So, I got to work an hour early after leaving the doctor's office. I'm sitting in the cafe and I think this is my first time (no, second) ever posting from here. It's a little weird.

A few weeks ago I stopped by a drop-in clinic on my way here. I was getting over a very nasty cold, and figured I'd get tested for mono, or one of the other things going around. "Do you have an appointment?" I didn't. I didn't realize you could make an appointment, I sat there for almost an hour and a half, and then I had to leave for work. I'm still tired, but I always have been. I've always needed more sleep than normal folk. Or, if I don't need it, I've always enjoyed sleeping. Dreams are so much better than real life.

Just a day or two after the unsuccessful trip to the clinic, I arrived at work with blurred vision. It was something I had never experienced before. It wasn't just blurry, like I need new glasses. It was liked I was looking through a film or curtain. Like looking through heat waves or water. It was swirly and circling, and I couldn't see anything. After about 20-30 minutes, the vision problems began to fade away, but the dizziness and nausea stuck around for probably another hour. I had an excrutiating headache for the rest of the night. In fact, the headache has never left, but it's been almost gone some hours or days. Since that was one of the first hot, sunny days we had, I decided it was probably heat stroke.

All was smooth sailing, except for the mild to strong headaches coming and going, intermittently, you know, until this weekend. Friday night, while watching some bands at the Ship in St. John's, I had to sit down. Having just opened my second beer in probably as many hours, I almost fell over for practically no reason. I figured it was exhaustion from not sleeping much on the long, long trip.

I had another dizzy spell Monday afternoon, after returning home. KC and I had brought the stuff in the house, and were working on editing some footage. I had a shower. The spell hit me while Zeke was visiting. The swirly weird vision problems. Oh no. Here comes the headache and nausea. KC was on the phone with Seth. I didn't even say anything to Zeke. I got up and laid down on my bed. How rude of me. As I laid there with the room spinning, I drifted off to sleep. I was afraid to go to sleep. I thought I was having a stroke. I thought I was going to die, or at least bleed all over my bed from my nose. I thought the pressure inside my skull would crush my brain. This second episode still could've been caused by sun and exhaustion. I had spent the last two days in a car, with the sun shining in on me, and I still hadn't slept much, or well. I woke up. Watched 2 hours of Freaks and Geeks with KC, and we went to bed. I more than caught up on my sleep that night.

Tuesday, I woke up with a mild headache. Much like the one I still have now. It was cloudy and cold yesterday. So, I was no longer exhausted, and there was no chance of heat stroke. The odd, wavy/bubbly curtain began to blind me half-way here. The fear really kicked in this time. There was no reason I could think of for having symptoms I have never had before in my life. I got to work, but was fairly useless for 20 minutes. Once I could see again, I drank a huge bottle of water, took some Advil, and ate some stuff. Didn't do much for me. Didn't do anything, actually. I took 15 minute shifts doing my recall sheet. After about that long, I felt dizzy and thought I would puke/pass out if I didn't sit for a minute. My boss stopped in briefly, it was his day off, and noticed I didn't look well. I told him I've never had a headache like this before and he told me to call him tonight if something happened and/or I needed him. KC stopped in after work. He saw the fear and suffering in my eyes, and was worried about me for one of the first times. He knows I'm a hypochondriac, but he knows I was terrified. He talked to a friend who's father had some brain tumors and told me to make sure I got it checked out today.

[I didn't get this finished before starting work. I am now picking it up. It is actually Saturday, and I am on my dinner break.]

I did go to the doctor Wednesday. That same clinic I had tried a few weeks back. This time, I had an appointment. I explained to the doctor my symptoms, making sure to tell him the headaches were worse when I bent over, and that even though I've suffered migraines, this experience was brand new to me. He said blurred vision and nausea can accompany migraines. I knew that, but it had never happened to me before, and this headache wasn't a migraine. It wasn't sensitive to light and sound. It was PAIN. I didn't make those last point explicitly clear to him. He checked my sinuses. When they seemed fine (not an infection induced headache), he asked if my family had a history of tumors. He noticed extreme tension in the left side of my neck (coincidentally enough, the location of 2 mysterious lumps I've already had 3 doctors check out) and concluded that the neck problems were triggering my headaches. He didn't notice the little lumps. He gave me some acupuncture. He put a pin in each leg, just below the knee, and all the tension in my shoulders and neck disappeared almost immediately. I could flop my head around like a rag doll, and turn it further than before. He left me with the pins in my legs and went to see another patient. "Try not to move your legs. It'll hurt." He came back in about 10 minutes, took the pins out, and told me to take glucosamine sulphate and drink 10 glasses of water a day. The glucosamine, usually used for joint pain and arthritis, should help my neck, and possibly my head. He said if I'm still feeling like this, to come back and see him next Wednesday. Then we'll decide if more tests are need, like a CAT scan.

I didn't take glucosamine today. It wasn't really helping, and it has made me high. People with shellfish allergies can have a reaction to glucosamine as much of it is derived from shellfish. Maybe that should've come up before I spent $20 on it, and saw tracers for 3 days.

I still have a headache. But, it's fairly mild right now. Just above my left eye. I'm going to get my new glasses prescription, and see the doc again this coming week.

This day last year, I posted one of the first pictures of me in the Hold that wasn't taken by a friend.