Something Extra in my Christmas Stocking
Published: 01/09/2012 at Richard Gonzalez
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This past Christmas was a first for me in a lot of respects. It was the first time in what seems like an eternity that I received everything on my short list (it could have been because I was extra good this year) and it was a first that I got familiar with something called Bell's Palsy.
Christmas Eve came and saw me in my car with my wife taking a 20 minute drive to visit my parents for some holiday cheer. While driving, I had blurry vision from my right eye. Thinking that I had accidentally put my contact lens inside out (something that has happened before), at the next chance I got, I removed my lens, inverted it and put it back in my eye with no difference in my vision. What seemed like 10 seconds later, the whole right side of my face became numb. My tongue felt like it expanded about 3 times its normal size and I couldn't fully close my right eye. I said to my wife that I am having a stroke - this all while I'm driving.
I got to my parents house and after my mother becoming increasingly nervous (you know how mothers are - God bless them) I had my wife drive me to a health stop. They checked my vital signs and everything checked out ok. My fears of having a stroke were put to rest when the doctor came in, and without even giving me a second look, diagnosed me with Bell's Palsey.
A disorder of the nerve that controls movement of the muscles in the face, Bell's Palsy causes weakness or paralysis and affects about 30-40,000 people a year in the United States, and lucky me, I was among them. So, it was a prescription of corticosteroids that I took kicking and screaming (anyone who knows me understands that I don't even like taking aspirin.)
The best way to describe the sensation is equivalent to when you go to the dentist and he administers Novocain before he yanks out your wisdom tooth. Bill Cosby did a great stand-up routine about that and you can see it here.
So, now that the worst is hopefully behind me, I can concentrate on what 2012 has to offer me. Bring it on!
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