#30YearsRolling – Day 10/30 – Reflections on the 30th Anniversary of my Injury
I’d found my groove – I was happy at work and had a great social life.
Being the sober one, I was always the designated driver and didn’t mind that at all as I loved driving so much.
My job was a very busy front desk allrounder role and I loved juggling lots of different responsibilities and having lots of contact with people throughout the day, both on the phone and in person.
It got to the point where some of the customers used to just ring up to chat to me which I found flattering, clearly did a good job as “director of first impressions”!
Once I got my work done I asked around the office for an extra work I could help with.
As I got into a routine with the work, I asked permission to use the computer and internet to teach myself new skills.
I loved going to the book shop and stocking up on books like “Complete Idiot’s Guide To Microsoft Access”, “Dummies Guide to Microsoft Excel” and “Learn SQL in 7 Days” – what a nerd!
When I had time I worked through them one by one and then built little programs to try to improve some of the processes I was doing.
I also enrolled in TAFE by correspondence to do an Accounting Certificate which I worked on at work and home from time to time.
I hated being idle!
I was enjoying the freedom of driving to and from work, getting out of my chair and might have been a bit heavy handed with the car when the mood struck.
There was a period of time where I found myself feeling quite dizzy on the drive to work.
Even though it was only a 20 minute drive, there were days where I stopped on the side of the road one or more times to have a drink of water and suck in some deep breaths.
In typical Stacey style I told no one until it became much worse.
I got a bad cold around that time and kept pushing through, only taking a day or two off then heading back to work before needing to take another couple of days off.
It got to the point where I wasn’t able to work because the dizziness had set in and I couldn’t shake it.
I’d only been in the job for a year and it killed me feeling so bad and not being able to work.
The dizziness was so severe that I struggled to move between the bedroom and bathroom.
The doctor ran blood tests and found that I had had glandular fever at some point but didn’t currently have it and suggested a couple of months off to recover from the post viral thing he thought was the cause of the dizziness.
After a couple of months the dizziness had not eased at all and the doctor had no answers.
Not knowing how long it would take to get better I had to resign from my job. They insisted that the second I was well enough to work again they wanted me back.
I was relentless with the doctors, so desperate for answers so I could get my life back.
I saw so many different specialists and kept getting told there was nothing wrong with me.
About 6 months into this time I had to have urgent surgery for something unrelated which meant I was in even worse shape for a 10 week period, a couple of weeks in hospital, 4 weeks at home and then a 4 week stint in rehab to build some strength again.
It was during this time that I pushed even harder on the doctors to get an answer for the dizziness.
Some blood tests and an appointment with an Endocrinologist found I had adrenal fatigue.
We treated it but yet the dizziness remained.
During that time my 21st birthday came and went and all I could manage to do was a small dinner with close friends and family.
Eventually a doctor asked me if I snored, I said a little, and they sent me for a sleep study.
In that study they found I was having an incredibly high amount of apnoea episodes per hour and it explained why I felt the same whether I had 2 hours sleep or 10.
The dizziness I was experiencing was the feeling of constantly being in the state of almost dropping off to sleep.
I went back soon after for another study where they hooked me up to a CPAP machine and when I woke up the next morning I felt the best I had in years and the dizziness was gone.
It took over 18 months but I finally had my answer and it wasn’t all just in my head.
I was so bored and frustrated during all that time at home.
Since I was a kid I’d had a thing for radio contests, so what I did was programmed every station’s phone number into my mobile and tuned every station into my stereo (which I had won on a radio contest a couple of years earlier!).
I kept myself amused by doing the rounds of all the stations on a Monday to see what the contests were for the week then prioritised which ones to aim for first.
My goal was to win as much stuff as I could!
By the end of the 18 months at home I had won something from every station – AM and FM – challenge completed 😊
It was amazing to have my health back and I was so ready to make up for lost time.
The song that represents this time for me is “Down With The Sickness” by Disturbed.
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Stacey Copas, Author of “How To Be Resilient”, helps shift the way people perceive and respond to uncertainty, change and adversity, helping them to see opportunities where they once saw only obstacles.
The world is rapidly changing, people are having to do more with less, are more stressed and have less balance in their lives.
To be fulfilled and successful in embracing the uncertain and changing world, it is essential to develop resilience to see and act on the opportunities that uncertainty and change present.
Stacey is available to present or coach online/remotely/virtually across all time zones. Book via bookings@staceycopas.com