wobblerlorri | Here I Am (rock you like a hurricane)

Howdy-ho! After an unimaginably long absence (not quite a year according to LiveJournal itself) I have returned, mostly because I'm bored to death and lonely as hell. I know y'all are wondering "Who is this WobblerLorri personage", and in a nutshell I used to be scratchbottom , but I don't have the associated email anymore, and so can't get the password to the old journal anymore. Just as well, I guess, since I'm a completely different person.

Mostly different because I had a horrible infection in December 2004, which was treated with (among other more appropriate antibiotics) gentamicin, which did a dandy job of destroying the vestibular function of my eighth cranial nerve. Now I have bilateral vestibulopathy, which in a nutshell means I do an excellent if unintentional imitation of Otis Campbell the Town Drunk... 24 hrs a day, 365 days a year. Can't drive anymore, can't stand in one place for long without losing my balance, can't walk without staggering from here to there, and walking in the dark? Please... Oh yeah, I can't concentrate very well, my memory is shot, and I can't stay on a computer for more than an hour at a time. There's this nifty little side-effect of vestibulopathy called oscillopsia, where my eyes jitter uncontrollably. Mix the jitter with the monitor refresh rate and you have one thumper of a headache going.

Since I didn't give informed consent to be treated with the gent, and no blood levels or bedside testing for loss of vestibular function was done, a lawsuit is in progress. I figure I've lost over $1 million in lost wages over my lifetime, not to mention any other losses my Shylock can figure out. I've had to get rid of my horses, drop out of massage therapy school, can't work in any of the fields I'm trained in, and generally life sucks. I've applied for SSI and SSD, hopefully I won't have to perform for them like a dancing bear.

I'm lonely because I got laid off in June of 2004, and since I can't go anywhere without my husband driving me, I'm fairly housebound. You know what my biggest thrill is? Going to the fuckin Super WAL-MART once a week! So I suddenly remembered that there is a whooooole community of people I can hold hostage to my misfortune -- those lovely folks in LJ-land!

I may not post a lot, but I'll be reading daily. It's something to do.

Lorri