My girl has migraine?

Posted By SLK on Thursday, September 09, 2010   { 6 Comment(s) }

My threshold of pain is reasonably good, in fact it’s very good BUT when it comes to a bad migraine I just don’t know how to handle it. Give me childbirth and I will breeze through it (Ok fine, the epidural helps) but although I’m a chronic migraine sufferer and I’ve known migraine since I started middle school and I do (and should) know how to live with it by now, this is one kind of pain I cannot absolutely bear. SO, it totally BROKE my heart when KAT called me from school yesterday crying incessantly and saying that her head hurt so much on one side and that she was nauseous too. It was almost home time by now and I think it was a build up of the whole pain by this time that led her to cry (I used to do it when I was a kid).

I know this feeling too well. My heart sank. Kat is very strong – she is my big girl in school – she never cries so it must really hurt. The nurse had only called me 30 minutes ago asking me if it was okay to give her some pain reliever and I thought it was just a regular headache (sometimes when they are tired they go up to the nurse) and she agreed. Then Kat went up to her locker room and called me and cried. Her school is around 30 minutes away by car so even if I/Papa wanted to bring her back, it was simpler for her to get back in the school bus (as it was home time anyway).

Once on the school bus, I called her again but she just quickly spoke to me and said she wanted to rest as she could not bear the pain. I tried to get as much information as I could in those few bits of conversation so as to confirm it was the dreaded migraine. The symptoms were so damn similar to how I feel – the aura of a migraine, the whole nausea, the pounding on the head...Anyhow, I cancelled my physiotherapy for the knee and waited for Kat to come home (last minute cancellations never go down well – I could write a complete blog on that lady who took my call and said “I will waive the late cancellation fee this time as I have other fish to fry” – can you believe that?) I even sent Kit to the playroom so there could be some quiet for Kat when she got home.

When Kat was dropped off, I got a call from her bus matron saying that I should pick her up from the lobby as she was crying – I rushed and as is always the case, it took me ages to get to the lobby from the 41st floor. Once there, Kat was waiting for me, crying – apparently she had puked on the bus and she was crying because she was embarrassed about it – no 5th grader pukes on the bus! She was worried about having made a mess on the bus and what everybody must have thought. I hugged and comforted her. Her new backpack was all messed up and she was shaken up so we both went upstairs. After a shower, more medication and some sleep, she felt much better but pain still there – so typical. For me, it was an evening spent cleaning all the messy bits when Kat slept and thanks to a magical cleaner, her backpack is good as new and great smelling again! Her bus matron called a bit later to check on her – she’s a real star. Kat got an email from another friend so she did feel a bit ‘wanted’ in the community in the end.

I will speak to her neurologist today and see what she says. School is off today so that is great news. Kat can rest and she also has a play date later today. We’ll see how she feels. Kat says she NEVER wants to go through this pain again. When Kat was little and she would hurt her finger with a paper cut or something I would close my eyes and say: “God, take away all of Kat’s pain and give it to Mummy” and she would feel happy. I wish with all my heart this could work today...

Tags: growing up, health, school