Harsh Headache

Occasionally, I get horrid sinus headaches. Often, they come in waves - I will be fine for months and then bang, they are back. Thus, today made me a tad nervous. I have essentially had a fairly strong one all day. Offsetting my concern, though, is the fact that my wife and I were out with friends until late last night. Thus, I only had one dose of Xyrem and subsequently only got 4-5 hours of sleep.

Also possibly exacerbating the sinus pain was the fact that I had an early morning meeting with a colleague. She and I were planning to meet at a coffee shop at 9 AM. We needed to work on a document for school. Apparently, I should never schedule initial meetings for coffee shops. As was the case last summer, I again spent a significant amount of time searching for a coffee shop that I could not find. Although I was not trapped in strip mall hell like last year, I was in the bizarre downtown of White Bear Lake, Minnesota. The downtown is split by a highway, which already make travel inconvenient, but the side streets have insane one way offshoots and goofy layouts.

So, as was the case last year (on my way to the MOONS planning meeting that I never found), I drove around in my car for nearly an hour trying to find this stupid coffee shop. I did eventually discover it (it literally has MINIMAL signage). It was closed! Fortunately, my co-worker and I found each other. I was already a half an hour late when I discovered the coffee shop was closed. Assuming my colleague had left White Bear Lake, I headed to the Caribou to send a grovelling email, but when I walked in the door at Caribou, I immediately spotted her. We wound up having a highly productive meeting. I also did not lose my cool when I finally realized my initial "defeat." That is definitely progress.

Unfortunately, my headache intensified after the meeting. I tried to rest at home after that, but the pain would not leave. I took Tylenol before driving my daughter to her rehearsal. That made my afternoon meeting tolerable, but the drive back home once again helped to tighten the vice-grip feeling in my skull. I got little done this evening, but I know that is okay. I hope that a decent night's sleep will mitigate the pain. If not, I know that tomorrow will be a long day.