Bell's Palsy

Good morning everyone. Last night after I got home from an amazing weekend of gaming in Sun River I discovered that a condition which I had ages ago has reared it's ugly facially paralytic head again.... At the moment I appear to be suffering for the second time in my life from Bell's Palsy. This is a condition in which one of the nerves going to the face becomes pinched and causes one side of the face to either be completely paralyzed or, in my case, partially paralyzed.

The odd thing is that it's worse near the bottom, and less bad near the top. Aside from looking like a freak when I smile and being unable to spit my toothpaste out without feeling like an invalid, the worst part is that my right eye will not blink when I normally blink. I have to force it very consciously. This causes the eye to become irritated and, obviously, dry. Thankfully I have contacts and some eye drops to help combat that.

There is no known cause for the condition, which usually resolves itself within 2-3 weeks. It can be brought on by emotional stress... check... extreme changes in temperature... check.... physical stress... hmmm I was sitting around for almost 3 days... Last time this happened to me, in about 1992, it ended within 2 weeks. In the meantime if you see me trying to laugh and I appear to have just escaped from my padded cell after convalescing... hmmm... true or palsy?

:-, <-- bells palsy smiley (tm)

Since this IS a stream of consciousness blog, here's your stream for the day:

Crystal blue waters under a nearly darkened purple sky. A mountain in the distance the only shape, silhouetting a small empty rowboat. The sounds here are not of human origin, sounding more like music than animals. The boat lists aimlessly on the surface, listing this way and that as the tides pull and push it. Somewhere a child's dream has become a reality.

See you tomorrow.