Mom

At the end of December I was trying to make plans for the kids while I had my surgery. I had called my mom, and was surprised to find out that she had been sicker than she had ever been in her entire life and hadn't been able to get out of bed for the last 3 days. I felt terrible that I didn't know! There wasn't a ton I could do. I went to see her the next day, and she didn't even remember having the conversation with me the night before. She had been into the emergency room and they diagnosed her with "Vertigo" (Vertigo /ˈvɜrtɨɡoʊ/ (from the Latin vertō "a whirling or spinning movement"^[1]) is a subtype of dizziness in which a patient inappropriately experiences the perception of motion (usually a spinning motion) due to dysfunction of thevestibular system.^[2][3][4] It is often associated with nausea and vomiting as well as a balance disorder, causing difficulties standing or walking. There are three types of vertigo. The first is known as objective^[5][6] and describes when the patient has the sensation that objects in the environment are moving; the second is known as subjective^[5][6] and refers to when the patient feels as if he or she is moving, and the third is known as pseudovertigo,^[7] an intensive sensation of rotation inside the patient's head. While appearing in textbooks, this classification has little to do with the pathophysiology or treatment of vertigo.

Dizziness^[8] and vertigo are common medical issues, affecting approximately 20%-30% of the general population.^[9][10] Vertigo may be present in patients of all ages. The prevalence of vertigo rises with age and is about two to three times higher in women than in men.^[4][9] It accounts for about 2-3% of emergency department visits.^[4] The main causes of vertigo are benign paroxysmal positional vertigo,^[8][11][12] Ménière's disease,^[8][12]vestibular neuritis,^[8][12] and labyrinthitis,^[12] but may also be caused by a concussion^[3] or a vestibular migraine.^[12] Excessive consumption of ethanol (alcoholic beverages) can also cause symptoms of vertigo. Repetitive spinning, as in familiar childhood games, can induce short-lived vertigo by disrupting the inertia of the fluid in the vestibular system; this is known as physiologic vertigo.^[13]

She looked and sounded terrible. She said she had never felt so helpless in her entire life. She went to an ENT doctor a few days later, and after the exam, he sent her immediately over to the hospital to have an MRI done. He was worried about a brain tumor. Well, there was no tumor, but it did show that she had permanently lost all of her hearing in her right ear. She was struggling to get better because her body was all out of whack from the rapid hearing loss. Her left ear is compensation ok, but as she says, she hears "just enough to be dangerous". We are most worried about her falling at this point. She refuses to take a cane or anything that would help with balance. Stubborn as a mule. It's hard to see your parents get old and start to lose their health.