As I’ve been made to understand it, the vestibular (balance) system is comprised of at least three separate parts. There are the three semicircular canals in either ear – anterior, superior, and posterior – that let the brain know where the head is in space. Then you have the eyes, which do the same visually, and the joints — particularly the ankles, knees and hips, which respond and adjust after the brain has processed that stimuli. The superior canal, which is likely compromised in both of my ears, negates the up/down movement in our vision when we walk and run — or drive a car. It’s like the steadicam system for the eyes. My hope is that the other two canals, and my plastic brain, can learn to adapt to whatever loss these canals have suffered and stabilize my field of vision.

It’s a good idea to not tweak an ankle when you’re trying to recover your sense of balance. I overdid it a bit on my dyna-discs — surprise! — and my now right ankle is out of whack (thanks to probably at least a dozen sprains over 41 years). Given the pressure on that joint to compensate for shaky balance already, it’s another tiny setback. It’ll be fine a few days.

I keep thinking my hearing is getting better in the right hear. I’m noticing sounds more and more, but the constant cloud of high-pitched tinnitus there makes separating sounds from each other very difficult. What I do hear and understand through that ear sounds like the radio voices of Rebel Fleet pilots as they attacked the Death Star in Star Wars. Remember that? Metallic, electric, distorted, and like it’s travelled 10 light years to reach my ear drum.