Migraine, Perfectionism and the Cold

It's been a long time since I've updated my blog because my desire to write evaporated and I've been feeling plagued by others perfectionism. But no more. See, the thing is I'm not a linguistic genius or ever claimed to be a "writer"so if you came here looking for perfection without grammatical errors, and/or to be critical of my 'writing' please stop reading and move along to a grammatically correct blog. If you want to read an honest account about the ups and downs of my life with migraine and other chronic conditions - make yourself comfortable.

Yes, the number in the photo is correct - 41 degrees F - which happened to coincide with one of the coldest nights of the year here in Buffalo, N.Y. Here's what happened.

My furnace has been acting funny for a while, leaking water from the humidifier, not clicking on when it's really cold and other irritating things. I've been able to deal with these "little" nuisances by making quick fixes like putting a bucket under the drip (needing to be emptied every few hours) manually turning on the furnace and using a fan to dry the never ending soaking wet carpet.

Last Thursday around 5:30 p.m. my furnace decided it wasn't going to play nice any longer and thought it would be a good idea for water to pour (not drip) out and make odd buzzing sounds. When the buzzing grew louder I knew it was time to shut it down and call Tom, my heating and cooling man. His quick response set me at ease saying he would be over in about a half hour. A half hour turned into an hour and a half and then the dreaded call came - "Any chance you have a fireplace or space heater so you can make it  through the night?  I can be at your house at 8:30 tomorrow morning."

UGH!! Yes, I do have a fireplace but it hasn't been used in five years and my family room has a separate heater. I begrudgingly told Tom I could wait until tomorrow morning to have my furnace fixed. Of course I didn't know my house would get down to 41 degrees F! 

I gathered flannel sheets, two comforters, one of the quilts a dear friend of mine made, a thermal blanket, and slept on the couch in the family room. I was bundled up past my nose (which gets incredibly cold due to Raynaud's) and had a pillow at the head of the couch to block the breeze coming from the rest of the house. To say the least it was not a very restful night.

Tom arrived closer to 9:00 a.m. but fixed my furnace in short order.  Yes, HEAT! It only took three quarters of the day to warm my house back up.


Now if this had happened a year ago I would have broken down becoming overwhelmed and anxious. But I am getting used to this kind of 'stuff' all while waiting for the other shoe to drop - it always does.  

Thanks for reading,

Nancy