Ever get that painful headache where you can feel the vein behind your eyeball? You know, the type of headache where you look left or right and it hurts to do that? I get those from time to time, maybe 4 times a year. Last night I got that around 3 AM so knowing what to do I took three Advil and went back to sleep.

It worked too but around 5:30 AM the pain began to creep back. I know how this story ends, so rather than do a 90 minute commute in pain I called my boss and called in sick. At some point this morning I am going to lie down with my eyes open and think “My, what pleasant color the ceiling is” while wondering how nausea got into the equation.

It’s a strange thing to get used to. When the pain subsides I feel a sense of relief. It still hurts but I can feel the decreasing pressure and that’s a small miracle.

Usually it hits me in the office. I have done presentations where I needed to sit down during the talking but have plodded on. I’ve sweated out days where pain-killer got me to the end of the day. By that time, I could get home and the pain subsides enough.

I would not call this a migraine headache because I’ve seen people get those and they are rendered helpless. I can still function just not on all cylinders as indicated by being able to type this. So I’ll eat something, relax, and look forward to taking a not-nap.