After returning home, I had a CAT scan, an MRI, an MRA, and saw two family practitioners and a neurologist. I was a puzzle. The current thinking became that it was some sort of migraine-related pain, and I was put on an anti-seizure medication which seems to be suppressing the headaches. I am still on that medication to this day.

I would be more relaxed if someone had given me a confident diagnosis, and I am still puzzled as to what would suddenly trigger migraines out in the woods at night at age 61 when I had never had a migraine in my life, but guess I have to trust that this is the best plan since it seems to be working. In the years since I have experienced headaches with light sensitivity, the occasional migraine "aura", but never again the same sort of bladder-related pain that I had in 2006. And no full-blown severe migraines, thank God. I still check in with the neurologist every year.

Other updates:

I received a Big Agnes sleeping bag for Christmas that year--zero degree! It has been wonderful for shoulder-season camping trips!

Spartan1 continued to do well on his kidney diet for another year and a half, and finally he went into End Stage renal failure. He began peritoneal dialysis in 2007, right after our next canoe trip. In January of 2009 he received a kidney transplant, and we have enjoyed several canoe trips since then. He is on an insulin pump now and uses a continuous blood glucose monitor, so that makes controlling his blood sugars much easier than it was in 2006 and the years before then.

Because of my arthritis issues, we have been doing cabin weeks with our granddaughter the past three years instead of wilderness canoe trips. In that way, we still visit the canoe country every summer. I have had two knee replacements, but my spinal and foot arthritis make the rocky landings just too dangerous for me to continue wilderness canoe-tripping.