To work or not to work on this half-migraine day
(Written on a Tuesday in August, 2016)
It’s 10:52 am on a Tuesday, and my regular shift at the bookshop started nearly two hours ago.
This morning, I was up at 7 and felt yesterday’s migraine starting to creep back. I took a Tylenol 3 and had a cup of coffee (I no longer use caffeine daily as I want to use it as a migraine treatment when I can). I had some cereal.
The migraine didn’t get better right then, but it didn’t get worse, either.
I started texting Avid Bookshop’s store manager, T., to ask if he’d come in early to cover the opening duties at the shop. I thought to myself, Wait on this. I may feel better soon.
I copied the text, which saved it to my phone’s clipboard.
I got in the shower and felt a little nauseated but hopeful. Maybe the T3 would actually work today. (It seems to work miracles one day and be completely ineffective the next.)
Upon exiting the shower, I felt a little better. I got dressed and went into the bathroom to brush my hair and get ready. Jim came in and started talking with me about an art-meets-music project he’s working on. His voice is kind of a loud one anyway, but this morning it was really hurting my head even though he was speaking at his normal volume. I kept turning to face him directly instead of looking in the mirror, as that made it so his voice was not going directly into my ear. I worked hard not to flinch, as I wanted to be a good listener and didn’t want to take him out of this brainstorming moment by saying, “I know you’re speaking at a normal volume, but your voice is stabbing my brain.”

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