The audience roared with applause as we took our final bow. Our Shakespeare compilation, entitled “Where There's a Will, There's a Play,” was a great success and our months of preparation had finally paid off.
April 12th would mark my last stage performance.
The very next day, my family and I hit the road for our spring vacation to Washington DC. My excitement was overwhelming, as we were planning on at least one museum per day. As a history nerd, this was the most exciting portion of the trip. Scott and Stephanie were less than thrilled, as my siblings were tired of school and wanted to explore more and spend time with our cousins in the area. The trip was enjoyable overall as the middle of April had always been a wonderful time of the year. The cherry blossoms, tulips, and a host of other flowers were blooming like there was no tomorrow. Spring filled with excitement for both the present and the future; we all were brimming with excitement for one reason or another.
Five wonderful days later, we drove home through the Shenandoah Valley and Carolina farmland. But when I woke up on Good Friday, April 18th, I had a massive headache. I simply brushed it off as dehydration and focused on drinking extra water. On Easter Sunday when we spent time with family, my headache became more pronounced and irritating, so I told my mom and my grandma. They became very worried and talked about going to see the doctor. A week later my parents took me to see our family practitioner. Dr. Riley said I was “healthy as a horse” and even healthier than most girls my age. Both the doctor and my family were mystified as to the cause of my pain.
Over the course of the next nine months, I saw an ophthalmologist, two chiropractors, a personal trainer from the YMCA, and two neurologists. These were dead ends, except for the neurologists. The first neurologist was Dr. Sacco. My mom has been consistently seeing her over the past 10 years and so she brought me in one day on one of her appointments. She was a real sweet lady, fiery Italian, and has kids in college. Dr. Sacco diagnosed me with New Daily Persistent Headache (NDPH). This simply means that I'm in pain and they have no idea what's wrong or how to fix it. The best answer the doctor had was experimenting with painkillers of varying levels. One of these options included nerve blocks, a series of five shots into the hips and neck. Supposedly the drugs eradicate migraines, but I happen to be the unfortunate and unique person that reacts negatively to said drugs. The pain quickly escalated and worsened when someone touched me. I was miserable.
It didn't help that this took place during the summer, my least favorite of the seasons. With its oppressive heat, life was more miserable. And after experimenting for four months, Dr. Sacco said she could do nothing else but recommend a better neurologist. So in December, we drove three hours to see Dr. Finkle.
In between the numerous doctor's visits that year, fall quickly followed summer and brought my junior year and hard work. It suddenly became very difficult to read and concentrate so I felt more miserable. My optimism died along with the plants that surrounded me.
Winter consisted of suicidal thoughts. I never told any one how I truly felt. Part of me told me, and continues to do so, to keep all of my true feelings bottled up inside and act how I needed to in the moment. To my knowledge, no one ever knew how depressed I really