Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Bell's Palsy Update: Day 730

Subtitle: Living With My New Normal

Two years ago today, my life took a sudden and irreversible left turn, veered off-course, and headed down a bumpy side road to my New Normal...which isn't a town in Illinois. The left side of my face appeared to be sliding off my skull, giving me the appearance of having suffered a stroke. I was diagnosed with a condition known as Bell's Palsy...and nothing has been the same since.

[If you need a refresher course, begin at this post and read forward:  http://adsit2.blogspot.com/2012/06/there-good-news-and-bad-news.html ]

You may recall the Urgent Care doctor said "this may last 15 days, a month, or the rest of your life." At the time, I chose the first one...like I had a choice in the matter. Unfortunately, it seems I actually got dealt the latter. Looks like I got a modified version of a life sentence. Sigh

While the nerve (AKA: cranial nerve #7) has regenerated and the feeling and most functions have been adequately restored to the affected side of my face, I continue to deal daily with some lasting effects: jaw pain, spasms (especially when I am tired or stressed), involuntary/uncontrollable eye tearing and movements and sensitivity to light, and some lingering speech and vision problems. These can all be attributed to a condition called synkinesis, which you can read more about here, if you wish: http://www.facialparalysisinstitute.com/8/synkinesis.html

My own good doctor had encouraged me to take a longer view of the recovery period. He said that it can take "up to two years" for patients to recover from other neurological events (such as a stroke...which thankfully, I did NOT suffer), so why not give it the complete 24 months? Tink! Pop up timer is out, Doc. Recovery period is over. It's official: I'm no longer recovering from Bell's Palsy...I'm living with the effects.

Truthfully, it could be worse. Many who live with BP for life never get feeling and function back to the point that I have. And many who do get "feeling" back, get it in the form of constant and excruciating pain. I'm one of the lucky ones here. The pain and spasms I have seem to be well-managed by a daily dose of a nerve pain med called Neurontin (gabapentin). That, and a Biotin tablet, are the only meds I need, thankfully. I have ordered my new prescription lenses for my sunglasses (following the last cataract surgery), and those should help immensely.

But, that doesn't mean I am happy with this New Normal. I hate when my words (particularly those beginning with P, B, F, S, or a double-consonant sound) get trapped and then tumble out in a tangle. I hate that my left eye winks involuntarily when I eat, drink, or sip through a straw...and nothing I do can control it. I hate that my left eye is so sensitive to light and tears up with regularity. I hate the jaw spasms...which hurt, to put it plainly. I hate that I am so sensitive to medications that I just have to give into the effects of the gabapentin every night...and it takes a couple hours in the morning for me to "get going." 

People are trying to be kind when they say things like "oh, I wouldn't worry about it...you can't really tell there's anything wrong." But I can. What I am experiencing feels wrong to me...it doesn't feel normal to me. I remember Normal from two years ago...and this ain't it. My New Normal. Have I told you how very much I hate the term "New Normal?" 

Ah well, it is what it is, as Ziva, one of my favorite characters on NCIS, says. Meaning: just deal with it!

Or, in my case...just live with it.

Friday, June 20, 2014

All That...and a Bag of Chips

Feet up? Check. Iced tea in hand? Double check. Whew! Can I just say what a week this has been?!

It's been hot. Really hot. Hot, hot, hot! Mid-90's every day this week...and it doesn't turn Summer until Saturday. And humid...don't forget the humidity. It's the kind of week that you'd like to take up permanent residence over the air conditioner vents. But, there were too many places to go, things to do, and people to see.

First thing Monday morning, Mr. T and Missy M (who is spending her weekends with us) headed to Charlotte. She was flying out to New Orleans (via Detroit, if you can imagine!), for the week, and he was dropping her off at the airport on his way south to Greenville, SC.

Tending the gardens occupied the first couple of days for me. Much is required during this time of the year, as you can probably imagine, with all the warm season crops in. The difficult part is the constant and oppressive heat. We expect this in August, not June. (I've posted an update about the gardens over on our garden blog, Gardening with the Giants. Click here to go there.) I usually try to follow my maxim of "Noon or ninety, whichever comes first," but I'm afraid I couldn't tow that line this week. Too much to do to give up a half-day.

I headed out to the Extension Center on Wednesday for our Master Gardener annual picnic, taking along a pasta salad that I dubbed "Going to the Garden Party Pasta Salad.*"  The theme for the picnic this year was Eating Local, with NC BBQ and sweet potatoes taking center stage. Many of the ingredients in my pasta salad were about as local as you can get, since they had indeed come straight from our HPNC kitchen garden, harvested on Tuesday. Even the lemon that provided the juice (see recipe below) came from my Meyer Lemon tree on the deck! Here's a snap of the finished product...and yes, those are nasturtiums on top. Yes, they are edible. 



Did I tell you it was hot this week? O. M. G. It was hot at the picnic, too. But we had a grand time together, topped off with the release of 50 monarch butterflies to mark the dedication of the Pollinators Garden and the new Monarch Waystation. More photos for you:






Thursday was all about catching up with paperwork, housework, and laundry. And on trying to reload my body with fluids...and salt. After sweating bullets at the picnic, I was craving salt, big time. I fairly attacked a bag of baked BBQ potato chips...even though they are not my faves. Did the best I could on all counts, since I had a fun day on the docket for Friday.

