I have no recollection of the day, other than when I opened my eyes, the room was spinning and I couldn't make it stop...Somehow I managed to get out of bed, call in sick, go to the bathroom, then return to bed.
This was the start of an odyssey, 25 years ago...Dizzy spells were not something new for me...Ten years previous I was plagued with dizzy spells, consulted with doctors, went to Walla Walla for a cat scan, took the only prescribed medicine, Meclizine, available...The doctors told me, Maclizine makes you sleep, enabling your body to heal itself...A side effect is, that it also turns you into a zombie...But that time it had worked...The dizzy spells went away, I returned to my normal life which included, hiking, biking, walking, skiing, working...In this way I kept my weight down, kept in shape, I felt fit and healthy.
So now when I woke up to a spinning room, I knew that all I had to do was take Meclizine and soon the dizzy spells would pass and all would be well...But this time it didn't work that way...The first month I spent much of the time sitting on the sofa, staring straight ahead...I was able to fix basic meals for Herb and I and tried to get some exercise...For the next year, Herb took me for cat scans, MRI's, to neurologists for tests for MS, Muscular Dystrophy, Parkinson's disease, and a myriad of other rare and crazy illnesses...All the tests came back negative...The doctors talked about the intricate workings of the inner ear, and all the things that can go wrong in the space no bigger than a dime...Most of these maladies have no cure, just time will usually heal...I existed in a fog, learning to stand or sit, looking straight ahead, because the slightest movement could send me into another dizzy spin...I worked off and on during this year, keeping up with menu's, ordering, scheduling changes, but my mind played tricks on me and I made mistakes that affected the program...My staff covered for me, and I knew enough to let them take over, when I could no longer think straight...During this first year, I had some weeks without a dizzy spell and my world would begin to feel normal and life would move on...Then out of the blue, a slight move of my head and my world was spinning out of control again.
A routine dental appointment, with my dentist of 20 years, brought me to a turning point...The first words out of Dr. Underhills mouth were, "Good to see you Della, and how have you been?"...Words would not come, just tears and uncontrolled sobbing as I choked out the story of the last year of my life...Dr. Underhill comforted me, listened and said, "You need to go to OHSU, I will get you an appointment."...Hugs To All...OWAV:)
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