Saturday, March 29, 2008

Swiftly Tilting

If I sit very still the room doesn't spin.
Last night I crashed into the wall trying to walk.
Today is a bit better.
Not sure if it's my blood pressure taking a dive
again or what.

Youngest son drove me to my AA meeting this morning.
He didn't want to risk being a passegner
considering the combination of my dizzyness, nausea
and the steering wheel.
Me neither.

But he laughed as we headed into the bank,
me weaving a little as I walked.
Normally I would have missed my meeting.
But today I was celebrating
my 20th birthday in sobriety.

So youngest son told me if anyone thought I was
walking drunk
he'd just tell them I'd been 20 years without a drink
and was celebrating.

Yesterday I learned how to use the recording
equipment for the radio documentary.
I was encouraged by the producer to play with
it over the weekend.
Dearest one plugged in the microphone to play
and proceeded to chase me around the kitchen
with the microphone.

The sound of my laughter on the disk
was very pretty music.

Gravol is my temporary new best friend.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Amen Hope, the sound of laughter is beautiful music.

Peter said...

Testing: one, two... :)

Anonymous said...

Hope, I know a lot of people who've gone through this dizzy business in the last couple of years, myself included. All of us were in our forties. It's a pretty crazy feeling alright. At first, the docs suspected Meniere's Disease and all kinds of interesting stuff. After finally going to an ear-nose and throat specialist, I was told that little pieces of calcium deposits can break off in that part of the inner ear (cochlea?) that is inked to balance.

The exercise I had to do was to sit on the edge of the bed, look up and to the side and throw myself back on the bed making sure that the path is free and clear of hard objects (like walls and nightstand corners, otherwise you've got another problem on your hands). Do this with each side. Of course, this will make you dizzy but apparently, it's like one of those tip the ball into the hole game. The little free floating calcium is what wreaks havoc so we need to put it back in its place.

For me, its been about 5 years since I've had a large episode like the first couple. Once in a long while, it starts to happen a little, I do what was prescribed and it goes away.

Of course, you should get it checked out because it could be other things, like an inner in infection or something. Pretty wild ride in the meantime though, eh?

Glad you're having fun with the gear.

Mich

HeyJules said...

Sounds like when I had an inner viral infection. Don't wait too long to get it checked out Hope!

Sue said...

Oh, the spins are the worst! I hope it eases up soon.

Blessings to you on your 20th year of sobriety. You are so very strong, and such an inspiration.