Conquering Vertigo

Up the down staircase

I've been wondering when I would fall.
Mercifully, all I hurt were the gluteous maximus muscles, and they have a protective cushion.

I have vertigo, and stairs of almost any description are a problem for me. The stairs in our townhouse have a dog leg -- you head east for four steps before reaching a landing and turning north for the remaining 16. There is a bannister on one side and a wall on the other, which helps my balance.

But still, I am the slowest one down the steps, often placing both feet on a step before going down to the next one. Between the telescoping motion of the steps and the multiplication process of vertigo, I have trouble figuring out where to put my foot. It's only near the end that the spiral whirling of the seven stairways stops, and I can confidently run down (left-right-left-right) the last few steps.

We invited our neighbor Lee over for dinner last weekend. We clean the house from top to bottom at least once a week, but in his honor I had been overzealous with the floor polish. Everything is hardwood flooring except the kitchen and bathroom, and I had polished even the wooden stairs.

Coming back downstairs during dinner, my feet slipped out from under me and -- bump bump bump -- down the stairs I went. Richard jumped up from the table and ran to me, followed by Bryn the Dog. Lee stood up, looking concerned.

I, on the other hand, was more relieved than anything else. I had finally fallen here, and it wasn't so bad. The bruising lasted all week, and I'm still slow getting started at the top, but I'm a little easier about things now, and the seven sets of stairs don't swirl as fast as they once did.

Whatever is going on in my inner ear (part of the vertigo resides there) may be lessening a bit.
If only I could say as much for the rest of my head.

posted by Woman In Love @ 12:55 PM