August 8, 2012, I woke up to the realization that something was terribly wrong -- the left side of my face felt paralysed. This is from my phone calendar:
At breakfast discover I have partial paralysis to left side of my face (can't blink left eye or lift left corner of mouth). Stroke? Net search suggests Bell's Palsy related to ear infection. Wow!
The next day a clinician examined me and sped me on my way to a hospital, saying it was all arranged: I would immediately go on an antibiotic drip, and would probably need to stay overnight. I hunted up a place to store my trailer and pedalled over to Mount Saint Joseph's Hospital.
I went in through Emergency as instructed at the clinic, and, of course, they had no idea who I was beyond being another walk-in. A doctor diagnosed me with Bell's Palsy, and wrote four prescriptions; apparently I would have to pay for them myself. I had the presence of mind to have the on-site social worker to write a note to the pharmacist on hospital stationary, excusing me from having ID. Lucky for me, the pharmacist at a Shopper's Drug Mart in Fairview looked at me, looked at the prescriptions and declared they were all covered, meaning, apparently they were free -- well three of them were -- one hadn't been manufactured for quite a while.
Back at the hospital to see if I needed a substitute for the unavailable med. Enter doctor number two (I hope he was; he was there. I think he had a name-tag). He explained the fourth drug the other doctor had prescribed wasn't necessary, and no, Bell's was not caused by chicken-pox, it was herpes. He leaned in towards me from his side of the table, and declared in a confiding tone, "It's in the air Stanley," I again noted the singularly confidence-inspiring effect of his manner, not to mention his open white lab coat over T-shirt, over pot-belly. He declared it a clear-cut case of Bell's -- the fact I couldn't blink my left eye was conclusive. Yes it was connected to the ear infection. I noted the two sores I could feel in my ear -- he described them as scabs. Basically, he instructed, I take the prescribed medicine for seven days, and that's it. It might go away in a week or five months, or never. Leaning in towards me from his side of the table, he declared in a confiding tone,
"It's the worst case I've ever seen Stanley."
In fact, I have some question whether it is a case of Bell's Palsy, after reading of Olivia Chow being diagnosed with Ramsay Hunt Syndrome.
Sometimes I feel like Jonah Hex, a DC comics character, I liked so much when I was younger.
Five months later, I find that I can blink my left eye again, but my mouth still doesn't work right. And when I close me left eye, It's hard to close the left side of my mouth, as if there's a string connecting the two. Apparently I will never again know the joy of properly pronouncing the letter "B." But, or should I say 'ut, I'm not drinking coffee through a straw,
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