only thing that would give me real relief would be a professional massage or an acupuncturist - and I had the great good fortune of finding acupuncturists who'd trained in China, not taken the 100 or so hours it takes to be qualified in the US. When muscles in the back and neck get tight or knotted, they can pull on the spine and cause all kinds of misery.

ellen abbott said...

two things...go to the doctor about the constant headache and if you can, sleep in separate bedrooms. you can still have cuddle time if you want and still do that but get your own bed for sleep. I moved into the guest room after my trip to Portugal when for 3 weeks I slept like a baby. no snoring or restless husband to keep me awake, plenty of room to move around even with the dog and cat, no worries about keeping him awake when I can't sleep, no having to get up and move into the living room when insomnia hits and I want to read. it took a couple of months for his to admit that he was sleeping better too.

Jo-Anne's Ramblings said...

Headaches suck I often have one that llasts for days on end, they are horrible and make us irritable, short tempered sods

Ipad said...

Please have your vision checked it could be that
Also dentists report lots of people are newly grinding their teeth causing head aches and you know what else
Please take care
I love your blog
Miss the pics of pups
Xo

Kathy G said...

Poor you! The way above average temperatures probably don't help, and probably brought more people than normal into the campground last weekend.