Took a few days off of work to get things done around the house. it's been over a year and I still have things to unpack. It's kind of sad that you have to take days off from work just to organize and get things done. Or maybe that's just me. Anywho, now my garage is actually being used for the car and not just an extra storage space. Went through some boxes in one of the spare bedroom closets and got about 4 or 5 boxes emptied. Have a couple of boxes of things to take to goodwill, yay! Get rid of things we don't need! Slowly on the track to simplifying. Coming from a borderline hoarder, I think that's a good thing. :)
I've always been a fan of people who can truly pull off acapella. Some people are just extraordinarily talented. Introducing Mr Smooth McGroove who combines game songs and acapella:
Today we went exploring. There is a Greek town nearby that I've been wanting to check out. We found a few parks with quiet beaches. We didn't walk through the town too much though because it started raining...maybe next time. Lots of neat little shops and restaurants there.
Oh yeah...did I mention I got jury duty?
It's the second time I've been summoned for jury duty. The first time I was in college and luckily able to get out of it because of that fact. The second time was a few months ago, it was scheduled in June. My work schedule was pretty tight then and no one could cover it, and you're allowed to reschedule it once, so I got my new summons for July 22. I get to the courthouse and see people sitting outside. "Maybe I'm just early," I thought. Then when I go inside, there were about 4 security guards and the one closest to the door said "All trials have been cancelled for today." I said "Really? Are you joking?" which apparently was a crazy question to ask. Those guys don't joke around. He said "If you would have called the number you would know." Ok, so I don't have jury duty every single day, I didn't know I needed to call a number. (That's what I was thinking, haha). I walked outside and figured I should just make sure I have all my bases covered before I left, so I walked back inside and asked if I would need to come back another time. That's when the first security guard that spoke to me and another one both chimed in "if you would have called the number you would already know!" He did answer that if I needed to come back I would get another summons in the mail. Great.
As for the bell's palsy, I'm getting a little bit of improvement. It definitely takes its time going away. I can keep both of my eyes closed (yay!). I can't close my affected eye and keep my good eye open though, but at least I'm sleeping with my eyes closed (I think!). I can sort of move my right cheek a little more than I could a few days ago, but it still takes a lot of effort. Not too much difference with my mouth. People want to tell me they see changes but I find that funny because what do they know? They see my face for a few minutes here and there; I'm the one that sees it every time I'm in the bathroom. I'm the one that's making faces at myself every time I see a mirror to see if there are any changes. I'm not sure why they're not ok with instant change, but I'm ok with it. It will go away eventually, it won't be overnight, and I'm fine with that. Everyone else needs to be fine with it too.
Before this post is finished, someone would like to say hi:
If you know me, then you know I recently got diagnosed with Bell's palsy, which means part of my face is temporarily paralyzed. It's completely split down the middle, one side moves normally and the other doesn't move at all. A week ago I woke up and was having issues with my right eye. It mostly just felt like I had something in it (a piece of dust or small hair perhaps?). I couldn't find anything when I looked, so I figured it would eventually work it's way out. By the end of the day (a good 10 hours later), the right side of my face felt really weird, almost numb feeling. I realized more so when I had problems eating dinner and brushing my teeth. I tried to brush it off thinking I was just tired and about to work a nightshift.
Luckily, I work at a hospital, so I knew if something was going terribly wrong, I'd already be in the right place. I got to work and somehow let it slip that my face felt numb, and my coworkers tried coaxing me to go to the ER to get it checked out. We tried thinking of things that may cause face numbness. Stroke was the first scary thing, but I wasn't really showing any other signs of stroke. We thought of Bell's palsy, but I always associated it with facial droop and well, I don't have facial droop. In the back of my mind I'm thinking the worst...brain tumor. My dad was just telling me earlier that week of someone he knew that passed away from a brain tumor and he was only 34 years old! So that was definitely hot on my mind. I finally talked myself into thinking it was some sort of allergic reaction to a new shampoo and it would be gone in a day.
After getting off work that next morning, I went home and slept for a few hours. Woke up (hoping and praying that numbness went away) and for a minute or two there I really believed it went away. Then I started talking and realized that the numbness was still there. It wasn't until I made a funny face at Ben and he saw that only half of my face moved that we started thinking maybe it was something more serious that we should get checked out.
I finally decided to go to a walk-in clinic first. It was Saturday around 5 pm, so fortunately I was the only one there to be seen. Got in the exam room, she had me do a test with my eye where she had me close my eyes and tried to pull my eyelids up and the only one she could pull up was the one I had no control over. She pretty much knew from that one simple test that it was Bell's palsy. She did a couple other things just to cover all bases and then prescribed me a steroid and antiviral medicine.
It felt so nice to have a diagnosis and know that it wasn't my worst fear. The bad part about Bell's palsy is that it does take a while to go away, at least 3 weeks. It's been a little over a week now and I'm showing very little progress. I can barely move my right cheek and it is uncomfortable to try. I can rub my tongue across my teeth on my right side, which is not something I could do a week ago. I still have issues eating and drinking. Small bites, eat it slow, and use a straw in my drink, that's my new mealtime motto. My right eye will blink if I concentrate and blink both eyes together, but I cannot close my right eye and keep my left eye open at the same time. I sleep with an eye mask just to protect it and keep it closed. At first I tried taping my eye shut. I think even though the tape said "ultrasensitive", it may not have been the right tape for that job, so I decided not to do that again.
Then I tried taping a piece of gauze over my eye with the tape going around my eye, but that didn't really work out because I could still open my eye under the gauze and I couldn't be sure it was closed while I was sleeping. Now I'm just using the eye mask and I think my eye is staying closed, so that is a little improvement.
Thought this was appropriate ;)
All the little things we take for granted. We don't even realize we're doing it until we can't anymore. Getting sick, for me, definitely humbles me and gives me a minute to reflect on the people who deal with illnesses or ailments on a daily basis, not just a temporary basis. Whatever you're going through, there's usually someone who's got it worse. When we get these opportunities to see the other side, it's a good idea to be thankful for what you've got.
