Blog #15: Merry Christmas. And thank you.

The Christmas tree is decorated, the Pohutukawa trees are in bloom and the kids have finished school for the year. Yup, it’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas.

Before we break out the bubbles and turn up the volume to Kenny Rogers’ The Gambler* to ring in 2021, I want to say thank you.

Yes – to you. You reading this blog right now.  

Thank you for reading my blog posts. I know there’s a plethora of online content that competes with your attention to be read, so it means a lot that you’ve read what I’ve written. When I publish each blog post I hope someone like you will read it, and that it helps you in some way. Either for you if you have migraine disease, or if you’re reading because you know someone affected by migraine.

Thank you for commenting on a blog post – either on the blog or on the Migraine Down Under Facebook page. I’ve read and appreciated every single comment and I try to reply to every one, so I hope I’ve replied to yours. I genuinely love hearing from you – whether it’s to tell me you’ve enjoyed reading a blog post, something I said has resonated with you or you’ve shared a tip or personal experience. And thank you for telling me you also understand the challenges of migraine treatment and access to migraine medications, or lack thereof, in New Zealand. It’s encouraging to know I’m not the only one thinking we need to upset the status quo of the migraine landscape in New Zealand.

Thank you for liking and sharing the Migraine Down Under Facebook page. I appreciate your support to help connect others in New Zealand with migraine.

Thank you for joining the New Zealand Headache and Migraine Support Group private group on Facebook. I hope it’s a space you can ask questions or learn from others with migraine. Migraine disease affects everyone differently, but I learn so much about migraine by talking with other people so I hope you do too.

Thank you for sending me a private message – either by emailing me or sending me a Facebook message to my inbox.

And…

To all the New Zealand and overseas organisations and individuals who’ve given me their time over the past 6 months to talk about migraine and the challenges for New Zealanders and bounce ideas off, thank you.   

To friends past and present who’ve got in touch to tell me they too are affected by migraine, thank you. Nice to know we have even more in common. Although it would be nicer to have a villa in the Maldives in common rather than migraine. Maybe one day. And as long the Maldives don’t sink in the next few years.

To my ‘in real life’ friends who’ve read the blog, acknowledged they never knew about my migraine disease and then politely listened to my never-ending tales of what needs to improve for Kiwis with migraine, thank you.

To anyone with migraine who reads this blog after December 2020, thank you. I hope the me in the future is still crafting some useful migraine content. Who knows, maybe by now (then?) I’ve perfected my migraine treatment pie perfectly and beaten my migraine beast into long-term hibernation. 

Phew. Okay. Pretty sure I’ve used up my quota of thank you for the year now.

I hope this blog and the Migraine Down Under Facebook pages have helped you with your own migraine beast. Over the past 6 months, it has sometimes been a juggle fitting in writing blog posts with working and the general craziness of life with a family. But connecting with other people like you gives me the motivation to keep writing and finding different avenues, organisations and individuals to connect with to help make our migraine voice a bit louder down under. Please feel free to get in contact any time, I’d love to hear from you.

Thinking ahead to 2021, I’ll sneak away from the family one day in January to write a couple of blog posts before the kids go back to school in February. I’ll work on the first Migraine Down Under newsletter (sign up below!), and like always, I’ll continue to focus on how to advocate for change for us Kiwis with migraine.

But for now, have a wonderful Christmas. I hope Santa brings you a migraine-free holiday, or at least puts some triptans in your stocking to make it through the celebrations. I hope you get to spend some clear-headed days with family and friends, or just friends if your family drives you a bit nuts.

Catch you in 2021! 

*Undoubtedly the BEST song to sing on New Years Eve. Fact. And RIP Kenny who we lost this year.