to your health

I went to bed with a headache Wed night. I tried to ignore it. I went to bed and woke up in the middle of the night not able to ignore it any longer. My head was pounding. It was nearing a migraine. I took some medicine changed to some new ice packs, and buried my head under the pillows. I slept, but not well. I woke up with my headache. I call it my headache because it becomes this unwanted accessory to my functioning that I couldn't free myself from. I went to work hoping it would just go away, and by the time I got to school I was looking for a dark corner to curl up in.

I don't know why I still went to school. I always think, it will go away. But it didn't. At school, I had a lot of help - I got Tiger Balm for my temples, a massage, and healing hands put on me while I was told to think of the color purple, and later of the color light blue.

It helped. I finished the day, went home, and my headache came back with a vengence. A continuous headache always makes me think of people with chronic pain. It's frightening what control it can have on your life - your thoughts, your decisions, your relationships. During these times I so quickly forget what it was like to pain-free. To be healthy. And I yearn for the hour.

It's finally lifted at the end of the second day, and I am once again reminded to be thankful, always, for our health, for rest, and for peace-of-mind.