Sorting Out the Symptoms
Sun., October 28, 12:30 PM
Never let it be said that an observant person is not the best diagnostician — at least for oneself. I do feel better now, but it has been about thirty-six hours since I started to feel… not so good.
My stomach was upset. That hardly ever happens these days, but it was happening. And the room was spinning. Wait a minute; I've experienced this before.
The first time I suffered this, um, disturbance was when I was in college. I woke up feeling worse than awful and duly reported it to my housemother (i.e., resident counselor); I had an important exam scheduled that day, and I would not be able to make it up if I didn't dot the i's and cross the t's. The Infirmary, which must have been very busy with its paperwork, did not see fit to come and get me till after 4:30 p.m. By that time, all the medical staff had gone home, leaving one nurse on duty.
She was a really good nurse. She put me into bed sitting up and stabilized my head with pillows. That slowed down the spinning of the room. She gave me some Dramamine and, after a while, a little chicken broth. I slept well. The same nurse, incidentally, was back on duty at 8 a.m. the next day.
By morning I was on the way to recovering, which was a good thing, since the physician who examined me was convinced that it was all a part of my monthly cycle. I signed myself out and got back to the dorm. Someone went over to the drugstore to get me some more Dramamine, and I was back to my usual self in another day. I have had this syndrome a couple of times since, usually associated with a cold or a bad sinus headache. I call myself a hypochondriac, but the fact is that I know how my body works. A doctor might have found the diagnosis more difficult this time.
I had no cold or sinus headache this time, but I recognized the room spinning; this was not primarily an upset stomach. (I am subject to motion sickness, and seeing the world go around will bring it on if I'm not careful. I once got carsick just watching a large carrousel go around.) I no longer keep Dramamine in the house, but an antihistamine will do — and it did. This is good news and bad news.
The good news is that, four days after my second eye surgery, my right eye is functioning very well. For the first time in months, I have binocular vision. The bad news is that I don't see the same things with both eyes; I think I can get re-acclimated, at least until I get new glasses, but this was pretty bad.
So I am still reading with one eye, but now it's the right one. When I look at a single line of type with both eyes, I see one traveling upward and one traveling downward. Walking around with both eyes open does not seem to be an option. Look, I never said I was normal.
