No rest for the weary

For the past year or so, I have made my sister come help me whenever I have to get up in the middle of the night.

Now, some of it has been legit -- like when I had a concussion or dizzy spells. But  honestly, I am not sure I am not just being lazy. I mean 99% of the time, I am fine. OK, maybe like 86%, but still a solid majority.

I tell myself better to get help and not need it than the other way around, but I worry I am taking the easy way out and disturbing my sister, who has better things to do.

Fame needs her motivation

I taught Fame a new skill, and I am pretty tickled.

She pushes my wheelchair footplate out of the way when I say "foot."

It is really handy. I am also proud (of her; I didn't do anything) because pushing vertically is not something she was trained to do.

Because of the newness, I encourage her a lot.

The problem is I use this command most frequently in the bathroom, so today I was cheering her on and heralding her success. Then I noticed someone in the next stall.

I can't breathe

Blowing  out the candles on my birthday cake has been kind of a joke for years. I have no  aim with say breath.

My PT was not laughing when I mentioned this to her. She had just told me she "didn't love" how my ribcage flairs out at the bottom. This is how she says something needs fixing.

She was telling me that I am not breathing properly when I told her about the candles.

She got a piece of paper, and told me to blow into it and make it move.

I couldn't do it. Awesome. Another problem.

Needless to say, I am working on my breathing.

I hate cold, part bajillion

I telework Tuesday and Thursday, so I need to bring my computer home most days. I put the bag strap around my neck and the bag on my lap.

When I have to wear my big coat, I can't see my feet, so I don't know if they fall off my footplate. Like on Wednesday.

My left foot fell off as I exited the elevator in the morning. It really got wedged in between the footplate and the wheel, and I couldn't free it.

I eventually had to ask a stranger on the elevator to lift my foot up. She did, but grrr.

Dizzy no more

My plan for today was to start calling amusement parks and find a tilt-a-whirl. After yesterday's repositioning effort at my physical therapist's to fix my dizziness, I figured a tilt-a-whirl would do about the same.

But I woke up today not dizzy! Man, those PTs are miracle workers. (I say those because my normal PT was not even available, but her co-workers helped.)

It took two of the co-workers. First, I laid down on a table with my head off the end. Then, one PT held my head and another rotated my body. They did this twice.

I may have been a wee bit skeptical at first. Immediately afterward, I was a little off. But one of the PTs said my eyes were less jumpy the second time, and I didn't get as dizzy on the second rotation.

The only problem is I kind of wanted to find a tilt-a-whirl and have my shirt get caught.      

I don't have a concussion!

That's the good news.

The dizziness I am experiencing, though, is worse than when I was concussed.

I went to the doctor yesterday, and the PA diagnosed an inner ear problem. He had me take Sudafed and Flonase, and said it'll clear up in a few days or a few weeks.

Needless to say I am teleworking till the spells, when I change positions or move my head, are gone.

The best to explain the symptoms is to recall going to Redskins game at RFK. We went in a bus, and all the buses parked in a row next to one another. After the game, sometimes the bus next to us left first, and if you were looking out the window, it could get ugly. You knew you weren't moving, but out the window, things were moving. It was very disconcerting. And that is how I feel when I lie down: I know things aren't moving, but they feel like it.

And I didn't even get to watch my once-favorite team beat up on some losers, like the Giants.

TV doesn't hurt

I had been writing a post in my head for most of the day, then I fell this evening and I no longer wanted to write that post, or anything really.

I need spring and its warmth, but it's more than that.

I feel like I am getting worse balance-wise. I am fairly sure I am not really, or at least not unexpectedly worse.

But something is more wrong than usual. Who knows? Maybe I am just looking for an excuse to watch TV.

My toys

My new toy may be paying off.

It's a microphone that sends the sounds it picks up to my hearing aids. I use it to watch TV mostly. Meetings have been so-so. But last night I went to dinner at a crazy busy restaurant. My two friends kindly passed the microphone back and forth, and I actually kept up.

It wasn't perfect. But I followed 85 percent of the conversation. No batarang but I'll take it.

No problem

My work sister has grown so blasé about putting in my hearing aids or putting them back in place that yesterday she didn't even bother getting off the phone when she saw the hearing aid hanging at an odd angle. She just motioned me over, fixed it and kept talking.

I reckon that I am pretty lucky.

Seeing stars

As I recently pointed out, there is nothing good about FA. But I just thought of something: Because of    FA, I now understand why Wile E. Coyote sees stars when he falls off cliffs or gets hit with anvils. (Note to Mom: Nothing happened.)

Before the FA set in, I figured you saw stars.

It wasn't until FA, when I started falling and slamming my head into tables, that I knew what the stars look like. They also don't circle your head,  at least mine don't. Mine just float in front of my face.

Thanks FA.
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