Checking Out

For the last few days, I checked out of the real world.  I laid in bed, slept for hours and hours, and did absolutely nothing constructive.  Now, I wish I could say I was on vacation and that's how I chose to spend it.  Unfortunately, that's not the case.  The real story is that I woke up on Sunday with some sciatic pain that lasted all day.  By Monday morning the pain was gone, but a dull headache had filled it's place.  By mid-day on Monday, it was a full-blown migraine.  It was my worst one yet, and it lasted into Tuesday as well.

I don't know if you have ever had a migraine, but they are the worst pain I can think of.  Hearing anything above a whisper is unbearable, any light makes you see spots, movement hurts, sitting or standing makes you dizzy, and your head pounds so hard that your stomach gets nauseous.  Yeah, they're that fun.  And then when it's finally over, the next day you feel better physically, but you are exhausted and weak and still in a bit of a fog--kinda like the day after the flu.  But even all that pain wasn't what hurt the worst.

So what did hurt worse than the excruciating migraine pain and effects?  Having to call my husband home from work to watch the kids.  Having to miss Picaso and Scrat's first swimming lesson--ever--that we were all so excited about.  Having to rely on my mother to transport Brainiac to basketball since it was at the same time as swimming.  Having to tell my kids that I couldn't hug or kiss them goodnight and they could only very lightly kiss my cheek.

It killed me to do or miss all of those things and have to pass the buck to other people.  I hated every second of laying there, basically in and out of consciousness, having to rely on other people to do what I should have been doing.  But if I've learned anything as a mom, it's that sometimes, I truly can't do it all.  Sometimes I have to turn to family and friends to help me out.  I may not like it, but it does make things better for me.  So hopefully you, too, have or will realize the same thing.  It's okay to ask for help when you need it.  It's not only okay, it may be the only chance you have to make it through.