Mountaineering

When I was in about five years old, my kindergarten teacher asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up.  My response to her query was, "I'm gonna be a mountain climber."  I have no idea why I said I wanted to be a climber.  Maybe it sounded adventurous.  Or, maybe I was having some sort of ESP as a child and I saw the word "mountaineer" in my future, when really it was "migraineur."  :-)  What I do know is that climbing a mountain is the last thing I'd want to attempt as a migraine sufferer.  My teacher, who is a very nice lady, responded with something along the lines of, "No, you can't be a mountain climber.  You need to pick a different profession."  I remember standing there in a daze.  My hopes had been dashed.  I accepted that I couldn't be a mountain climber as a fact because my teacher said so, and started thinking about a different line of work.  Apparently I was an agreeable child.

As an adult I've often laughed about that memory.  I thought teachers weren't supposed to quash the dreams of innocent children.  As it turns out, my teacher was right.  Maybe I should send her a thank you note for setting me straight when I was young, because mountain climber would never have worked out for me.  That kind of physical activity paired with migraines would have made me a lousy climber.  I picture climbing to Mt. Everest base camp, then having to be carried back down by a Sherpa when I am rendered useless with a migraine. 

I had a killer migraine last week.  It stuck around for two very long days.  I had a ton of things to do around the house.   I could barely load the dishes in the dishwasher before having to lay down for 30 minutes before tackling the next simple chore on my list, which would be followed by more down time.  Progress on my task list was moving slower than molasses in January and my frustration was increasing exponentially with each passing hour.  As I lay on the couch my mind wandered back to my kindergarten memory of my teacher killing my dream of being a mountain climber.  Right now running the Swiffer across my kitchen floor sounds about as daunting as climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro.

The Guilt Trip

zip line fun

Who doesn't love a good vacation?  I know I do.  With each vacation I take there is a dark cloud looming...inevitably I will get a migraine at some point during the trip.  I've come to learn that air travel is a migraine trigger for me and that whenever I fly somewhere I am more likely than not to have a migraine when we land at our destination.  The same is true for when we return home.  I prepare as best as I can and carry medication close at hand.  Then there are other times I get one, for example when we went zip lining over Fremont Street in Las Vegas last fall.   At the end of the zip line there was a big spring that catches your zip line to stop you.  When my zip line hit the spring there was a little whiplash action and my neck instantly began to ache, and a migraine manifested shortly thereafter.  (Note to self:  Save the zip line for the last day of vacation rather than the first.  Lesson learned.)

A number of years ago, I'm thinking 2004, my ex-husband and I went on a vacation to Switzerland.  It was a once in a lifetime, dream vacation.  We started our trek in Portland, Oregon with a plane change at Chicago O'Hare.  By the time we had made it to Chicago, I was dealing with the onset of a migraine and feeling frazzled.  After the hours long flight to Zurich, Switzerland I had a full blown, monster migraine.  I just needed to lay down, but our journey wasn't over.  We had to retrieve our luggage, load into a double-decker tour bus, and and embark on an approximately two-hour journey to Interlaken, Switzerland. 

Interlaken

We sat on the top deck of the bus in the first row of seats with windows completely surrounding us.  We were treated to gorgeous views and sunshine as the bus meandered through the Swiss countryside.  I tried to enjoy the scenery, but I just wanted to crawl up into a tiny ball.  The bright sun was killing my eyes through my sunglasses.  The voices of excited travelers filled up the small space and the noise was deafening to my overly sensitive ears.  To top it off, we were traveling with a large group of my ex's co-workers and their spouses, many of whom I had been looking forward to catching up with.  I was trying my best to hold it together and be friendly, but my version of friendly during a migraine probably comes across as aloof.  I hate for people to see me when I'm having a migraine because I don't feel like myself.  It's embarrassing.

Interlaken

I remember letting out a sigh of relief when we got to Interlaken.  Interlaken is a quaint and clean town nestled in the in between two lakes with phenomenal views of Jungfrau (the third largest Alp in the Bernese Alps, the summit is 13,642 ft).  The architecture in Interlaken is old and beautiful.

Hooters in Interlaken

Oddly enough there was a Hooter's restaurant there that totally didn't fit in with the historic feel of the quaint town.  If you were to play one of those games where you search a picture to find the thing that doesn't belong, that Hooter's would probably be the thing in a picture of Interlaken.  (Of course we stopped in to get some wings while we were there.)

Migraine Hangover?

When we made it to the hotel not all of the rooms were ready for check-in.  Some people in our group were fortunate to get rooms, but ours was not ready.  I remember sitting down in the lobby of that beautiful hotel and tears started streaming down my face.  I wasn't sobbing, I was just so tired and in such pain that my eyes were tearing up and that's when my ex lost it and yelled at the hotel staff to get us a room straight away.  The poor staff, they hustled to get a room ready.  As soon as we entered the room I flopped onto the most comfortable bed I have ever slept in and had an injection of Imitrex.  Sweet relief, but I still had to sleep off the migraine hangover the rest of the day.



I'm still a tiny bit bitter that I had a migraine during that trip.  It was a fabulous adventure tainted by yet another migraine.  I remember feeling guilty because not only did it affect my trip, but it also affected my ex-husband's trip.  Instead of exploring Interlaken that first day we were holed up in our room waiting for me to feel better.  I also wish that my friends didn't have to see me so sick and watch my ex yell at the hotel staff.  Embarrassing.