Whew...what a weekend.

For me, the weekend actually started on Thursday afternoon when I went to the ER.  I started getting another headache on thursday afternoon, and since the reports from my MRA weren't finished, the nurse on call at the headache clinic recommended that I go to the ER.  Since it wasn't confirmed whether or not I had an AVM, I didn't want to take the risk of a rupture if I did.  Plus, I wanted something for the searing 8 hours of pain I was about to endure.

I got to the ER at 1 pm but didn't get to see a resident until 8 pm.  It was pure insanity.  There was a woman who came in with signs of a stroke who waited almost as long as I did.  That's how backed up they were.  Welcome to Killadelphia.  They gave me touradol for the pain, which barely even took the edge off.

Anyway, FANTASTIC news is that by that time my MRA results came back and they were NORMAL.  WAHHOOO.  I can't begin to tell you how relieved I am.  I mean, aside from the obvious reasons, the cause of my headache is really getting narrowed down.  I have an appointment on wednesday with my neurosurgeon, so hopefully he'll have some more answers.  If it is occipital neuralgia, hopefully I'll be on track to prevention and pain refief.  The ER sent me home with a steroid pack (yucky) and a big dose of Depakote (aka Depadeath).

Needless to say, I haven't spent any money this weekend :)  Actually, that's not true.  Yesterday I bought pet food.  But that's in the budget!

So, my parents came to the ER and then took me to their house where I recovered over the last few days.  The headache was finally gone by Saturday, although I do feel a bit of the burning sensation starting up again in the base of my head.

On a better note, my tax refund was deposited into my acount on Friday and was immediately transferred to my ING savings account.  It kills me not to put that towards a credit card, but I know that I need to start building an emergency fund since I won't be relying on credit cards anymore.

I really can't begin to tell you what a huge relief (and how liberating) this has all been...finally getting to the clinic, finally getting a hold of my finances, learning about finance and investing...I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off of my shoulders.  It feels like anything is possible.