Yay, it was a bug!

I remember getting my first migraine when I was five. It was the summer and it was hot. I laid down on the kitchen floor (because the linoleum was cool) in front of the fan and went to sleep. I didn't know at the time it was a migraine, but after years of suffering and years of education and medication, I now know that is what it was.

Migraine sucks. They are debilitating. And they are hereditary (right sisters and aunties?!?!). They typically pass along the female line but it isn't unheard for boys to be affected as well. There are two things I prayed that I wouldn't pass on to my kids: 1. dry skin. I have REALLY dry skin that has bothered me my whole life. Thankfully now I feel like I have it under control but it is still annoying and irritating. 2. migraines. I would give ANYTHING for my kids to never get a migraine. It shuts your mind and body down and there is so little you can do to get rid of them and stop them from coming back. You miss out on a lot because you can't get out of bed. Luckily, I have found medicine that works (most of the time) and feel like I've come to know triggers and symptoms to treat early and often. I feel like my migraines are somewhat managed or at least manageable.

Finn has had at least four "headaches" this summer. He isn't one to complain, so I know they have been bad. For the first two, I figured it was an issue of being too hot or dehydrated or tired. I gave him some Tylenol or Ibuprofen, had him rest and he seemed to do better. However, last week, he had one on Tuesday. It lasted about a day and then went away. BUT he had another on Friday and it was accompanied with a fever, nausea, sensitivity to light and exhaustion. Crap, all but the fever are symptoms of a migraine. He felt so horrible that he had to come home from his "Austin and Finn weekend" at Grandma's house. You know it was bad. We got home, I gave him medicine and made him eat a few bites of cereal...and then he threw up. We put him to bed and watched him over night. He seemed to feel a little better on Saturday but the headache stayed around until Sunday.

Being a good sport, even though he feels horrible and has an ice pack on his forehead.

I'm not going to mess around with headaches or migraines. They can be a symptom of very serious things. So I called the doctor and we went in today (it had been a week since we were there for Mac's ears, so I thought they might be missing us!). While she is concerned enough to have us start tracking his headaches to look for patterns and triggers, she also said it sounds EXACTLY like a bug that was going around! Kids are sick with headache, fever and nausea, feel better for a few days and then are sick again! You have no idea how happy I was to hear that. How often are parents HAPPY to hear their kid had a bug?!?! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let it be that and not migraines.

I'll happily track his headaches (I've done mine for years) and I hope we find they are far and few between. I think that if it is migraines, they will present themselves very quickly once school starts. Here's to a headache free fall (and winter and spring and summer!)!!