Threshold

This is a lift of a paper layout by Anna Bjorklund and its also for Kayleigh Wiles' color challenge on her blog.
journaling:
My week started off on the wrong foot so to speak. I was taking my bike down the alley to the pathway for my nightly ride when, from out of the blue, I felt excrutiating pain in the joint of my big toe. I tried riding and it didn’t hurt much at all to ride but everytime I had to get off my bike I could barely walk! I thought it must be a cramp that had to work itself out. After my ride it just got worse, I couldn't walk normal, I couldn't flex my big toe at all without extreme pain. The next morning I called the doctor and was able to get in that afternoon. I am glad I didn’t wait. As soon as I explained the circumstances of the pain to the doctor he said “You have Gout, and it’s caused, in your case, by dehydration” I knew that I didn’t drink enough water, I never have. The lightbulb went on in my head and I realized that this was totally preventable and that it could have been worse-kidney stones for example. He gave me a heavy duty anti-inflammatory and the pain was gone in 12 hours. I walked away lesson learned. I am happy to say I have been happily drinking eight glasses of water a day since! I wasn’t totally surprised by the diagnosis because I have been working out really hard in the heat lately, too. After a few days, all seemed to be good. But of course it was soon ‘that time of the month’ which normally brings on a migraine. But since I started taking Maxalt for them a year ago, they haven’t been much of a problem at all. Until Friday morning. I rolled over at 3:00 am and had a whopper of a migraine. I got up and took 1/2 of a pill and went back to bed. Twenty minutes later it was much worse, so I took another pill. ten minutes later, the vomiting began. I vomited every half hour for two hours. Rob went to work at five am as usual not knowing what was going on because I was in the bathroom when he left. Right afterward the vomiting progressed to every 12-15 minutes for another two and half hours! I knew I had to go to the hospital but I honestly didn’t know how I could get there with the vomiting, the extreme sensitivity to light and sound and smells. I texted Rob and said he had to come home. As soon as he got in we left for the hospital-a five minute drive. I had my head down, carried a puke bucket and could barely walk. They took my blood pressure which was high 180/90 and ushered me into a room. I kept vomiting the entire time. They shut the lights out, closed the door and the curtains. Whenever the nurse came in I put a cloth over my eyes to shield me from the light. I finally got Gravol, Morphine and something else for the migraine itself and later I needed a CT scan to rule out brain bleeds. All was good and they didn’t know why this one was so severe. I was able to sleep for awhile from the meds and finally at 2pm I got to go home. I went to bed and slept for another 3 hours thanks to the second shot of Gravol they gave me. Afterwards I felt ok, groggy but ok. I know people who get migraines to this degree but I have always counted my lucky stars that I didn’t. I hope I never do again.


Credits:
Jesse Edwards- In The Moment
Katie Pertiet-Home & Garden, Email Inspiration (charm) 5.07.11, Monarchy,
Lynn Grieveson-Bisbee Kit
Ali Edwards-The Story Twill, Experience Journaler-OLW class digital element, Thankful Memories,In Stitches wings No1, Oiselet Bleu Kit
Anna Aspnes-Autumnal, Artplay Palette Fotographie,
Patti Knox-Absolutely Acrylic Hearts No2