To the left, To the left

Wierd things are happening on the left side of my head. It started with ear pains, those wierd sharp pains that come and go and make you cringe over. But cotton in the ear helped and that went away. Then last Friday I got a strange flashing light in my left eye. It started so small I hardly noticed. But it got very large and distorted my vision. Very sparkly, bright and circular, it grew and floated up and to the left and then finally left my vision from the top left of my eye. Very strange. I had to see my optometrist anyway about new contacts, so I asked him about the wierd flashing lights in my eye. He checked it out and assuaged my major concern that it might have something to do with a detached retina. My father had one of those and I remember it involved some surgery. But his conclusion was that it was a "visual aura" and the precurser to a major migraine. I took some Excendrine Migraine and never saw a headache or anymore flashing lights. Then two days ago I woke up with one of those stiff necks on the left side. But very tender right behind my left ear. This I still have and it's driving my crazy, tough to sleep etc. Am I just getting old? lol