Off Balance

I had a pleasant dream involving my late younger sister.  We were outside somewhere, and I had learned that she had turned down going to a school.  Can't remember if it was a high school or a college.  Before I could ask why, she told me she didn't think the school was right for her.  "Let's talk about it some more!" she said, then both her and I were laughing as we ran up to a house.  The dream made me happy, but it made me sad as well, as she and I can no longer talk and laugh together about anything.

The alarm went off, and I went into the bathroom.  Then I decided to lay down for another few minutes -- the "Strawberry Letter" portion of Steve Harvey's radio show was on, and I wanted to hear what today's letter topic would be.  I dozed back off.  When I got up about ten minutes later, I thought I was going to join my late sister. The room was spinning.  I rubbed my right eye and thought, "I wasn't drinking heavily last night, so why is the room spinning?"  In fact, I haven't got my drink on like that in nearly two decades.  I was stumbling and dizzy.  "Help me, Jesus", I moaned, as I held on to the wall in an attempt to stand straight.  I was standing there for a long time, until I decided to call Pastor Roger to say, "Uh, it doesn't look like I'm coming to work today."  I was down for the count for the rest of the day.  Needless to say, I didn't go to the gym, either.  Later in the day, I called Alan, who suggested that it was a good idea that I stay home.   

Pat, a friend of mine from high school, sent me a note on Facebook, asking if I might have vertigo.  I get that from playing first person video games (the kind of which I don't play anymore).  I avoid some rides at amusement parks these days because of the same reason.   However, I can't say if that is what it is.  As I type this, I'm still a little disorientated.  I haven't been able to keep any food down yet.  The thought that I was having a stroke crossed my mind this morning; one sneaked up on Dad back in 2000.  "Make sure you take your high blood pressure medicine every day," he warned me when he first learned I had that (Dad had that also).  But I probably wouldn't be breathing right now, so I guess that wasn't it.

I have no idea what brought today's illness on.  Not long ago, I was reading "The Fight Doctor" article in The Ring magazine.  The subject was brain injuries from boxing.  The article mentioned something about not letting fighters spar excessively.  Hmm. .  . .it occurred to me that I've been sparring practically every week for months.  I took several good cracks to my head last week while sparring.  Sigh. . . .it's something to think about.