Ugh Kat, sending ~ma to you and Grace for quick recoveries. 50 essays to grade on day 2? I feel for you.

And ita, I don't think I can help you. Is the heat caused by the increase in pain or vice versa?

ita, not hot flashes? Perimenopause hormones are weird, and I assume they could cause head pain as well as the hot part.

Is the heat caused by the increase in pain or vice versa?

I can't tell. It all feels like it's happening at once. My internal thermostat goes haywire and I want to drop to my knees in pain. I had thought it might be stress, because the first time I put the pattern together was when I was back home because of my mother's cancer (she'd stare at me and go "Now?" and I totally couldn't lie and say it didn't hurt, because I was sitting under the A/C vent and sweat was dripping off my face). But it just happened a few minutes before I posted and nothing was going on then. I'm alone in the office.

not hot flashes?

That is my only hope. I'm bargaining on the headaches leaving with my periods.

I'm bargaining on the headaches leaving with my periods.

I certainly hope so!

I have 24 papers left to go. They are short, but plentiful.

How I grade: I make myself do 8 before I can get out of the chair. But I have a glass of wine and I have chocolate mice and I reward myself with the ability to go DO something. Plus Noah is at soccer practice and Grace is absorbed in the iPad. I will finish these, by god.

Plus, I'm only checking for a few things, so if they have the good things then I comment on those and if they have the annoying things I need fixed then I comment on that. I'm not asking for depth or clarification anywhere.

My new scoring system is divided into three categories: Pass, Fail, Borderline. If you are a Pass, you are either a high pass or a low pass. If you are a fail you are either a minor fail or a tragic fail. Then borderline papers are just meh.

Triple Goddess, I wish you had better Doctors, or at least we had a better medical system where your care was well coordinated and you were fully diagnosed. I have trouble believing the amount of suffering on our system causes you with inadequate pain control and difficulty with drug dispensing. I wonder if your doctors have moved as fast as they could at trying different things to find something that works. No suggestions, just some rage on your behalf. Nothing, I'm sure, compared to what you feel at times.

I'm bargaining on the headaches leaving with my periods.

Menopause didn't entirely eliminate my mom's migraines, but it did blunt them to a bearable level from her previous take-to-a-sickroom-for-two-days sort.

But I have a glass of wine and I have chocolate mice

You had me until you said mice ...

My parents stopped over earlier, and my dad fell again today. Just missed the curb, wasn't dizzy or anything, but he has a huge shiner and scraped knees and palms. The colors are going to be spectacular in a few days, but this is the ... third? time he's fallen within a year, and it makes me nervous.

In other exciting news, one of the cats brought a baby bunny into the house, which I discovered when the poor little thing actually shrieked in terror. He let it go, and we got it into a basket and outside, but he was so tiny and so shaken, I thought his heart was actually going to burst.

But I have a glass of wine and I have chocolate mice

I am very envious about the chocolate mice.

You know, I really appreciate dentistry exists, but I cannot wrap my mind around actually wanting to work on people's teeth. I can understand general medicine and surgery. But wanting to do teeth?

This brought to you by me being grossed out by the scabbing of my own gums and all the work that went into minimizing that as my teeth got ground down to nubs (UHG) and new teeth cemented over the top. All with high-tech imaging and modeling and no evil rubber goo filling my mouth for minutes upon minutes. Which is cool, but uhg, other people's spit.

I'm bargaining on the headaches leaving with my periods.

That worked for my mom. And my sister (while she was pregnant).