How's my friend today?

From the website of the Facial Pain Association (http://www.endthepain.org/), I learnt that a friend, whom I came to know thru the web, is suffering from severe TN pain, so severe that she has resorted to using morphine.

Along with other people, I pray that she'll recover real soon.

Today I have difficulty connecting to the discussion area of the Association's website and cannot gain access to the friend's daily blog.
I wonder how she's doing these two days.

As for myself, I'm fine. Occasionally there's some TN pain, the effect of which is a bit like being pierced by a needle on my face. The pain is not strong, not lasting, and doesn't affect my daily activities. Therefore, I feel very grateful already.

I hope my friend will recover very soon.

Some pain persists

I did not work on this blog for many days mainly because I felt quite tired after the recent trip. I think the cold weather in Europe and the long-haul flights took their toll on me. I did not sleep well and it took me some time to completely regain my strength.

I'm feeling fine now.

There's been some TN pain after the trip. But it's not too serious. Not like the kind I experienced in the past. Not only is it less severe in intensity, it's more 'controllable' in the sense that I can minimize its happening by suitably adjusting my physical movements. The pain occurs everyday; and then it goes away after some time.

Another difference between this pain and the one that occurred a few months ago is that this one doesn't seem to react very well to fishhead soup. I've cooked the dish a few times after returning home; and yet the pain continues (though reduced considerably).

This shows that the fishhead soup does not remove all types of TN pain.

Still, I hope the soup works on some people sometimes.

The photos shown here were taken on one of the Canary islands: Lanzarote. The camel ride was fun.

Back from trip

I returned to HK three days ago, after a trip which included stops in Italy and a cruise that went to Casablanca, Barcelona and the Canary islands.

Long-haul flights, cold weather and fairly strong wind had perhaps contributed to the return of TN pain for me. Some pain occurred almost at the start of the trip and lasted almost throughout the trip. But it was not very serious and did not affect my enjoyment of the journey.

The pain intensified somewhat on the flight home; and also on the first couple of days after reaching home. Still, it was tolerable and not the kind the severe pain I suffered a few months ago after the trip to Dubai in December 08.

I quickly prepared and ate some fishhead soup with Tin Mah. Since yesterday, the pain has subsided considerably but not gone completely.

The experience this time is different from that in Jan/Feb. On that occasion, the very severe pain was completely gone on the next day after taking the fishhead soup.

This time, the improvement only occurred gradually. I am not sure if this was related to the portion size of soup which I took. On the previous occasion, I finished eating the whole soup made from one fishhead. This time, I started by eating half of the soup only, because I didn't feel well in my stomach.

Today, I cooked and ate one whole portion of the soup. I'll see if there's any more significant advancement in my condition.

In any event, I'm feeling quite fine already, with occasional pain which is not serious at all. I'll continue to write about my condition in the next few days.

The photos shown here were taken in Casablanca.