In the woods

Just when I thought things were calming down and settling into their new normal, I seem to have experienced another set back. So I'm not entirely out of the woods yet, even after spending most of 2013 either in hospital or in bed.

Yesterday's morning vertigo episode should have been a clue that things were about to get worse rather than better.

A couple hours after dinner last night, I felt the need to attempt a BM which would have been my first since coming home (yeah, I know, too much information). Perhaps I was trying too hard, or just sitting up too long. No matter. When I returned to the living room and was slowly lowering myself  onto the sofa where I had been lying, I was suddenly overcome by a violent bout of vertigo. Actually asked Phil if we were experiencing an earthquake. Everything started moving at once, all in different directions. All I could do is hold onto a pillow and pray that the sensation didn't last long. Fortunately, the whole episode only lasted less than a minute.

Shortly after this, Penny and Jon stopped by for a visit. Their arrival coincided with my calling the BC Cancer Agency on-call nurse to get her advice. Since nobody answered the call right away, Penny suggested I take the other half of the dexamethasone pill (was only taking half once a day). Did so a few minutes after she and Jon departed. Note to self: bread or crackers are a better buffer to take with meds than pitted prunes. I returned the pill within a few minutes of taking it. Called the Cancer Agency again.

Dr on call at the Cancer Agency felt Phil's description of what I was doing when the vertigo hit (threw head back, eyes rolled briefly back, etc.) sounded like a seizure. Never had one before so am more inclined to think just bad vertigo. To me, it felt like a combo of an earthquake, after-effect of being on the world's fastest merry-go-round, and being at sea during a tornado. Or at least what I imagine such a combination to feel like. Whatever, the Dr told me to go immediately to St Mary's ER for assessment. Attending Dr also felt it could have been a seizure, but for the short duration of the episode, my recall of the situation, and the fact that I was conscience throughout the event. So ER gave me some saline to ensure I wasn't dehydrated and also gave some of my anti-nausea meds via IV. Felt more stable within minutes of all that starting. Attending Dr also changed one of my anti-nausea meds to an oral med that dissolves under the tongue which I'm able to deal with far easier than anything that needs to be swallowed. Got home at 1:30am this morning and went immediately to sleep. Moving very slowly today, which seems to be helping a lot.


Medical oncologist called this am to follow-up from ER doctor's report of last night. She has doubled the dexamethasone so I am now taking it twice a day. If that isn't enough, I'm to double it again. In the meantime, she is working with Dr Wadge and St Mary's ACU team to get the chemo going as it is thought to help calm the site in my cerebellum that is causing the vertigo and nausea.

While I am a big fan of Alfred Hitchcock movies, and did enjoy his thriller Vertigo, I do not see any of this winding up in a screenplay any time soon. Mind you, given the popularity of so-called reality TV shows, my day-to-day travails might be better suited to the smaller screen. So move over Honey Boo Boo.

Big challenge for me: move slowly, move head and eyes as little as possible. Of course, all this will greatly affect my one-time plan of auditioning for Dancing with the Stars. Unless, that is, I can persuade the judges to consider a slow-mo version of my classic funky chicken dance as my audition offering.