I've always prided myself on not changing plans due to a migraine. I always follow through on commitments even when I'd much rather be in bed in a dark room. There have been countless times that I've spent the frantic last few moments before an event brushing my teeth and applying make-up to make myself appear like I haven't just puked my guts up and feel like there's an ice pick in my eye socket and the devil is twisting my eyeball out. Usually I get by. Once, however, the migraine won.
It was in graduate school. I was in training for clinical psychology and was doing psychotherapy with a client. It wasn't unusual for me to have a migraine during a therapy session. This one was particularly horrendous, however. My head was throbbing, and I really felt like I was going to vomit. I tried to stay with the flow of the conversation, but all I could focus on was trying not to throw up. Then, in the middle of my client's session, the nausea overcame me. I jumped out of my chair, mumbled a quick "excuse me!" and ran out of the room to go to the ladies' room and puke. This was not good therapy protocol! When I returned, I had to explain that I wasn't feeling well and apologize. The client was so wrapped up in his own problems, he just picked up right where he left off without a mention of my exit! I'm just glad that this wasn't one of the sessions that a team observed behind a one-way mirror for teaching purposes!
"National Migraine Awareness Month is initiated by the National Headache Foundation. The Blogger's Challenge is initiated by www.FightingHeadacheDisorders.com."
