Today I will put on my gear and get ready for another day of tuna fishing. My name is Johnny and I am the engineer and cook on this 100 ton tuna fishing boat.....  I crawl out of my bunk, its 4:30am. I go check all the engines make sure I have put oil and fluids in all. Upstairs I go to make breakfast for 8 hungry guys and get the Captain going first, none of them knowing I had 10 Cluster headaches all night and I am feeling fuzzy and worn out.
I go out feed the live bait and start getting everything ready.

The Captain tells me to go ahead and fire up the main engine and get started and we get underway. The deck is busy now, all the guys are working on their lift poles fine tuning their gear and getting ready I too have to get my gear up to speed from the day before and then it happens....JIGSTRIKE!!!! The chummer starts throwing live bait and and HERE COME THE TUNA!! We've got the school with us now and the captain slows the boat to a crawl and we jump in the racks!

YEAH JOHNNY!!!!  I Throw a 40 pounder over my shoulder Yeah!!! Mike!!! another 40 pounder!! then we all get hit all 6 of us in the racks are goin full speed now 30 pounders ,40 pounders  were throwin like crazy and my adrenaline was goin like mad!! fish pounding on the deck ,blood splattering in the air then it happens....                                                                           

I start to feel the signs, my right eye starts
to hurt a bit, can't stop fishing as I throw another 40 pounder on starting to hurt now then it hits me a hundred pounder!! It takes me down and I am hangin on for dear life, Mike next to me see's the big fish and puts the tip of his pole under mine and helps me lift the big fish up, my eye is now pounding and right side of my head and face throbbing... We grab  gaffs and stick the 100 pounder and throw him on! I yell 3 POLE!!!  3POLE!!! all of us jump to action my right side of my head is exploding now, Mike ,Jeff and I grab our 3 pole set up and mike grabs a bait we put it out and SLAM!!
A 150 pounder slams us and we pull hard and fast we line him up and throw him on!! Everybody's goin now another 100 pounder!! 

Water keeps pouring out of my right eye now and litterally feels like I have a knife buried deep into my eye and being shoved in and out and my head is is Screaming!! We throw and another hits the deck!!! 175 pounder hits the deck tails slammin the deck so hard its poundin my eye and head! I want to scream "Hey will someone please pull this God Dam knife outta my eye"!! But I stay quiet.... Water just pouring out of my eye now.

Another 100 pounder on  then another and then it hits a 250 pounder!!! All three of us lurch forward and hang on, we all go down and then we get him coming up then down again and then with total adrenaline we all pull at once!!

The big tuna hits the deck my head is still screaming in agony and Mike asks me "whats wrong" and I tell him "nothin just a headache." I wanted to tell him that I was in so much pain that I thought I was gonna die! Adrenaline pumpin now I scream 4 pole!!! 4 pole!!! and we jump into action now there is 4 of us hooked to one leader we put out a bait an SLAM!!! we get hit a 200 pounder and line him up and throw him on .

All of us knowing that one swat from the tail of these monsters will kill us or shatter what ever bone it hits!
My Cluster is subsiding and the deck is POUNDING with 200 + pound tuna and we throw a few more on the school starts to go. We go through 10 more stops like this one and I have another 7 Clusters today.

We catch 15 tons of  tuna today and as the sunsets and we all start to relax I go cook dinner for everyone and then make sure the refrigeration is working and throw more salt into the cold brine system. I make my walk through the boat and make sure every thing is safe and secure an I hit the pillow and instantly fall asleep.
I wake up 10 minutes later the right side of head hurting my eye starting to close.

I take a handful of excedrin and get up and go to the back deck , the moon is out and beautiful, the seas are calm but my head is Screaming again, water pouring from my eye and pounding after about 45 minutes it subsides. I am so tired and exausted I go back to my bunk and lay down and again fall asleep 20 minutes. I wake up again my eye swelling and  right side of my head screaming and I can tell this one is gonna be a bad one!

I am rockin back and forth holding my eye pretending to pull the knife out of it as it feels like a 4 pound ball peen hammer is pounding on it, I bring up my pillow and scream at the top of my lungs and pound my head against the side of my bunk...tears start to flow now as I can't hold it in any longer. I again go through the same routine 7 more times tonight and I am still on the back deck headache subsiding I wake everyone up and start cooking again Captain was already up and I get ready to do BATTLE again........Johnny

I did this for my job and career for 16 years from when I was 18 till I was 33 years old and this is a totally true story and is a memory of a certain day that I have. I am a Cluster headache sufferer....The most painful condition known to medical science....more so than broken bones, shattered limbs, child birth or any other condition....  and you may have guessed it but the BATTLE is with the headaches not the fish but it all Saved My Life..... I am now 53 and still fighting.... THE BATTLE.......

That's action packed! 

A 200 lber bigger than me.  Wow.


Wild, living life sleepless, between the hits, and through them.  You're crazy man.  No wonder you capitalized, THE BATTLE. 

God I miss doing this so much!! I wish I had found Vitamin D3 back then! I would have been a mad man! HA!

Kevin...
Thanks for your wonderful response! Your words mean alot to me as your way with words are genuine and heart felt.
The Battle is something that controlled my life for so long and I now after 37 years of being chronic have finally found Pete Batches Vitan D3 regimen has worked for me. Pain free is WONDERFUL!!! Something that I never knew before and just continued to fight the BATTLE every day and win. So many times CH brought me to my knees screaming and praying to God that he would take away my pain and suffering. I in the past have compared my BATTLE with that of Jobe in the bible who was made to suffer to prove his faith to God. There is no pain greater than what we suffer and if this is a test I still have the faith. Life is beautiful and well worth the Battle we all share, when the end comes naturally then we will all be pain free and in paradise......Johnny

Me with a green back sea turtle!

I was the cook too and a very busy guy! That's the only way i could cope with having a dozen or more CH's a day!!

This ones about 45 pounds....