Saturday, December 5, 2009

Newish Migraineur Vacation

My sister Pam left on a family vacation last weekend. They went to Florida with their four children. She has been texting me almost everyday.

Pam has not had many Migraines and only really started experiencing very occasional Migraines within the last year. Since they landed in Florida, she has had a pretty much constant Migraine.

At first she thought her glasses were contributing to how she was feeling so she put in her contacts. She ended up ripping a contact and having to walk around with only one contact in! She said that was still much better than wearing the glasses for which she has a new prescription for sitting at home. Oh boy.

Since I know she is not prepared at all for Migraine, I tried to offer her whatever I could think of that she would have available - being away from home and not really knowing how to care for a Migraine except for what we have talked about around me. Since she is usually my sounding board, she should have an understanding of what I go though and tell her.

She always texted me while she was out and about - day and night. I told her to make sure she always wore her sunglasses, drank plenty of water and ate no matter how she felt. I know she tried to get plenty of sleep and at least one day she was able to sleep from 6 pm until 10 am which is amazing with four kids whose ages are pretty spread out from five to twelve. I also mentioned ice packs, peppermint and other helpful tools I could think of that she would have available to her or could get easily while away. She really had a miserable time with the nausea and other symptoms.

I'd have to say this was probably the worst family vacation she has ever had. The sunglasses didn't help much with the laser show either. (I didn't think they would.) I hope she at least kept her eyes closed or back toward the show. I haven't even mention yet that three out of the four kids ended up with some type of unknown itchy rash and the husband was coughing up a storm.

Luckily they are headed home now. Hopefully the flight is not the topper for her trip. I know we are going to have a lot to talk about after she settles down from her trip. She also went into the trip very sleep deprived which would not have helped her get off to a good start.

I've already picked up her Christmas present, but I will add a little something else for her this year. Although I have given away many copies of the Living Well With Migraine Disease and Headaches book written by Teri Robert, I have not given my sister a copy yet. This will be something I cannot go any longer without giving to her. If I saw her before Christmas, I would probably just give it to her then, but I probably won't and this way she'll have something extra to open up. I bought a bunch of extra copies when amazon was having a super sale on the book since I have a tendency of giving this superb book away. It is truly the best place to start or continue to learn about Migraine disease.

I hope my sister was able to salvage some fun out of her family vacation. I guess I'll find out soon enough. Poor girl...

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