Vertigo (not Hitchcock or U2)

A few months ago I was having a typical day at work. I was getting over a cold so I was feeling a little tired and went into the bathroom to splash some water on my face. I blew my nose, felt my ears pop, and immediately knew that the next few hours would suck - bad. The ear popping was fluid rushing into my inner ear, throwing my equilibrium out of whack. Remember when you were a kid and you'd spin around in place (like a ballerina, except you didn't know about the thing where they spin their head intermittently to keep from getting dizzy)? Well, that's how it felt, and looked - like the room was tilting. I also knew what was next: on my knees in front of the toilet, ralphing my guts up.

I've been through this twice before, once on a plane and knew thought the worst of it would be over in a few minutes. Five minutes later nothing's changed,. Then my manager came in to see if I was OK. "Just give me a minute, I'll be alright." a few minutes later he offers to call 911. "No, I'll be OK once this is out of my system." Ten minutes later I still couldn't stand up and knew that I couldn't just stay on the bathroom floor. My boss said that the paramedics could give me a shot or something to help. I knew that they do have stuff like that, so I finally gave in and had him call an ambulance. I could have just had someone drive me home, but I was too dizzy to stand up, much less walk, and didn't want to impose on someone by throwing up into a bucket in their car.

By now there's a small crowd gathered outside the bathroom. My 15 minutes of fame - about how long I'd been throwing up. It turns out paramedics don't give the magic shot that restores your balance. So I had them take me to a hospital (I could have just gone home but they aren't a taxi service either).

At the hospital I finally got the Magic Shot, but by then I was already starting to feel better anyway. They also gave me a couple of pills and a cup of Gatorade. A few hours later it was all over. Someone from work came and picked me up and brought me back to my car. I drove myself home, took a nap, and felt almost perfect.

Moral of the story? I don't know. Careful with that Kleenex, Eugene.