a trip to the hospital, weekend games

I had vertigo in grade school. Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, to be precise, though of course I didn’t know it was called that. (I didn’t have Internet, then. Ha!) I’d get the dizzies if I lay on my side, or if I tilted my head up and down. Sometimes even when I lay down flat on my back. I would have to elevate my head with pillows when I sleep, and try very hard not to move. It faded away after a week or so.

I had the dizzies again on Sunday, and I still had it on Wednesday night, along with an excruciating headache that crawled down my forehead. I didn’t want to go to a hospital, and I was so sure it would just fade away like last time, but Jaykie was worried, which got me worried, so on Thursday morning I asked him if he could drive me to St. Luke’s.

I’ve always thought St. Luke’s was the shiny building in the middle, so I went straight there with my Medicard. Alas, outpatient clinics are in the more rundown buildings on either side of the shiny building. I went to Medical Arts first (“Strange term, Medical Arts,” Jaykie said), and was told to go to the PET building right across. So off I went to the PET building. I was told to go to Room 713.

Room 713, I was sure, was empty and locked. I waited some more (Jaykie was still parking). Finally I asked the busy Room 711 for directions. Apparently I was in the North part of the building. The Medicard room is in Room 713 also – but Room 713 SOUTH.

The world was spinning – literally – and I could only think, Which smartass sumbitch thought of giving the same room numbers to both wings?

(Actually, now I’m not sure. Maybe I was waiting in the South wing when I should have been in the North wing. The point is I was in the wrong wing standing in front of the same room number. You get the drift.)

So I went to Room 713. I said “vertigo” and I was referred to an ENT doctor in Room 812. There was a line, of course. The wait took TWO HOURS. I mean, wow. We were able to eat lunch in the middle of it. (I kept apologizing to Jaykie; waiting sucks.)

BPPV was the diagnosis, and I was told to move instead of avoiding the vertigo-inducing positions. “You’ll notice that the dizziness disappears.” She recommended three hearing exams: pure tone audiometry, speech audiometry, and brainstem auditory evoked response.

All three exams had to be taken in the main building. Shiny! I had to wait in line in the cashier to get a receipt for the exams, but at least (and I kept reminding myself this to suppress vertigo rage) I didn’t have to pay.

The audiometry exams were simple. A technician puts an earphone over your head, and everytime you hear a sound, no matter how soft, you raise your hand. Then the technician reads words to you, and you have to repeat the words back to her. Took twenty minutes, and I was able to get the result right away. (Left ear had mild senso – something. I didn’t bother to figure out the graphs.)

I couldn’t take the BAER the same day, so I had to go back early the next day. Torrential rains, and I had to go back so I could have my nervous system checked. Argh. Here I was made to lie down, and a technician attached electrodes (electrodes! like in Fringe!) on my head and inserted earpieces in my ears. I was made to listen to clicks and whirrs for an hour. I was told to relax, but come on. Anyway, I did my best. I certainly couldn’t sleep.

(I got the results from fax today. More graphs, but everything looked fine.)

Jaykie downloaded a PDF reader on his PSP so I could read my ebooks. Now I want a PSP. LOL.

We had tequila on Friday. Though it gave me incredibly painful stomach cramps at two in the morning, it cured my vertigo! Or so I think.

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We went to the OGM on Saturday. Had fun. Played Incan Gold (where sometimes you win if you decide to run away – I don’t like the values this game teach LOL!), Senators (I won!), Dixit (lovely French game where you are handed cards with surreal imagery – I. LOVED. IT. I would buy that fucking card game! Though I don’t get the name.), and Werewolf, which unfortunately we had to end before we could finish the game because it was getting late.

Realization: What I need in the OGM is a constant game partner who can play some lousy boardgame with me while Jaykie is in RPG. Heh. Anyone? Yes?

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This morning is foot spa day! My soles were scrubbed raw, and now my feet and my toenails are happy.

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I need time to re-write a story for an editor who is kind enough to want it for publication. AGH GIVE ME TIME WHY IS IT SO HARD TO WRITE NOWADAYS.

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Dear Universe,

I want to go home on my birthday. Please don’t let me spend my birthday with the first floor flooded.

Thanks.

Love,