My mom had
been saving for quite some time to take my sons and me
on a Disney cruise. On a beautiful, sunny day in June, 2003, we flew
from Spokane to Orlando,
where we spent the night, then set sail on the Disney Wonder.
We had a
wonderful time on the cruise to the Bahamas, but
upon our return, I felt as if I could not get my "land legs"
back. I
returned to work, but was literally holding onto the walls when I
walked down
the halls. Sitting at my desk felt like sitting on a rocking canoe.
My doctor
diagnosed me with labrynthitis and prescribed meclizine.
Weeks later, I still felt the rocking and swaying motion. Convinced I
had a
brain tumor, I requested an MRI. It came back with normal results.
Shortly
thereafter, my symptoms simply disappeared.
In June,
2005, my mother planned another vacation for us. This one
was very special—Disney had announced its first seven-day Mexican
Riviera
cruise. We looked forward to being part of this special event, but it
ended up being
a difficult time for us. We had recently lost a dear loved one, and Mom
was in
the beginning stages of Parkinson's.
Nonetheless,
we took the cruise. This time we sailed on the Disney
Magic. We thoroughly enjoyed our week in Mexico,
but when we arrived back at
LAX, I felt as though I was still on the ship, rocking, swaying and
bobbing.
At this point
in my career with the Air Force, I had every box
checked for a promotion to the next highest rank. I was the
non-commissioned
officer in charge of the flight surgeon’s office and taught
fitness classes on
the side—which kept me in excellent health. When I returned to
work, I knew
whatever I had after the first cruise was back.
After my
diagnosis, I was still trying to do my job, teach my fitness
classes, and be a mom to my boys, who had recently lost their father.
Needless
to say, I couldn’t do it all. I put in my papers to retire, and
got a part-time
job at the base. A little more than a year later, my symptoms faded a
second
time, as mysteriously as they appeared.
During the
years I was in remission, I flew many times without
giving MdDS a thought. I mistakenly believed it only resulted from
cruises. In the
spring of 2010, we flew to Hawaii.
I'd promised the boys this vacation for a long time. We enjoyed our
trip, but
when we landed back in Spokane,
my symptoms of non-stop rocking and swaying had returned.
It has been
more than a year since our trip to Hawaii, and I have learned much
about my
syndrome. The only thing I don’t know is how to make it go away.
I'm under the
care of a wonderful neurologist, Dr. David Greeley
at Northwest Neurological in Spokane,
who understands firsthand how life-altering this disorder is—one
of his family
members has lived with MdDS for the last ten years.
I
am so very grateful to the MdDS Balance Disorder Foundation for the
work it is doing to
provide
education and
support to the patients who suffer with MdDS and for the research
studies that
are underway.
Where
it all began...in 2003!
