Steady as She Goes

Tonight I'm happy to report that I have cured my own dizziness problem.  It's a G-D miracle, I tell you.  So here's what happened:

Several of you with very sharp eyes and clever computer fingers put me onto this link about an NPR story on benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, or BPPV.  In a nutshell, here's what the article says:

Within the inner ear, there's a little pouch called the utricle that contains about 1,000 little pebbles made of calcium carbonate.

The tiny rocks serve an important purpose: They stimulate nerve cells when we move our heads — and send signals to our brain that guide our sense of up and down.

"The trouble is that sometimes the little rocks fall off," ...When the rocks fall into one of the inner ear canals, the brain gets confused. As the rocks roll around in the canal, the brain senses that the head is moving a lot more than it actually is. The result: vertigo.

Here's the accompanying illustration:

So, I have heard of this problem before because back in December of 2006, our local newspaper The Oregonian, printed this article about Dr. John Epley, a Portland physician, who figured out a way to treat this condition that had been previously considered untreatable.  In my case, it's been a minor annoyance at times during my life, but for some people it has been completely debilitating.  Some people are unable even to walk and are confined to a wheelchair or a bed because of vertigo.

Still, poor Dr. Epley was nearly laughed out of the medical community, and in fact, put his medical license at risk over this whole issue.  In the end, Dr. Epley was vindicated and the technique that now bears his name, the Epley Maneuver, has become standard treatment.  Knowing this, I set about today to find myself a physician who could perform the Epley Maneuver on me and, hopefully, cure my dizziness.  (I know Dr. Epley has been retired for at least several years.)

Well, may I just say once again, I ♥ the internet because I found a video that taught me how to do the maneuver all by myself.  And here it is:

It took me less than two minutes to do it, and when I stood up, my dizziness was gone, and it has not returned all day!!!!  It's a freakin' miracle!  Some of you wrote to say that you had experienced the same problem.  If you have, you absolutely owe it to yourself to bookmark the video for future reference.  As the daughter of a nurse, I have always been skeptical about claims like the one I'm making now, but I'm telling you, it absolutely works.  No doctor required.  Unbelievable.

I just put two pillows under my shoulders to get into the right position, and then counted off the required 30 second intervals in my head.  When I turned my head to the right, the room rolled over a couple of times.  When I turned it to the left, it really started to spin.  When I turned onto my side at the end, the spinning stopped, and it has not come back.  Here is one more link to some more instructions if it isn't clear from the video what you are supposed to do.

Despite getting rid of my dizziness, I still felt crappy for most of the day.  My stomach is still queasy, and it's just possible I have some other sort of bug that set this whole thing in motion (no pun intended).  I spent most of the day lying around and napping with my wonder cat.  (He's a very good napping buddy.)  This evening I feel a little better. No Curves for me today, and I was kind of disappointed about that.  It's better that I stayed home though.  Not making excuses this time...it's just the truth.  I rescheduled for next week, but I will be able to get on the website tomorrow and start my meal planning.

There were a couple of fabric deliveries today.  I got this one to use in the Intel Underneath quilt I'm making for Matthew.

This is a mottled brown I needed for the Acoustic Montage quilt I want to start on next.

Here's what the quilt will look like.  I had all the fabrics I needed, but I didn't have a good brown for that bottom guitar or for the accents on the guitars.

This next one was because I needed to spend a little more to get free shipping.  If I bought an additional yard of fabric, I could get free shipping and not spend any additional money.  I love a deal like that.  I could spend the money on shipping or fabric.  I chose the fabric.  (I'm real smart that way.)

Then while I was fabric shopping, I came across this.

Well, um, Mike has a yellow one just like that one on the fabric, except these are the C6s and his is a C5.  I don't have a plan for this fabric, but it seemed like I should.  Something will come along.  I'm thinking a BQ pattern would be a good choice.  (By the way, we've had the car for 12 years, and I've never driven it.  I don't want to.  Mike is happy enough that I don't want to.)

Oh yes, and here is the wonder cat I referenced above.  My, what big feet you have, Little Man.

So, despite feeling crappy, I managed to get the top of the stars sewn onto these blocks.  I'm really hoping I'll feel better by tomorrow and I'll be able to finish them up.

I haven't made any decisions about what to do with my little cut-off triangles, but Rita was kind enough to make up this little EQ diagram with one of the ideas I described.  Thank you so much, Rita! What do you all think of this?

I have enough scraps to make all those little hourglass blocks.  I kind of like it.  What do you think?  Remember, this is the original layout:

I'm still undecided...and of course, I need to know how big it will be when all is said and done.  That might be the deciding factor.

Finally, I finished the little lawn mower for the Gardener's Journal quilt.  This is a tiny little stitchery, and so I finished it pretty quickly.  I just forgot to take a picture of it until now.  I wish there was more contrast between the brown of the wheels and the gray of the blades, but that's the way the cookie crumbles.

 So that's it from me.  Thanks to all of you for your well wishes, your suggestions about my quilt and my dizzy brain, and your taking the time to send me links and EQ diagrams.  You are the best friends I've never met...but I definitely hope to meet you one of these days!