Sometimes I HATE being a woman

I woke up this morning determined to get some more exercise in today. We did kayak yesterday, which was good and I wanted to hike today. However Roy needed to take his mom to see her sister, and I have a dinner date tonight, so I decided to go ahead and get a run in. I wasn’t feeling great, so I medicated to eat breakfast. To explain, with this current situation I often have no appetite which means I will go without eating all day. Yesterday I ate breakfast, lunch and that was it. Before bed I felt like I should eat something, tried 1/3 of a banana but after one bite felt like throwing up. So this morning I woke up with no energy, feeling nauseated. I decided I was having nothing of this, so I took one hit of White Rhino. Within 15 minutes I was hungry so I had my one cup of cheerios, cheated with half a ripe peach (it came in our CSA box, which I should cancel now because I can’t eat most of it) and I didn’t want to just throw it away, and coffee with coconut milk creamer. I felt much better so saddled Flik up for a run.

I decided that since it was mid-morning I would head out for a run on the new Ebey Waterfront Trail. I haven’t been out there alone since we rehomed Pogie. One of the reasons we took her in was because I needed a larger dog for safety. Even though Flik will protect me, the truth is he is not intimidating. He will bite someone coming for me, but a swift kick could really hurt him. A larger dog makes someone think twice.

So I head down and I’m relieved to see that there is trail work being done in the area where there are usually indigent people sleeping, using drugs and alcohol, and sometimes doing other things. Yay! That makes me feel safer. As I’m running I see another runner ahead of me with a dog off leash. It’s a big dog, but my hope is that he’s going to stay far enough ahead of me that he’ll turn and see me with enough time to recall his dog (hoping he has good recall) and leash him.

I notice, though, that the gap is closing and he’s not wearing running gear. Then he pulls off the trail and I hope to just run past him, as I run past, I notice he’s urinating and then the dog comes running at us. I’m trying to keep Flik from attacking the dog, who really does seem friendly enough and just wants to say hi (but Flik is not always dog friendly and I don’t want him to get hurt). That’s when I realize this isn’t a runner, or someone out for a walk, but an older man who is obviously also indigent.

Now don’t get me wrong. I am not automatically afraid of indigent people. In fact, I have a big heart for them. He did not act in any way like he wanted to hurt me. He was startled (probably because he was holding his dick) and he apologized and told me he was jogging. I acted pretty tough (I felt) and was nice and just told him my dog was not friendly, and it was fine.

But it wasn’t. It scared me. It made me realize that as a woman runner, I am not safe running alone out there. I love that trail and because I am a woman and even though I can run, even though I lift weights, if a man wanted to hurt me Flik wouldn’t be able to do much. I tried to run off to put as much distance between us and that man as I could and push my fear away, but my insides turned to liquid, of course my digestive issues came up and I started cramping, feeling nauseaous, and finally had to stop and walk. I kind of walked/jogged for fear of him catching up to me, but I was so afraid I’d -well- mess myself because of how my insides felt. I realized that if he was a bad man, I had run myself to a dead end.

Blessedly about ten minutes later a police officer on a bike came by. I saw him and just started saying “Thank you Jesus. Thank you! Thank you!” Under my breath. Then you know how sometimes when a crisis is over and you held it together and suddenly you’re not holding it any more? Tears sprung to my eyes and I had an asthma attack. I get exercise induced asthma VERY rarely (like maybe once a year) and FUN here it came! So I stopped to walk and regulate my breathing. The officer rode down to the end of the trail and I am thinking, “Do I flag him down? Do I not? Am I overreacting?” It calmed enough that I was able to continue by the time he got back, but I did sit for 20 minutes to calm everything before I ran again. I knew Flik would tell me if anyone was coming and hell, I could jump into the slough if someone came, or over the barrier and run into the neighborhood through water (tide was out) carrying him if I had to.

God dammit it just isn’t fair that women have to worry about going places because we have a few men in this society that can’t control themselves around women. I miss Pogie and the protection and camaraderie I shared with her. I miss feeling safe. I feel like now I can’t run down there alone and while I love to run with friends, I also sometimes need to be in my own headspace. I used to run trials alone with Wiley and because he looked like a red German shepherd, no one bothered me. We were so in sync. I could take him out on a summer morning, or weekend, or break and we’d go run for hours. Roy never worried because he know I had Wiles with me to protect me. Now I just feel like a weak, sitting duck. Being so weak right now doesn’t help either. I’m down to 116 this morning, which most people would think is “yay” but that’s actually 3 pounds since Friday. Not yay.

