Meniere's Specialist....

Today I had my long-awaited appointment with the meniere's specialist, Dr. Videla.

I arrived a little early, actually I arrived very early because I was not sure how far the office was from my apartment, but I also knew it was on the corner of Billinghurst and Charcas, and that I like a part of Charcas, so that if I got there early, I would be able to find a place on Charcas to hang out.

Turns out I got there about 45 minutes early. The corner of Billinghurst and Charcas is kind of busy. Charcas seems to be a bus route before part of it widens and turns into a pedestrian walkway with lots of trees. There were some very nice little cafes and things along Charcas, but I didn't want to sit with all of these buses rumbling by, so I walked up a few blocks. I found a very nice ice cream shop on the corner of Charcas and Coronel Diaz and got a cone with figs and congnac and lemon mousse. Both were really good.

After my ice cream, I walked back to the office. The ironic thing is this is the street I walked down after I had my meniere's attack with Juliana in Palermo. I walked right by his office!

I rang the buzzer and the receptionist came out and opened the door for me. No kiss from her (maybe I was supposed to make the first move?) I entered the office to see this bright orange wall with bright lights. I thought it was a cruel joke. If someone were suffering from an attack of vertigo, or even on the verge, that wall would have been torture. I sat in a chair looking right at it. On top of that, the receptionist was wearing a neon fushia sweater. It reminded me of one of those TV shows like Pushing Daisies, that has really exaggerated colors. Finally I moved to another chair, not because of the wall, but because the air-conditioner was blowing right on me.

My appointment was at 5. I arrived a few minutes early, but did not get seen by Dr. Videla until 5:40. I was falling asleep sitting there.

My appointment was interesting. I had just finished a 2 hour lesson with a new Spanish teacher I found on the internet. I hope this doesn't get me into trouble....

I decided I needed to do something with my continuing communication problems. Just living here and watching Patito Feo and my occassional conversation exchanges and studying foreign languages is not helping me progress. I really need some targeted instruction.

I was browsing around on Craigslist and came across an ad for a guy who offered private lessons in home for 40 pesos per hour. That is a little over $10. He does it in two hour blocks of time and the first lesson was half price. I figured it would be worth a shot at least. And him traveling to me was a bonus.

He is a nice guy. I'd guess in his mid-twenties. I told him I needed to speak, and he got what that meant. He made me speak Spanish for two straight hours. I felt like all of this Spanish that has been bottled up inside of me came boiling out! He'd correct me from time to time, but they were not major corrections and they were very helpful. He also let me talk and hardly interjected. In the past, when I've had conversations with teachers, often they'd end up talking more than me. He really gave me the floor and it was amazing how helpful it was for me.

So, after this, I was really revved up. Dr. Videla, upon noting that I was not Argentine, told me we could switch to English, but I figured as long as I understood, we could do it in Spanish.

After getting the basics of my condition, he sat me on a table and had me do different things like hold out my arms, touch my nose, etc., with eyes open and then closed. He did the epley maneuver, which I was warned could make me dizzy, but there was no effect. He did some tests with tuning forks to test my hearing and it was clear that my left side has diminished hearing, especially for low tones.

Then he sat me down and showed me a little slide show on his computer about meniere's. I saw a picture of Dr. Meniere and a diagram of the inner ear - one normal, and one affected by meniere's. He then showed me a diagram with colored boxes sort of rising in step fashion - each one representing different stages of treatment from the easiest and least invasive to the most intensive and most invasive. I was at step two. I'm already on a low salt diet, and step two is taking betahistine (which I started this past Sunday). Step three is an injection of an antibiotic called gentamine or something like that, which has some side effects but kills off the balance sensors. Because of the side effects it is not a first option.

So, basically there isn't a whole lot that I can do at this point, but if I continue to take the betahistine and feel like I am feeling, I will be happy. The question is whether or not it is available in the U.S.

Dr. Videla wanted me to have some hearing tests done, but I decided to wait until I return to the US so I can return to the doctor I went to before and they can compare my tests from 6 years ago to now. If there is something Dr. Videla can do that they can't do in SF, then I will be back.

After that, he just chatted with me, which helped me to understand why I saw him 40 minutes later than I was scheduled. He asked me if I knew of a journalist, Hal, something. I had no idea what he was talking about. Then he told me about the "Amero", which is a new currency that is being proposed for Canada, the US and Mexico,kind of like the Euro. This guy Hal, has videos on You Tube where he is ranting about this currency and saying that everyone knows that the dollar is going to collapse and they are going to introduce this Amero. There is some China connection as well. I came home and found one of the videos of Hal but could only listen to him for a few minutes. He's a nutcase who reminds me of Bill O'Reilly on steroids. However, there is info about the Amero on Wikipedia (I love Wikipedia!)

And that is that.

Hernan is going to come by and we're going to cook. Well, that was kind of the plan, but since he is coming later than I thought, I will cook, and when he gets here, we'll eat. He's going to sleep on my sofa and leave with me tomorrow when I go to acupuncture. Tomorrow I'm meeting Matias for our conversation exchange. I wonder what we'll talk about.

Ok, it's off to the Disco to get some food for dinner.