My body is an enigma. My health problems are confusing to all of my doctors. A few months after I got my wisdom teeth out, my face swelled up. When they opened me up during surgery the same day, they found that the powder they'd used to help me heal had crystallized, turning into sharp shards, cutting my gums on the inside, while the skin had healed on top. Weird, isn't it?

Anyway, lately there has been more weirdness happening with me. About two weeks ago, I was having dizzy spells. It's true... I have the body of an 80 year old. Anyway, I kept feeling strange and dizzy, and needing to sit down at work. So, I took a few days off from everything, and rested. It went away. Last night, it came back. I felt bad at work, and when I came home, I felt much, much worse.

I was sitting at my computer, feeling dizzy and weak, and when I laid down on the couch, the room began to spin. It was awful, and I became very scared. I kept thinking of the times I went to the hospital for heat exhaustion/dehydration. I thought getting dizzy had stopped bothering me, but that's not true, apparently. Getting dizzy when I don't know the reason is still very frightening. That's why it was frightening when I was eleven years old, too!

So I laid on my couch, envisioning having to go to the ER when Joe got home, wishing he was already home, not knowing what to do, if it was something serious or not, or even what was wrong with me at all. I felt frustrated, and scared. And I cried. I stopped crying when I got too tired to cry anymore, and a few minutes later, Joe came home. He sat with me and I hugged him and told him how I felt. He said I needed to see a doctor, and I said that's exactly what I was thinking.

Now, I don't even have a doctor up here, so I knew I'd have to go to Urgent Care. After I felt stable enough to remain sitting up for a little bit, I got to the computer and emailed my boss from the wildlife museum to let her know I couldn't go to the water sanitation plant the next morning. Then I left a voicemail for her. I still feel like crap for abandoning that, but what else could I do? I didn't have the energy to be out there and teach kids... I didn't have the energy to do anything other than sleep.

I woke up this morning and made an appointment with the nearest Urgent Care facility. I didn't eat or drink anything other than water after midnight, just in case they wanted to do bloodwork on me. In fact, I just slept most of the morning until I needed to shower for my appointment.

Joe worked from home today, in order to drive me to the doctor's office and stay home with me in case I needed anything. He is the best guy ever!

When we got to the Urgent Care facility, I signed in and filled out some really simple paperwork. About half an hour passed before I was called in. Again, some simple questions were asked of me. The doctor came in and took my blood pressure and pulse while I was lying down, while I was sitting, and while I was standing up. Everything was normal. She couldn't hear my minor heart murmur, which means it may have fixed itself, considering the past few doctors I've seen haven't heard it either. She checked my eyes, my ears, my mouth, my reflexes. She had me squeeze her fingers, walk heel to toe across the room, follow her finger with my eyes while I was lying down and while I was standing up (which actually did make me dizzy), and then she had me lie down while looking right, sit up, look left, then right again and focus on her eyes, and that made me very dizzy. There were other similar tests too, all of which I passed with flying colors. She said the dizziness might be from an ear infection, except that I haven't had any ear pain, and she didn't see signs of an infection.

So she tested my blood. I'd expected they might do bloodwork, where they take about three vials of blood and run a bunch of tests. Instead, the nurse pricked my finger to do some blood drop tests. She got a drop of blood for the hemoglobin test. Then she tried to get the glucometer to work. It wouldn't. She kept having to try other strips and other tests. Meanwhile, my finger wasn't bleeding when it needed to be, and bled profusely when she wasn't ready to test me. The doctor came in once during all the hooplah, and joked that they were bringing back the practice of bleeding patients. She made me laugh. She was a cool lady. I like any doctors that try to make their patients laugh (or, I should say, I like any doctors funny enough to make their patients laugh... a doctor trying to be funny and not succeeding is not at all appealing...). After a few more finger pricks, and grabbing another test, the glucometer worked. The blood sugar reading was 90, which is apparently normal. The hemoglobin test was also normal. The doc gave me a prescription for some medicine which is supposed to help with Vertigo, which apparently, I may have. They're not sure. She said to notice if these dizzy spells continue, and to take a general assessment of the situation whenever it happens: if my pulse is normal, if my heart feels okay, if I'm hot or cold, or numb, if my vision is okay, if I've eaten a lot, or a little, or recently, or a long time ago... Notice as much as I can so that I can report it the next time I'm seen for it.

They thanked me for being so patient and told me to go eat something.

Joe and I went out to lunch. We both said we were happy they didn't find anything serious. However, I am unhappy that I still don't know what's wrong with me.

And if you're going to suggest possible pregnancy like my co-workers did, don't. Because I'm 100% sure that's not it. Trust me. In fact, I would think the fatigue and dizziness has something to do with my "starting" today, if I hadn't felt like this two weeks ago (then again, is it even normal to feel severely weak and dizzy just because of my period?). Plus, I felt like this last March, and never figured out why. I have to be missing some kind of vitamin. That must be it. Would such a simple hemoglobin test be able to tell them if I were only slightly anemic, or if I'm anemic because I'm lacking B vitamins instead of iron? What is it?

I just don't think they're a very thorough facility. I think I need to find a doctor and get a full physical done. Maybe then I'll have some answers. I cannot stand feeling sick. I just want to be a normal, healthy, young girl.

Is that so much to ask, really?