Vertigo
Five weekends ago, I got out of bed in the morning, and the bedroom spun around and around. I braced myself, said, "Whoa," (because I'm not cool) and waited for it to pass. The sensation stayed with me throughout the day. The kitchen spun when I bent down to get a pan. The living room spun when I put on my shoes. It was bizarre, so of course I didn't go to the doctor but thoroughly Googled vertigo.
After reading the Wikipedia entry, medical articles, and comments on chatrooms, I decided that the combination of allergies with the two flights that Anna and I had taken back from Oregon the previous day had unmoored some important inner ear thingy. I would wait it out. So I learned to wait a few seconds before standing, to steady myself with a hand. To get up from bed slowly and to even enjoy the sensation a little when my head hit my pillow at night.
Bit by bit, I've steadied, and rooms no longer spin. I expect I'll be completely back to normal soon.
Back in January, I started Beth Booram's Starting Something New. I stalled in a chapter about discernment. The book was to be my companion as I considered and prayed through the next steps in my work/vocation/vision journey. I thought I was getting closer to figuring out my next steps and was almost ready to move onto the next chapter. But then some things shifted in a vertigo kind of way, along with my plans and expectations. And then another shift happened with Anna's school situation, and our plans and expectations have turned upside down.
A few days felt like this description from Booram's book:
After reading the Wikipedia entry, medical articles, and comments on chatrooms, I decided that the combination of allergies with the two flights that Anna and I had taken back from Oregon the previous day had unmoored some important inner ear thingy. I would wait it out. So I learned to wait a few seconds before standing, to steady myself with a hand. To get up from bed slowly and to even enjoy the sensation a little when my head hit my pillow at night.
Bit by bit, I've steadied, and rooms no longer spin. I expect I'll be completely back to normal soon.
Back in January, I started Beth Booram's Starting Something New. I stalled in a chapter about discernment. The book was to be my companion as I considered and prayed through the next steps in my work/vocation/vision journey. I thought I was getting closer to figuring out my next steps and was almost ready to move onto the next chapter. But then some things shifted in a vertigo kind of way, along with my plans and expectations. And then another shift happened with Anna's school situation, and our plans and expectations have turned upside down.
A few days felt like this description from Booram's book:
The crossroads of change and choice can be a very confusing place. At times a fog rolls in and obscures our vision. We feel paralyzed, exhausted, frightened, alone. Our hopes are shattered. Instead of being able to look down various paths, we can scarcely see our own feet, much less a path. Our ability to think is constricted. Our energy is limited. The process of discernment is overthrown as we concentrate on first surviving. Lois. A. Lindbloom
Some days my prayers have been for mercy and not much else, and other days I've prayed a long list. I'm no longer paralyzed though, just doing what needs done and trying to be wise, paying attention, and maintaining a sense of humor.
In the midst of the topsy turvy, I've been surrounded by a good company of friends and family and am planning to laugh a great deal next weekend during my karaoke themed birthday party. By which time, the vertigo should be completely gone. And the rest will get sorted in good time.