Migraines and flying do not mix

Migraines have become another part of my day so I didn't think much about it when I felt one coming on after I had arrived at the airport.  I was a little nervous about the pressure changes, but the only thought I had was of the increase in pain.   Maybe I should have done a little more research and made sure I had the right meds with me.  Here's my story.

When we landed in Denver I knew I was in trouble.  The migraine was ten times worse than when I started and I could not walk straight.   I thought I would be okay.   All of a sudden I knew I needed to get to the restroom, if anything just to sit down for a minute and find a something to put on the back of my head.   I didn’t make it.   I lost it about twenty feet from the women’s restroom.   I stopped, looked around, and thought, oh no, this is not supposed to be happening to me, what now?  So I continued on my short trek to the restroom. 

As luck would have it, there was a line of about five women for the toilets.      So I said out loud, oh crap, there’s a line.  By this time I had puke in one hand, puke down the front of my shirt, and puke down the leg of my pants, plus the grossness all over my carry on.   Most of the women in line just ignored me except the lady second in line.  She took one look at me and asked if I needed help.  She took me to the sinks and made sure I had what I needed. 

I remember being worried about missing my next flight and worried that Greg was going to miss the flight.  But I needed him to wait for me so I didn’t have to do this alone.   Oh, it was awful.  I was praying.  Asking for help to make it to that next flight, to get some help to make it to where I needed to be. 

Then another lady came over to me and stayed with me, getting me paper towels to wet my face and to clean up a bit.   She stayed with me for ten to fifteen minutes making sure I was alright.   She was a perfect stranger and was very worried about me.  It was so nice to have someone be worried about me and to help me at that point. 

I stayed in the restroom until my headache subsided, or more specifically until after the paramedic came to check me out.   At this point I was more embarrassed than sick.   I had never been so sick in public before.  And I was worried about not making the next flight.  I needed to be on that next flight.  I was still praying because that was the only thing I knew to do at the moment.

Here’s where there was another angel.  There were two customer service people there.  The older one did not want to let me get on the next flight.  She was all for rescheduling me on the next flight out the next morning.   The younger CSR asked if I thought I could make it to the flight.   I said yes and off we went. 

The younger CSR was an angel.  She did everything she could to get us on that flight.  We pretty much booked it.  I don’t really know logically how I made it.  All I know is that my prayers were being answered at this moment. The CSR was on her CB with the gate attendants telling them where we were.  We made it, they let us on the plane, and we were on our way. 

 I didn’t have any more major problems.  I was just plain exhausted by the time we got to Oklahoma City.  

We got checked into the hotel, and I pretty much went straight to bed.  Greg wouldn’t even let me consider going with him back to the airport to pick up my dad who was supposed to get in an hour later.   He knew I wasn’t feeling good and he wasn’t going to let me put my health on hold just to accompany him to the airport.   He said he had GPS so he wouldn’t get lost.   So I stayed at the hotel, climbed into bed, and slept.   

Two days later we were flying home.   This time I was prepared with Dramamine, which I had never used before.  I was praying that it would work because I could not get the headache under control.   I took it an hour before take off.   By the time we boarded I was so drowsy I did not know what was going on.  I got in my seat, Greg said something that I can’t remember, and then I was asleep.  I don’t remember take off.   I don’t remember a whole lot.   What I do remember convinces me that Dramamine makes me loopy.

At one point I remember hearing one of the little kids a couple of rows behind me talking.   It sounded like this kid was singing the song for the ringtone I have on my phone for John.   I remember thinking, oh crap, I thought I turned my phone off, now John is calling me and it is going to cause something to go awry and this flight is going to crash or something.  

 A little while later I remember the flight attendant tapping me on the shoulder and saying I needed to put my seat back up straight to prepare for landing.  

Then I remember hearing the men talking in the row in front of me.   It sounded like Greg was talking to the guy about engineering stuff.   I remember thinking, how come Greg is talking to the guy in front of me?  How did he get up there?   I was so confused.   But no, Greg was always in the seat next to me and he was not talking engineering with the guy in front of me.     

I was so out of it.  But I slept the entire flight, or was just out of it enough that I didn’t know what was going on.  I still had an enormous headache when we got off the plane, but I didn’t puke this time.   I could have gotten sick and not had to worry about missing the connecting flight seeing as we had a 3 ½ hour layover.    We ended up flying out of the same gate we had flown into two days before.

I visited the same restroom I had spent so many miserable moments in days earlier.  For some reason it looked different.  I didn’t remember it being so big.       

I took another Dramamine before the next flight into Salt Lake City.   But I didn’t sleep this time.  That is okay because I had a good conversation with the lady next to me.   We talked for about half the flight and then Greg and I tried to finish the movie we had started in the airport. 

Greg said he has learned to never fly with me.   I don’t blame him.   If you really want to know what was happening, you will need to ask him for his side of this story.   It is amusing, but I can’t remember all the details of what he shared with me.   I will probably get his side of the story wrong.