Four years ago, I purchased a 2002 Toyota Prius with 126,000 miles on it. That felt like something of a risk. Would it still be running by the time I paid it off?

The answer: Yes! My pretty, pretty Prius now has 162,000 miles on it and is running great. It gets 45-50 miles per gallon. Every time I’ve taken it in to be serviced, except for the 150,000 service when it needed new tires, the cost of servicing has been low and reasonable, somewhere around a hundred dollars, if that. (This contrasts with the old car I had before it that had something that cost about a thousand bucks every time I brought it in, when I only had it for a year and a half.)

And, now it’s paid off!

Mind you, in August, I’ll stop getting child support. And my son will head off to college, so there will be college costs. But it’s still nice having my car paid off.

And something funny. What do you think the credit union put in the envelope with my final statement? That’s right: An ad for a great rate on a new car loan! Because everybody wants to have a car payment, right? Wrong!

Last week, I saw a specialist about all the trouble I’ve been having since my stroke last year. He told me that he doesn’t think I’ve been having recurrent TIAs (mini-strokes), but that my migraines have switched to vestibular migraines.

Well, I was very skeptical. There are some things that don’t fit. But I diligently read up on them to find out what they feel like and how they are different from TIAs (the literature admits they are very very similar, even calling TIAs from vertebral artery dissection, “pseudo-vestibular migraine”).

They are basically like migraines, but with dizziness in place of headache.

But this weekend, I felt lousy. And it made me very happy — because it completely fit the profile and description of vestibular migraine. It came on gradually, after I slept in too late and didn’t take my morning meds when I should have. This is a scenario that often would have given me a migraine.

I felt dizzy and yuck. A bit of headache, but not much.

Today in church, I didn’t feel like standing (though I could). I didn’t feel good — and it made me very happy! Because it was very much how I felt the first time I went to the ER after my stroke, in October. Just gradually feeling like I did after the stroke — dizzy and bad. And this time I wasn’t afraid it meant I was having another stroke and needed to go to the ER!

I had also been discouraged that the treatment is to find a new preventative — and I know how long that can take. But I was encouraged by this one, because although it’s bothersome, it’s not nearly as bad as a regular migraine. I’ll take dizziness over head pain any day of the week. And while it can come with head pain, I read that it often is accompanied by lower level headaches than regular migraine. More power to it!

Even better, after a nap this afternoon, it’s been much better. So maybe it won’t last for days and days.

Now, I still don’t think this fits the one I felt in February — a brief spell of vertigo that came on very suddenly. What I read tells me that strokes and TIAs do tend to happen suddenly. Migraines, not so much. It also doesn’t explain why, since December, I have had double vision when I look in certain directions. But that’s only two times, not four or five. And now I know that some of the time, at least, I don’t need to be alarmed by my strange symptoms. Also, I see a neuro-opthalmologist on Tuesday, who may have some insight about the double vision.

And I’m left being super thankful for feeling so bad today.