Tales From the Turntable: I AM A Turntable

I wasn't always the legit "dizzy blond". There was a time in life when it was just a joke someone could make, but while living in Florida it became something true. So today I share with you the story of how my life shifted and I became a girl with Meniere's Disease. I've written about it before, but now maybe it will fit together better since we have learned a little more about the job I had at the start. Maybe not. Let's just get going!

It could be completely unrelated, but I got a really bad concussion. I was at our wardrobe building swapping our for some fresh Kali costumes and when I went to get in my car apparently I didn't feel a need to duck. I rammed my head into the car so hard I had a big mark across my head. I felt the effects of that for days. And it seems like it wasn't long after that that I never felt the same again.

As you know very well by now, when I was an Expedition Guide I worked on a constantly moving turntable. On one side was the solid platform that guests would come down to and leave from, and on the other was the side with the rafts and water. I noticed that I was having an increasingly hard time on the turntable, feeling dizzy quite often. Before this I was completely comfortable on that platform, but more often than not I found myself walking closer to the inside than the part by the water. If there were breaks in guests I would stand on the non-moving area, yet still felt off. I dealt with all of this fine enough, and soon I was no longer a Guide. I got a new job working in an office!

My transition to the Labor Office was a little awkward because of all of this strange stuff going on with me that I didn't understand. Very early on I was invited to go out to lunch with the other ETR clerks. Being the newest one to join the team I couldn't say no. I wanted to fit in and show I am a team player, plus I'd never once in my Disney career had an opportunity to go off property for lunch!

We went to one of those steak house places where you eat peanuts and throw the shells on the floor. That was interesting! I'd never experienced that before! Something else I hadn't experienced .... having such a bad feeling of vertigo that I had to casually use my hand to hold my head up. Something clearly wasn't right. It was like my head was in its own world that was so foreign to me it was almost like an out of body experience, except I was in my body.

The next awkward moment came shortly after when my fellow cast members were annoyed at me for not answering my phone. The problem was I couldn't even hear it ringing. And I could barely hear them asking me why I was ignoring my phone. It was then that I knew I had to give in and call the doctor.

My primary care doctor sucked. I mean seriously he was so bad. I don't miss him at all. Fortunately this would be my last ever visit with him. After freezing my ass off in the waiting area for way too long like always, and then freezing some more in the exam room, he was finally there listening to me. He ordered me a CT scan and sent me on my way.

The insurance I had rejected that and said I would have to get a referral from a neurologist. So back to Celebration Hospital I went, this time to meet with a neurologist who's complicated name I can't remember. I felt so much better with him. He understood what I was saying. He put my body in crazy positions trying to trigger the feelings I have. And then he referred me to get an MRI.

The MRI was quite an experience, as I hear most of them usually are! And what was cool is that when the results were done I personally went to pick up my huge scans (which I still have!) and brought them back to the neurologist.

To shorten this up, from that point on he saw some things in my brain that he wasn't concerned about - that I was probably born with. And then I was referred to the Florida Hospital for appointments with the Ear/Nose/Throat doctor. I remember during one of the appointments they had me march in place with my eyes closed.  Easy enough. I was awesome in marching band.  Uh, yeah .... thinking I was staying in place, I ended up rotated at least 90 degrees!

And from this point I was back to neurology, ENT and then off to get blood work and hearing tests. Then I ended up in downtown Orlando, with my mom and Grandpa in tow actually! This time I was having things placed all over my head and had to go through many tests with lights off, on, hot, cold, sounds.... everything.

This went on for a majority of the 2004 on my days off. I guess its good I was off on Monday and Tuesday, perfect for a life of doctor's appointments. And eventually it came back as Meniere's Disease. Oh, I did get that CT scan, too... but thanks to Hurricanes Charley, Frances and Ivan I was never able to actually go collect my scan and learn the results. Oh well. Que sera sera.

I was given medication from the first primary care doctor to help with the vertigo. That made me sleep for basically an entire day. After moving home my grandpa, a pharmacist, suggested I break it in half so I don't sleep my life away. Then my good family doctor in Oregon gave me a prescription for half the dosage - and then told me to break that one in half! Eventually I took myself off of all medications and now I just roll with it ... sometimes with my pretty floral cane. I'm classy like that!

So now if you ever see me in a store or at work and I am grabbing onto walls ... this is why. It means my cane is probably IN the car and I am having a standard day of vertigo... which is my normal every day life. I can't escape my turntable!

ºoº See ya real soon!