The Balance Center – Jesus is for the Wounded

These 3-part posts are not for the faint of heart.

I wish that I was not writing them.

This was my reality just 24 hours ago and it bears recording for future reference.

A true miracle usually starts with a hell-of-a-story. So here it is, Part 1:

Many of you gracious, Gentle Readers know that I have been battling a serious illness for just over 4 years. What began as an acute, viral hepatitis became the introduction of an ongoing drama that has now included (alleged) Chronic Lyme disease, mercury toxicity, poisoning from root-canaled teeth, Stage 2 Candida infection and Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS) including a biotoxin illness. The most wretched of the myriad of symptoms continues to be daily convulsive episodes. And for the last 2 1/2 of these 4 years those episodes range from 2 to 10 hours per day rendering me useless for a bigger chunk of daily living. (See this video for a sample.) Currently there is no end in sight.

My toe clips failed and I fell off my bike on August 23rd of this past year causing a Closed Head Injury with Concussion. While my baseline functioning was only mildly affected, the orthopedic and neurologic impacts were measurable. I hit my left shoulder, elbow, wrist, knee and side of my head on the pavement. Within the next few weeks I received chiropractic and physical therapies then was referred to “The Balance Center” to assess ongoing dizziness, lightheadedness, ringing in my ears, etc. I pleaded with my Doctor to delay the 3 1/2 hour test procedures due to the severity of the convulsive episodes and the fact that the acute symptoms had already diminished. He agreed and we delayed it one month to allow some additional time to heal.

The Balance Center had to get special permission to schedule the appointment after I mentioned “seizures,” for fear that I would not be able to tolerate the test procedures. Wise concerns. My Doctor approved their request to proceed! When the day got nearer I intervened and delayed it another month to October. My Doctor understood my reasoning back then and pressed for me to complete the assessment as scheduled this past week. He stated that there still could be some vestibular issues contributing to the convulsive episodes and lingering symptoms noted above although the latter had improved.

I knew I was doomed. Having worked in occupational therapy for over 3 decades until disabled by this wretched illness, I knew about vestibular testing and rehabilitation. I had attended a weekend training for it many years ago and referred my home health patients to this very clinic! Now it was my turn. I also knew that test devices with moving parts that cause you to lose your balance, spin you around, prompt you to move your eyes rapidly and the like would be hell for me. I did not think I would be able to complete most of it. That is exactly what happened: the first appointment in October had ended after the audiology test portion: a simple hearing test in a quiet, sound-proof booth! When the audiologist entered the room to review the results after I had just stopped seizing, her perfume sent me into more violent episodes. It took a long time to recover from everything as I sat in a cold chair in a long hallway, staff and patients busily walking by . . .

They did the best they could with my atypical “case” perhaps. However, the room with the sound-proof booth was already booked for the next patient and the schedule, the schedule, THE SCHEDULE must go on don’t you know? Such is life in modern medicine these days. It was a very desolate feeling to sit there with my unsupported head banging around with no where to lie down to minimize injury. Gratefully the technician was very nice as she escorted me to my “recovery chair,” and later offered to reschedule me. Reluctantly we settled upon the last day of the year: that was yesterday.

See Part 2 for the rest of the story . . .