On the good front, I actually felt really good on the run, and my symptoms left me until the last mile. I did have some butt clenching time on the way back but oh well. I feel like I’ll get that in control. I’m still feeling sad, but glad I got the run in. Flik was too! He’s such a good boy and I love running with him. Too bad he isn’t like 50 pounds heavier!

I'm sad

I'm sad because my head hurts and I'm so tired of it. I don't want to keep trying to find a cure for it. I want to quit. I want to stop being in pain. I want to stop spending money on this. I want to live a quiet and happy life, well maybe not quiet. I want my old life back where we did fun things and went places and explored and I never worried about pain. I don't deserve this. I worked so hard to be healthy and this is what I got for it?

I know no one deserves pain and I know I'm not handling it graciously. I still don't understand the lesson 5.5 years later. Why did this happen to me? What purpose did it serve? What lesson is there in it? What do I take away from this experience? How is it helping others? How does it work through me to give to others?

I don't know where to go from here and I have no one to talk to about it. I feel so alone.

Ten Days to Relief! (ihope)

It's April 11! I can't believe it's April 11! On April 21 I get to have my first SPG High Frequency Block. For some reason I always think of a radio when I type that...like they're going to implant a radio in my brain.

Frankly, I don't know what I'm typing. I have such a bad head right now. I can hardly stand it. Ondedesteron is on board but hasn't done anything yet and I just want to die. I hope this procedure works because if it doesn't I just don't know what to do.

Why can't I just accept this is my life now and move forward? I have a Facebook friend named Rico who had an aneurysm 13 years ago. He has headaches all day every day too and he's the most pleasant man I know. Not that I'm not a nice person, but he seems like he's accepted his life and I just can't.

I was seeing a therapist for awhile and that really helped, but she moved into a different situation. If the treatment doesn't work, I'll seek out another therapist.

I'm afraid the procedure won't work. I'm also afraid it will work. I want it to work. I really do, but it will change my life in a really good way and that scares me because then I have to remember how I lived before. That's super exciting, but scary at the same time.

But I'm really afraid if I get my hopes up and it doesn't work...even typing this makes me get a huge lump in my throat, I will be devastated. If it doesn't work, I don't think there's another option and then I will be the one saying "I've been living with this pain for 13 years".

If I make it that long...and this is where I say it isn't a cry for help, and it isn't right this minute, but I don't know how I'll handle facing a lifetime of this pain. It's just been so bad lately...so constant and unrelenting.

What's the News?

It's been forever because it feels like there is nothing to say when all you have to say is "My head hurts, and it still hurts. Have I mentioned my head hurts?"

I could call it brain pain or headaches or migraines. Regardless...it's pain and it's a pain in the mother fucking ass!

I guess there is a new development. I am getting a new procedure on April 21 called a Sphenopaltine Ganglion (SPG) Nerve Block using high frequency nerve ablation.

I've had two procedures where they used a needle to directly apply lidocaine to my Sphenopaltine Ganglion nerve bundle. They were SO painful, but it worked to take the pain away! Unfortunately like the nasal application, it didn't last long. The first time it lasted 32 hours, which was awesome! It was supposed to last 3-6 months, though. The second time it was only a few hours. To do this, they tape my head to a table and use a CT machine to watch as the doctor inserts a needle through my cheek, under the Zygomatic arch, and up to the SPG and release Lidocaine onto it. OMG it hurts SO bad!!

So that's basically what they'll do on the 21st, but only on one side. The other two procedures were to determine if the SPG is indeed where my pain is coming from. Since the Lidocaine worked, that tells us that we are on target. They will put a larger hollow needle through (I feel woozy just thinking about it) and then put a probe through and apply a high frequency to the nerves to damage them. The outcome should be that the nerve then shrivels up. It should regenerate as a healthy nerve that doesn't shoot off for no reason. If it still shoots off, I still should have at least 6-18 months of relief.

Five weeks later, I will get the second one if the first one works. I get bilateral headaches. What's interesting is that my official diagnosis is daily chronic migraine of unknown cause, but I don't think they are migraines. They have no migrainal characteristics. They are always on two sides. I don't get auras. I don't usually get sick and if I do get nausea it's due to pain level, not a migrainal misfire.

Sometimes I call them migraines just because I get tired of people thinking it's "just a headache".  There is a lady at work who I can't even mention if I'm having a bad day (mention it to her). The last few times I have, usually because she comments that I'm wearing sunglasses, she's said, "Oh yeah! I know! I have a headache too!"

Really? You know?

You have a headache too?

Do you?

DO YOU REALLY HAVE A FUCKING  24/7/365 HEADACHE YOU IGNORANT BITCH????????

Ahem.

That was with my inside voice.

Outwardly I just smiled, looked at her like, "Are you kidding me??" and walked off without saying anything.