Not the Plan

 Well, that wasn't the plan... but we'll come to that in a moment.

Firstly, on this lovely sunny day, I am celebrating the completion of 12 years since I retired. Some may moan about their retirement, but not me. It has been 12 years of joy, family, travel, and generally doing whatever we want. I commend it to the reader.

Now, whilst I didn't have a plan for the day, I certainly was not expecting to spend it the way that I did. I guess I should start at the beginning. On Thursday evening, I developed what seems to be referred to as an "ice-pick" headache. This is a stabbing or shooting pain that lasts for a second or so, but repeats randomly. This lasted all evening and night. Paracetamol did not touch it. On Friday, the pain had gone, and there was no recurrence, even overnight.

This morning the pain started again while I was on my usual Zoom call with the cousins. The frequency had increased to about 13 seconds between "hits". After the call, I went online to 111 and went through their questionnaire. It said I should go to our Urgent Treatment Centre. I was sceptical and chatted with AI. It said I should contact AI and go to my Urgent Treatment Centre. That was unanimous then. I checked Di had everything she needed and headed for St Richard's. I was triaged fairly quickly, then waited to be seen. Several hours later (by which time the pain had gone), I was seen, and after some tests, the doctor suggested a couple of possible causes, but blood tests would be needed to provide some more clarity. A nurse took an armful of blood and sent it to the lab. I went for a walk and grabbed a coffee. The results came through within about 15 minutes. It was, however, a couple of hours before another doctor had the chance to review them with me. Blood tests were all clear. This meant that the most probable diagnosis was Trigeminal or Occipital Neuropathy. A letter was sent to my GP, and I was told to visit the GP if the problem recurred. In the meantime, if Ibuprofen helped, then use that.

I have had a few isolated "hits" since, but it hasn't been too bad. That was six hours that I wouldn't really wish to repeat.