Keep Your Hand on the Tiller

I like to sail. Until recently, I had a 25-foot Lancer. Ironically, I named her “Fargone,” as in, we-sail-off-and-are-far-gone. But a tree fell on her one winter. My poor boat was hauled away and now is, in fact, far gone.

The thing about sailing is you can’t take anything for granted.

If you're sailing close-hauled (headed as directly towards the wind as a sailboat can) and you're not paying attention, you could turn across the wind and have your head bashed by a violently swinging boom.

Or, if you take your hand off the tiller, the boat will turn, lose the wind, and you’ll soon be going nowhere.

Sometimes, a boat can even seem to have a mind of its own. One time a friend of mine, who was new to sailing, stepped off his boat onto the dock just as the sail caught wind. All he could do was watch his baby flying away unmanned. Somehow, by some stroke of luck, or guided by a ghostly hand, the boat turned around on its own and sailed back to him.

The point is, to safely sail you have to be in control of your vessel all the time.

Remaining in control of my vessel

Several years ago, I had serious vertigo problems. Nearly every day for about two hours, my world would spin, landing me in bed. One time, I had to be rolled out of church in a wheelchair, right in the middle of the pastor’s sermon.

My general practitioner (GP) and my neurologist tested me for everything they could think of but had no answers.

I have a medical condition in addition to my cancer. (Isn’t getting old fun?) I’ve been on medication for it most of my adult life. After that experience in the church, I noticed that I usually got dizzy within an hour after taking my morning pill. Since the neurologist had raised my dosage, I asked him if maybe I was overdosing.

To my surprise, he simply said, “Hey, you might be right.” That was a year after the problem had started. A whole year of dizziness, tests, and no answers.

They didn’t want to lower my dosage, so I asked my GP if I could just cut the morning pill in half, taking one half in the morning and the other half in the afternoon, so my body wouldn’t get hit with a full dose all at once. I could then take my final pill at bedtime.

Again I heard, “Yeah, that’s a good idea.”

You are an expert on you

The point is, you are the only one who can actually feel what’s going on with your body. You don’t have a medical degree, but you are an expert on you.

Since that time I have become more of a participant in my medical treatments. I no longer blindly follow advice. I pay closer attention to my body and ask a lot of questions. You and your doctor are a team and like any team, the game’s only won if everyone works together.