Vertigo and Other Episodes from Hell

December 15, 2012

 

It continued to be a difficult winter. My vertigo is still unresolved and I have had several relapses. I was also struggling with extreme exhaustion. Given the stress level in my life, it was not surprising.

During Thanksgiving I had a small electrical fire in a breaker box. The house was a hodgepodge of add- on fuses. Now, half the house had its electric shut off, including my office. All this required replacing all the fuse boxes with an upgrade Breaker box on a panel. Thank heavens, my southern son (formerly estranged) help me decide which direction to go along with my brother-in-law. The funds were contributed from family, me, and a trust fund. At the last minute, I discovered my home owner's insurance company would cover a large chunk of the upgrade. With this we decided to go to a 200 amp upgrade. Now at least my electric was in the modern age relative to a four bedroom house. This feature would also be a plus when I am ready to sell out.

It was Christmas time before I could finally get the work done. A week later when I went to take the woods stove ashes out. I found my office filled with black smoke. It was pouring out of the top of my furnace. Fortunately it was not a major repair, but it meant calling the plumber out on a Saturday. He was not very happy and I was charged extra for the emergency call.

There was also one car repair after another, including new brakes and a bad starter for which I had to pay for it to be towed to the garage from my driveway. As if all of this wasn't stressful enough, my northern son was still not speaking to me. I was told that I was no longer invited to their house. He was not even going to allow me to Skype with my granddaughter when opening my Christmas gifts. I asked him what my granddaughter wanted. She wanted to have grandma see her open her presents. Well, with my vertigo, plus the estranged relationship, I had already decided not to try to travel. I only hoped with spring and the longer days, I would start to feel better. I could only pray for my family and send my dear granddaughter cute little cards, not knowing if she would get them

TRAVELING AT IT’S WORST

December 10, 2012

I am still struggling from Vertigo from last August. It can really turn your world upside down and it's a lot more complex than I ever knew. But first as if the ordeal at the hospital and Rehab center were not enough last August; my trip home was a traveling nightmare. It was over an hour drive to the airport. I arrived at the curb side check-in only to find that my flight had been canceled. Due to the Vertigo I needed to use a wheel chair to get around. The next flight was not until 7:30 pm. I did get a voucher for lunch and $200 towards another flight plus no charge for my second bag. My son had left after lunch to return home. I had to get a sky cap to take me to the gate. There I sat all afternoon by myself. At one point the place filled up. I was getting ready until they announced the flight was going to San Francisco. I thought about getting onboard but alas the flight was full. Next thing I knew it was past time to board and there were no people. I checked my boarding pass and I saw that the sky cap had taken me to the wrong gate. By the time someone came to take my wheel chair to the correct gate I found the second flight had also been cancelled. Now it is 8:00 pm and the airlines are trying to rebook flights of the last remaining passengers. I discovered being in a wheel chair was not conducive to having a conversation with the ticket agent behind a tall desk or hearing what they were saying.

My flight was rebooked for 7:30 am the next morning. There was a couple with what appeared to be a college age son waiting with me. Now the ticket agent also had to hand out more vouchers for overnight accommodations and dinner. Plus I got another voucher for $150 towards another flight. The airlines told us we were booked for the same flight in the morning and asked the couple if they would assist me in getting to the hotel and getting to my room. Then in the morning assist in getting back. By now I was really exhausted and I was grateful this family took me under their wing. None of us had any baggage. I did have my med bag and some clean underwear. So I got to sleep in the same clothes I had been wearing all day knowing I'd be wearing them again all the next day.

The next morning at 5:00 am my travel angels came to get me for the half hour trip back to the airport. When we got to security I was asked if the family was with me because I was taken to a handicapped only line. My response was today they were part of my family. We got to the concourse area heading to our gate. They were pushing my wheel chair. I was holding my now 3 third boarding pass and was looking at it and saw my gate number started with a letter C and all these gates began with a letter B. So we went to the nearest ticket counter agent to find out where my gate was. We pretty quickly realized that we were not on the same flight at all. Matter of fact my flight was in a different terminal on the other side of the airport. On top of that my flight was in the process of boarding and there was no way I could make it on time. I said goodbye to my travel angels who were on their way to the Midwest for another son's graduation.

As a consequence of fuel costs, airlines have reduced the number of flights. Now I had to reschedule yet another flight for the fourth attempt to get home. In addition, my brother was picking me up in Virginia and helping me get to my car which was at his house. So every flight change meant a call to him who in turn had to change his plans.

Initially the airlines wanted to book me on their next flight which was the same 2:30 afternoon flight I was suppose to take the day before. I told them that I had two flights cancelled and was given the wrong info for a third flight. I insisted that they find me a flight home on a different carrier before noon. The only thing they could do was into a different airport. I insisted again that they get me to the airport where my brother was waiting for me. It would have been about a two hour round trip drive in rush hour traffic. They finally agreed to cover the cost of the hour taxi ride. By the time I got to my car, I still had a 2 ½ drive home.