Marathon Nap

Yesterday I got up around my normal time, 7 a.m., drank my tea, read some e-mail and some news online and tried to determine whether or not I needed to take a meclizine in order to be able to go to my Arabic class. Finally around 8:00, to be sure, I took a pill.

I ate breakfast, took my shower and got dressed. A little after 9 I took the elevator down to the street, debating on whether or not I would try to walk or if I would take a taxi. As soon as I got to the street I felt like the sidewalk was one of those walkways in one of those crazy houses in an amusement park that moves back and forth. I got half a block from home and decided to turn around and come back, sit for a while and then just take a taxi.

So, I came home and took a mini-nap on the sofa until 9:30, when I tried again. And again, I had the same experience. I didn't think I'd be able to endure the ride in the taxi and also was afraid of what I would be like in class. I'd have to sit with my head perfectly still. It seemed to me I had a good reason to miss class, even though I didn't want to.

So I came home and slept until 11. When I woke up, I felt a little more balanced. I watched some TV but there was nothing good on. I was so desperate I was watching 7th Heaven.

I started getting hungry but I have very little in the apartment to eat. I made some whole wheat spaghetti with tuna. I started to feel like I might be getting dizzy again and since I didn't want to experience my lunch going down and coming up again, I took another meclizine.

At about 2:00 Hernan came by. When I went down to open the door to let him in, I saw that it was a beautiful spring day. It was sunny and warm. He came up and we sat and chatted a bit. He recommends that I go to the German Hospital and sign up for one of their insurance plans which would allow me full access to their services, including specialists. I'm still not sure, because if this passes, I could go another year without any more attacks. Also, I called my doctor on Friday and asked them to fax in an order for meclizine to my mail order pharmacy. I'm going to ask a friend if they can mail it to her and if she can send it to me. Unless there is some new treatment here, or they can find the reason I am having these attacks and fix it, I can't see spending any more time or money seeing more doctors. In San Francisco, I stopped seeing the specialist because the only thing he did was monitor my hearing. I could tell him I was losing my hearing, I didn't need to wait to be put in a booth to listen to beeps.

After about an hour of chatting and listening to music, we went out for a walk. I brought Hernan to this little row of restaurants I found a few blocks away that all have seats outside facing a small park, but they were all full. We walked over to the Recoleta fair and found a seat on the patio of Recoleta design. Hernan got an orange juice and I got a lemonade.

My lemonade looked like milk. It was foamy and had an interesting flavor. I think maybe it was made from a mix. Raul was telling me the other day that lemonade is difficult to find here. In Mexico it is one of my favorite drinks because it is made with fresh lime juice and soda water. As we were sitting there, Hernan spoke to two women who were sitting at a table next to us. He said, "no, don't worry I am not listening".

Apparently, the woman, who saw Hernan looking in her direction, told him not to listen to their conversation. It was a bit odd. We were outside, we were a fair distance away from them, and there was a live band playing music nearby. I had a hard enough time hearing Hernan when he spoke to me. These two women were having a private conversation, sitting very close to each other. It would have been impossible for anyone to hear what they were saying. Hernan was trying to think of something clever to say to them when we left. I told him to leave it alone.

Hernan walked me to the Disco where I tried to decide on something to buy for dinner. I decided I would try to cook steak and bought some broccoli, fennel and portobella mushrooms. I was asked if I was the final consumer and if I had a disco club, which sounds kind of like (deesco kloob?).

I came home and unpacked my bags and came to check and respond to some e-mail. As I was sitting in front of the computer I was feeling very sleepy, so I decided to take a nap before I made dinner.

I passed out.

I don't know what time I woke up, but I woke up feeling like I wanted to continue to sleep. So I did.

I woke up again and went back to sleep again.

Finally I looked at the clock and it was 11:22. I laid down originally at about 5 p.m.

At that point I decided I should just stay in bed, and I slept the rest of the night, more or less.

I'm still feeling kind of groggy, like I've been drugged. I might end up going back to sleep for a little bit more. It's a gray Sunday morning. It looks like it might have rained a little last night. I can hear the birds chirping outside and my window is open a crack, allowing fresh moist air to come in. It's all very relaxing, and very sleep inducing...