A celebration of health!

November 2nd 2024.

It was a typical Saturday morning. My day started with me sleeping in, after working a long Friday night shift. I am grateful for that privilege of maximizing rest at the start of my weekend.

I remember waking up at 7 am in the morning to go to the bathroom, and then making my way back to bed. I noticed something strange. I felt dizzy. Maybe I woke up too fast from bed - because that can happen, where you feel lightheaded from standing up too quickly.

So I decided to go back to bed and sleep it off. Waking up at 10am, and getting out of bed, I felt the same dizziness. I thought it was strange. I went to the kitchen for some water, perhaps dehydrated from a night of dancing.

(That’s what I do for a living, so it’s normal to feel exhausted the next day).

The walk to the kitchen was unbearable, I had to hold the walls. Warning sign number 3.

….

So I went back to sleep. To give context, I was and still am working for a Latin and ballroom franchise and it can be very physically demanding. And mentally as well.

Mind you, I also consider myself to be a healthy individual, eating well, drinking water, moving, resting - at least that's what I thought I was doing …. But this was rare for me to wake up feeling like I just rode a rollercoaster. Twice maybe more.

For the rest of that Saturday, I remember staying in bed, lying down, and watching “The Office” on my MacBook air from 2015. Lying down was the only thing that was helping. I was also in the process of moving out of that apartment by the end of the year, so my mum was supposed to help load her car and help me move some things back to her house - to my parents house. I told her the situation that I was feeling dizzy and she said she would check in later in the evening.

….

Time was passing, and it was now 6pm. Her red codes went off - and she suggested I go to the hospital because this was not normal based on what I was describing. She thought my blood pressure might have dropped or my blood sugar, which was impossible and I took that offensively.

She suggested that my partner at the time get off from work early and drive me to the hospital. I knew he wouldn't be able to, because he was doing a series of training at his work, but I was willing to try.

At 7pm, he finally got off work and was making his way back to the apartment, with me on the phone. In his mind, in his perspective, he was going double park the car at the front of the lobby, and let me walk (which by this time, I literally could not, and it was not even a matter of mindset, because every time i sat up, i felt nauseous and room was spinning, so mindset wouldn't have done shit).

Which is also what I told him when he asked why didn’t I call mum to drive me to the hospital- because I couldn’t even walk to the front door to unlock it and let her in. So he double parked with the engine running and after 15 minutes of him assessing my situation, he said, he had to move the car before it got towed or ticketed.

Upon going down, the battery had failed and he called his police officer brother to help jump start it. It was -10 degrees November Canada weather. This took 30 minutes as I was still lying in bed, watching episodes of “The Office” as a way of keeping track of time, in 20 minute segments.

Eventually, both him and his police officer brother (built like a fire fighter mind you) came up, again reassessed my situation, and had to carry me across the hall, down the elevator and into the car. It was torture for me. Motion made it worse. I mean being carried by my brother-in-law, built like a firefighter, wasn’t the issue.

…..

We got to the hospital, checked in and I threw up.

I was placed in a wheelchair where I had to wait 12 hours to see a doctor. I hate hospitals - to this day. I hadn’t eaten and drank anything in 24 hours. Sitting up right made it worse. I was dry heaving, with a bag in hand, nothing was in me, but everything wanted to come out of me at the same time.

….

Eventually we saw a doctor at 5am in the morning the next day on Sunday and they diagnosed it as Positional Benign Vertigo. Asking me a series of questions of any head trauma or concussion and then stress related questions and what I do for work and I said I was a professional dancer. Blamed it on the spins. She tried some maneuver exercises, tilted my head side to side while lying down, which was again to use the word, torture.

I was given meds to help with nausea which was a relief and then meds to target the vertigo itself.

I felt relief and dosed in and out of sleep in my wheelchair, as I was given an IV drip for the first time in life while waiting to be discharged. It was 11am on a Sunday now - to give context for time. And my partner was with me the entire time. He had to call in to his work for the week.

Feeling sunlight on my skin, as I got wheeled out of the hospital brought tears to my eyes. I was feeling everything at once. Relief, happiness, sadness, overwhelm.

“It’s so bright….” I said, crying as I got into the car holding on to my partner's hand and the car door.

…

That week was tough. I was in bed. All week. I was brought food and water to drink, a spit bucket to brush my teeth and I had my partner walk me to the bathroom if I needed to go or help in the shower. Damn. I felt rapidly sped up to old age, which was such a mind warp because I was 27.

I called in sick for work for the whole week, watching "The Office" in bed, and flipping in between to impractical jokers, which made me laugh so hard. I wanted to watch something light and funny and stayed away from anything stressful. It was a blessing to be in bed, because a week earlier in my journal i wrote, "I need a break from work". And I ended up being on bed rest for a week.

…

Going into work the next week, I wasn’t exactly met with the compassion I needed - I was tired and exhausted from little to no exercise in the week. When we practiced the opening group number for our upcoming event in December, I was met with laughter as to how to get me to do less turns. Laughter. After I had just spent a week in bed, unable to sit up, walk, move, eat or drink on my own. And I was met with laughter?

I had to explain to my superiors to take more days and time off to recover and also to move out of the apartment at the time, by the end of the year.

…

Flashforward, November 2nd Saturday 2025,

Today I am giving gratitude and celebration full health. I’ve been taking breaks through the year from substance, sugar and social media. Not as consistent as i would have liked to, but it’s a work in damn progress. I’ve learned what my body needs and prioritising my health above everything else. I don’t care if work doesn’t understand that - I unfortunately don’t come from a hard shelled competitive dance background, where I can dance through pain and discomfort, I’m sorry that’s just not me, and that's unfortunately who I work for.

Today and every single day is a gratitude day for health and wellness.

All that to say, the lessons I've learned from this are the following - take what you want and leave what you want:

1. Take care of yourself while you are young. Go for regular check-ups and tests, even if scares you. Don't ignore any discomforts in the body, mind and spirit that are consistent...help and resources are available.

2. Take regular breaks - from substance, (i.e alcohol, cannabis,) social media, sugar...anything that is not benefiting your health.

3. Rest when needed, not when you're forced to.

4. Drink lots of water - instead of multiple non-healthy beverages a day,

5. Eat well - rich proteins, veggies, fruits, whole grains

6. Move your body - through any movement, yoga, walking, stretching, dance, or learning how to dance, or even vacuuming your home. Through consistency, you'll be stronger and flexible, than you were yesterday, last week, last month.

Thank you for reading,

With gratitude, always,

Priya