In modern America, health care appointments must be made ridiculously far in advance. I recently scheduled an eye exam, but couldn’t get an appointment for six weeks. Today was the day. I took the day off work. After dropping off the kid at school, I sat down to catch a TV show or two. Only minutes after sitting down, I developed a rather strong headache. I rarely get headaches. When I do, they are usually of the mild variety that are just annoying. Within a couple of minutes of this headache’s appearance, however, it suddenly became intense. It was worse than any headache I have ever had (caveat: excluding actual head injuries). It took all the effort I could muster just to drag my carcass to the medicine cabinet for some Motrin. I forced down a couple and tried to lay on the couch. Nothing helped. I lay on the floor, on the bed, and tried every resting position I could imagine without effect for the next half hour or so. It then receded to a mere bad headache. Though I had become nauseous at the apex of the experience, I forced myself to eat some lunch. The dull ache has continued for about 11 hours now. The eye examination, of course, included such things as pressure tests and pupil dilation which made the experience barely tolerable. I only hope that a good night’s sleep can do something for it.