Sitting in the doctor's waiting room, Mara wrote in the back of her binder.
| Episode 6: | Tues. morning, PE class, doing a layup |
In midair, saw the basket move, flashed between worlds & fell |
Finally, she was called in. Her dad got up and accompanied her. The doctor heard about the fall from the bicycle and three selective incidents of Mara's disorientation. He checked her head, her pulse, and her reflexes. He asked her to follow his pen with her eyes. He looked in her throat and then, lastly, in her ears. When asked, she explained that she heard no ringing.
“Okay,” declared the doctor. “You have a syndrome known as vertigo. You sometimes hallucinate movement around yourself and then try to compensate for it. This is why you fall. It happened today reaching for something on a high shelf and then with the basketball hoop.
“Is she concussed?” asked Mara's father, concerned.
“No, she is fine. The vertigo may have been caused by a change in air pressure in the middle ear when she hit the ground after the bicycle accident. There is no damage to the head.
“The other possibility is that, Mara, you had a viral infection that affected your inner and middle ear. At any rate, you have no infection now, so I am not going to prescribe antibiotics. I can prescribe medication for nausea, if you like.”
“I don't really feel nauseous,” smiled Mara, thinking about Blaze's disgusting fish stew.
“In that case, young lady, I'm afraid you just need to ride this out. Vertigo is a peculiar condition. You may have a few more incidents over a couple of weeks, and then it should just go away. Some people have the odd recurrence for several years after the initial incident, but it becomes quite infrequent.
“For the next two weeks, I suggest keeping all the items you require no higher than your shoulders. Don't turn over too rapidly in bed. Basically, just move with caution. You may have motion sickness. Try to imagine it like this: your head is having trouble keeping up with how fast your body moves.”
“Does she need to rest?”
“Only if she wants to. She should be able to carry on as usual. Walk. Ride your bike. Oh, but I wouldn't play any sports. The movements required might be too jerky.”
Mara and her father drove home in relative silence. As they pulled into the driveway, he smacked his head with his palm.
“Oh! We forgot to ask about your insomnia.”
“It's okay, Dad. I feel pretty sleepy. I'm going to take a nap now anyway.”
Mara slept through dinner. She did not awaken until the following morning. Her father, after checking on her repeatedly, decided to let her rest.