Ooof…talk about your roller coaster weeks!
The school year did get extended (boo!) but they also pushed back MAP testing by a week (yay!). I doubt we will get all of the current unit covered by the end of the year, but we should be good for what is actually tested on. I admit, I’m having a load of fun…nothing like having an amateur paleontologist teaching a unit on Evolution.
I did get a migraine, this time related to the storms we’ve been having lately. A bit concerning, since the weather hasn’t triggered them before this past month. However, the new medication my new doctor prescribed? I don’t usually call something a ‘miracle drug,’ but that’s what this stuff was! It knocked the migraine out in about an hour. Imitrex usually took at least two, and that was if it took the headache away entirely (and lately that has been hit-or-miss). Best of all, no ‘Imitrex hangover’ as my doctor put it. If you’ve never taken Imitrex, it does leave you feeling weird for a day or so after. This new stuff, nothing. I’ve never tried ODT (oral dissolving tablets), so I wasn’t sure what to expect.
It tasted like those spun sugar mints. Really quite tasty! I was expecting bitter, or tasteless, but not, you know, pleasant. My doctor said that Imitrex was a wonder drug when it first came out decades ago (and it still works for a lot of people), but there are more targeted therapies now. This new one, Nurtec, targets a specific nerve implicated in migraines, with fewer (and in my case, no) side effects. The anatomy/chemistry nerd in me is always amazed by how far medicine has come in a comparatively short time. I’m not meaning to turn this post into a drug ad, but when one has dealt with these headaches as long as I have, anything that gives relief is a godsend (especially relief with little to no side effects). I just hope that I don’t pass these on to my kids, since they can be hereditary, though neither of my parents or other family have or had them, so maybe I’m just a one-off.
In another first, I had an MRI. It was interesting. Loud as heck, though the earplugs helped. Not going to lie, I wasn’t a fan of the dye contrast injection, since my veins suck and the technician had to use my hand instead of my arm. Oh well…at least it was my non-dominant hand. They let me keep my rings and bracelets on, and I could feel them vibrating the whole time. The tech said that meant there was at least a little magnetic material in them, but not enough to get hot or get pulled too strongly. An experience, to say the least.
Hilary