CHAPTER 23 – 2003

How Could this Happen?

Like the long ago television show, “The Beverly Hillbillies”, I packed up, sold my house

in Cambria, and moved to Madison – closer to MATC, closer to the TDU. I was motivated

beyond words with the residual lasting longer and longer. I was experiencing such

wonderful improvements in my balance that a sense of being “normal” began to tickle me.

There were significant increases in my ability to walk in balance. There was a soothing of

the oscillopsia that calmed the world around me, there was a body to brain coordination I

never felt before. How could this happen?

I didn’t care how it was happening.

I ceased the time to retrace the steps I walked before the  ototoxicity took over, before I

was introduced to disability. I walked into what the world and I shared before my change;

I used what time I had to share that again. I worked to strengthen my body, not only on

the inside, but also on the outside. I had to. I believe the time I took feeling what

was familiar to me, to my body, amplified the effect the TDU was introducing to

my brain. I reinforced that connection.

 
Along with physical changes came an increase in my concentration, thankfully

reducing stress trying to keep up and, with a clear head structure creative ways to

keep up with assignments. The rituals I developed to get from one class to another became

something I didn’t have to think about. My gait was steadied and I could even look up and

gaze into the world around me. I could say hello to fellow classmates. It didn’t matter that

relief was limited, it didn’t matter how it was happening, all that mattered was I felt the

flow of life.