Monday, June 06, 2005

A Pole Too Far

The Edina, MN, Art Fair seemed like a good venue to walk around and gain stamina, so away we went yesterday. I wore a patch on my left eye, because the wind was blowing dust around and I'm paranoid about getting any grit in that one. It was all right: a lot of the art only deserved one eye, anyway.

I staggered a bit after about an hour, but a minute's rest and I was up and at 'em again. We hung out there for some three hours, and while my friends walked on to look at one last set of booths I leaned against a pole and waited. That was a good idea, but when a lot of people with dogs began walking by I decided to step away from the pole.

When I talked to my mother last night, she said I sounded a lot better. It's funny: when I lean to the left (the paralyzed side), I slur a lot. When I sit up straight or lean to the right, I sound good. I haven't noticed any change in the Bell's Palsy, in terms of getting my face back, but I feel much better.

By the way: The terrible thing about this symptom is that, politically, I usually lean to the left. This particular symptom means I'm going to catch it from my more-conservative friends (Yes, I do have a couple). What can I say? Maybe the Democratic party needs to take lessons from Bells Palsy sufferers on how to enunciate clearly--out of both sides of their mouth.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi, Dale:

Thanks for pointing me to your blog.

I admire your political awareness, in the midst of all this personal coping. To have the sense or propriety to get your eye patch at Walgreen's instead of Wal-Mart probably took a lot of courage. I mean, with the huge bills you mention, even a few cents lower price at Wal-Mart might have seemed tempting, but you did the right thing. *G*

Seriously, from your writing, it does look as if you're on a healing path. Keep going. Best wishes for every mm of progress.
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