Knowing that graduation started early in the morning on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend, I didn't want to oversleep or something silly like that which would make me miss his graduation. So, I didn't sleep well. It was pouring and I mean pouring down rain. They had a huge tent set up since they always hold graduation outdoors. I sat next to the stinky plastic walls on the sides of the tent. People tend to over bath in their perfumes/colognes for these types of special events.
That all equates to too many triggers and my leg was still bruised and sensitive from a triptan shot a couple of days before. What do you do knowing you can't afford another Migraine?
Some of you have been around for a while; helped me along my Migraineous journey and gave me guidance with other family members as one by one they were diagnosed with Migraines. Can you believe how fast time goes by? My son graduated from college today. His official Migraine journey started during his first semester of college.
I still remember getting that sickening feeling when he described to me how often he was getting headaches and was sick at school. He was not the type of kid to get sick plus he still managed to play on the football team.
After much questioning, he started keeping a journal until he came home for his first winter break. I had that pit in my stomach about what he was experiencing. Trying not to get him (and me) worked up before his finals, I kept it low key until I could review his journal.
He started each day bright and early on the field. The class he missed most often because he was sick and couldn't keep his stomach in place was a three hour class at night that met once a week. Not the class you want to miss. Not to mention that it was an honors class where the president of the college was one of his professors.
Needless to say, he didn't pass his first class ever and ended up with a 2.5 GPA for his first semester; not like him at all. Honestly, I think that ended up being a good experience for him too. On break, he got a big education in Migraines. He read his first Migraine book - Living Well with Migraine Disease and Headaches written by Teri Robert. We talked the whole way on our drive back to school - going through the book and how he could help himself going forward. We figured his big triggers were dehydration and not getting enough sleep. That can be a tall order for a college kid and an athlete.
Three and a half years after that semester ended, he is now graduating. By avoiding his known triggers, taking care of himself and not waiting until the last minute to finish his assignments, he brought his GPA up enough so that he graduated Magda cum laude. He did retake the only class he ever didn't pass and ended up acing it. The class was still offered only one night a week, but he didn't take it during the football season and he prepared himself for the class by making sure he was well rested even though he still had early morning workouts.
I am so proud of how far he has come and that he managed to control his Migraines throughout his college career. That first semester was his toughest time with Migraines as he really didn't know what was going on with him or what to do. Education is so important in many different aspects. I pray that he continues down this successful path.
At graduation, I found myself holding my breath a lot whenever I got that first whiff of something offensive. Luckily that didn't go on very long as they opened up an air crack right next to where I was sitting. I didn't smell the plastic any longer and it helped blow other odors away.
Congratulations baby! Keep up the great work with everything you do.
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