Update

I've had the odd email asking how I'm doing and I really apologise for not letting people know earlier. To be honest I've simply not had the energy to post something until now.

I'm back at work but am still not myself. I still have considerable pain in the right hand side of my head but it's nothing compared to what I had a few weeks ago. My concentration and focus is shot right now but it is coming back and the good thing is I no longer need to take pain killers every three or four hours, so there's a definite improvement. Incidentally, I gave up with the really strong stuff some weeks ago - it was too mind-altering.

The diagnosis hasn't changed but I haven't seen the doctor for a couple of weeks because I think he gave up on me and to be honest, vice versa. That's Big Island health care for you.

Thanks to everyone who's commented and/or emailed me, I really appreciate your thoughts and probably much more than you realise. Sorry if I haven't replied but will try to do so in the coming weeks - work is taking over for a bit which is a good thing I think!

Tom

The diagnosis

After nearly two weeks of excruciating and relentless head pain, dizziness and occasional nausea I woke up on Saturday morning in a cold sweat but completely free of pain. The pain started to return later in the day but since then has never reached the levels of the last couple of weeks and today I haven't even needed any painkillers.

I met my doctor today and was told my CT scan was clear which was great news, and of course I'd been quite anxious about this for a few days - you start thinking of all sorts of things that might be wrong while waiting. The only downside to this, of course, is that since it was clear it didn't explain what's wrong.

So, my doctor's initial diagnosis when I first saw him nearly two weeks ago is the one we're going with - shingles. The only problem with that is that I have no rash but apparently this can happen on occasions plus it's possible treatment was started early enough that it prevented the rash from appearing in the first place. If that's the case, thumbs up to my doc!

I'll be returning to work later this week although I've been told to take it easy for a while, and thanks for all your comments, thoughts and prayers in the meantime, they were all very much appreciated!

Discombobulated

Think it's now up to four different diagnoses yet the pain gets worse (and I have taken the baseball bat away from the cats). The Doc now has me on the hard stuff which certainly has some interesting side effects. I tried to steam some vegetables this evening without using any steam and left several empty plastic bags in the fridge along with my cell phone. Odd thing is I remember doing it, just not the reason why.

CT scan tomorrow and maybe when the results come in (Monday) I'll have a better idea what's going on. Have to admit I'm a little scared although I can now walk in a straight line which is better than a few days ago.