We had planned an EMGV Advanced Training trip to the J. C. Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh, and we weren't going to let a little ol' heat wave get in our way. We were participating in the Landscape Color Field Day, as guests of the Arboretum and the North Carolina Commercial Flower Growers Association. Oh yeah, Master Gardeners live for stuff like this! Still more photos for you, with a few of my personal favorite flowers:











Meanwhile, Mr. T had been to DC and back (I know...he started in SC...what can I say?), just in time to head back to Charlotte to pick up Missy M on Friday evening. What was she doing in NOLA, you ask? Well, she went with several new colleagues to do their in-store restaurant training at a Popeye's there. Of course, you can't go to The Big Easy without a few taste-tests of your own, can you? Here's a shot she sent of Bourbon Street from their restaurant and a pic of her last dessert at Cafe du Monde...the New Orleans Classic, beignets. 





All of that beings me back to another weekend...back in the gardens...and back to the reason I've got my feet up and my hand wrapped around a cold glass of iced tea. With another bag of salty chips in the other hand. What can I say? Gotta get ready for another hot week ahead, don't you know?

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*Going to the Garden Party Pasta Salad Recipe

1 box Tri-Color Rotini pasta, prepared per box instructions
1 large bottle Creamy Italian Dressing
Fresh oregano
Fresh basil
Fresh chives
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 cup Dijon mustard, more or less (I like more...you may prefer less...:)
1 cup green peas, blanched
1/2 large red onion, finely diced (save the rest to thinly slice for decoration)
1/2 large green pepper, finely diced
1 hot pepper, finely diced (opt.)
4-5 small carrots, finely diced
Fresh broccoli, trimmed and washed
1 cup cooked ham, cubed
4 oz. mozzarella cheese, small cubes
1 small jar pimiento pepper, drained and diced
Fresh ground pepper and seasoned salt to taste
Nasturtium flowers, onion rings, and more fresh herbs for decoration

1. Prepare pasta per package directions. Put prepared veggies in a colander, and pour hot pasta and water over top to "cook." Drain, then wash under cold water to cool.
2. Combine Italian dressing with fresh herbs, adding as much fresh oregano, chives, and basil as you like, lemon juice, and Dijon mustard. I even add a bit of Ranch Dressing, for added creaminess. Reserve 1/2 of this mixture for later.
3. In a large bowl, combine 1/2 of dressing mixture with other ingredients.
4. After mixing thoroughly, chill for several hours or overnight.
5. Since the pasta will absorb the dressing, add the reserved dressing and more seasonings to taste before serving. Top with edible decoration, such as nasturtium flowers, fresh herbs, and thinly-sliced red onion rings. Enjoy!

Friday, June 13, 2014

Glug, Glug, Glug

Let's begin this post with a picture, shall we?



OK, that...along with the title of the post...should give you a big clue where I'm going. We are treading water here in HPNC! If the present trend continues, I'm going to have to figure out just what a cubit is.

Since Sunday, we have logged nearly 4.5" of rain in the gauge. Read that again: 4.5 inches...in 5 days. Plus we have had temps in th high 80's and at least one 90-degree day, with humidity levels that are oppressive at times. Makes me want to celebrate whoever invented air conditioning!

Now, several of those inches of rain arrived via severe thunderstorms. The one on Tuesday was a corker! As you can see from these pictures of the windmill in the Way Back...or as we call it, The Derrick, we were left leaning when the rising sun revealed all. Can you also see that the winds lifted the canopy on one of the swings, tipping it back and over (center, left of first pic). Thank goodness it missed the back "temporary" fence by several whole inches. Had it taken out the fence, I would have been rounding up pups for hours!



There were also small tree limbs and branches littering the landscape, like you see in this shot of the front walk. Don't know if you can make it out, but that limb has been long-dead and the object of a great deal of woodpecker attention. It has also survived many thunderstorms and high wind situations over the five years we have lived here...until this week. 



But the funniest photos are to follow. Have I shared with you how very much Winston loves water? Loves. It. In almost any form, apparently. He has no problem with a walk in the rain...none whatsoever. And whenever I have to water the garden? Well, he's there before you can say "Jack Splash!" He drinks straight from the hose, and he WANTS me to spray him. I call it "watering Winston." 

Well...

With all the rain, our Kitchen row garden resembles a rice paddy, as EMGV friend JA noted on Facebook. We have created these wide, raised rows, making the corresponding "aisles" wide...and deep. Whenever we get this much rain, the aisles fill up with the run off from the rows...as you can see. That's Dixie walking gingerly along the bean fence on Row 3.



So, Wednesday I got up to another clear, clean morning that followed a terrific downpour. I headed out to the Way Back to check on things, with four dogs in eager attendance. Before I could say "Jack Splash," Winston was off...racing through the knee-deep (to him) aisles. 

As I posted on Facebook, I'll let the pictures tell the story:






Good golly, Molly! So what to do? I turned on the faucet, because even though the last thing the garden needed was more water, I knew he would immediately stop playing in the mud baths and come to the sound of the sprayer.  He did. And I hosed him down in the Rondell, which is high-and-dry and covered in mulch...no mud to be had. And he did what every wet dog has ever done: gave a great, big shake...slinging muddy water everywhere, including my glasses.

And then he ran back to the mud baths. 

OK, I got smart and did what I should have done in the first place: dragged the hose into the back yard (from the Way Back), lured him (and the others) to follow, and shut the gate behind them. Then I watered Winston once again. He loved it. And he shared his pleasure with another great, big shake.

Of course, when I tried to hose down Ella Rae, Abbie, and Dixie...who all had muddy paws...they immediately ran away...acccckkkk, water! We might melt!...right up the deck steps and into the house. Good golly, Molly...indeed.

Duche$$, who was observing all of this activity from her usual spot on the deck, gave me that look of "I told you not to get any more dogs. Can we take them back now?"

Gotta love'em!

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