I was in my mid 30's when I began to get dizzy and nauseous all the time. I mean really dizzy and nauseous. There were days I would sit up in bed and just fall over. I had to take six months off from work while the they did MRI's, CT-scans, and a battery of other tests which all came out negative.
The doctor, who was a humorless man, said there was one more thing to try. He theorized that there may be a microscopic hole in my inner ear that was too small for the scanning devices to pick up. If fluid was leaking out of the hole it would cause a severe imbalance. The only way to tell would be to cut a piece of a tendon out from my scalp above my ear and use it to go in and patch the entire area where the hole might be located. I went along with it because I'm not one of those people who can wiggle their ears so I figured I didn't need that tendon for much anyway.
THE PROCEDURE
The first step is filling out the pre-op paperwork and there is plenty of it. After reading through my completed form the admin said that I hadn't listed any previous surgery. She was taken aback when I told her I hadn't had any. She was so amazed and in disbelief that she kept asking me if I was sure and started listing things that "count" as surgery. I assured her I knew what surgery entailed and that up until this point no one had knocked me out and cut me open. I was sure. It's not really something you forget.
