Three times' a charm & Kris turns 30!

Or, Migraines: 3, Periods: 1

Had my third migraine of the year today. It started this evening around 5:30 at Costco. Kris' parents, Bob & Lil, and I had just finished shopping for Kris' birthday celebrations at the All-Star Baseball Academy of Mountain View. At checkout, my thoughts were, "Uh oh." My vision was suddenly doing funny stuff, but I couldn't quite confirm a migraine because I couldn't find the blind spot.

Five minutes later at the car, I couldn't see Lil's face when I looked at her. Sigh.

Lil gave me two 8-hour Tylenol, then drove us home, Kris arrived home as we were cleaning out the fridge for room for the cakes. When he got home, around 6:30, I went to sleep. Kris woke me at 7:30 (at my request). I scarfed down spaghetti and a Codeine from Kris' surgery (expiration March 2004 - how's that for close).

Off to set up the party. About 5 minutes after I got there, wham, more visuals. This time, pretty bad. I had no pain, but I was definitely 2/3 blind. Lil and I set up everything, people starting arriving. I don't think anyone could tell I was having problems.

Christina Valvo asked me about migraines, as she thought she had one earlier in the day. The symptoms certainly sounded like it, with the numbness, pounding headache and light sensitivity. I asked is she could tell I was having one right then, and she, along with Wade, laughed and said she couldn't.

The rest of the evening went well. I was in the batting cages three times. I did okay. Tom Senna, the owner of All-Star gave me some pointers while I was in the cage, helped me hit a few balls. Bob helped me the other times.

I had a great time. A lot of people came up to me and told me it was a great idea for a birthday party. There was a ton of activity, everyone seemed to be doing something, from the speed guns to the batting cages to the food.

Bob had a CD/DVD that he made about Kris' baseball career. It was really cute. We played it at 9:30 or so. Tom helped me set it up, we had to play with the laptop (Kris ran home at 8:30 to get the cables, such the sweetheart). People laughed and enjoyed the video.

After everyone came back to our house, the headache started creeping back. I took another Codeine. I tried to stay involved until 1:00, when everyone left, but it was so hard. I wandered away at some point, appearing again to say good bye, then disappearing. I hope no one noticed - it was Kris' night anyway.

I talked to Lisa at several points in the evening. She thinks this is my third migraine also. Kris thinks it's the fourth. Regardless, it's too many.

Update! I recalled I had some Trident gum on Thursday. It contains aspartame! That was probably the root cause of the migraine. Not that it lessens my head pounding, but at least I can, once again, avoid aspartame like the plague! The plague, I tell you!