It Is Good to Garden

I know, I know. I said I'd post an update about my Bell's Palsy this week. Give me another day on that since I have an appointment with Dr. K tomorrow. I don't have a lot to report...and what there is to report isn't very exciting, but at least I'll have the official version if we give it 24 more hours.

Meanwhile...

Thought you'd like to see a picture of the fruits of our labors. Granted, most all of the labor took place 3 months ago...and the "fruits" are the results of mostly benign neglect in our protracted absence, but it's still amazing that anything survived, don't you think?

Anyway...

We spent time in the Way Back this weekend, both at work and at play. Coffee and bagels in The Rose Garden was such a treat...and could have kept us completely satisfied, except we knew the At Play time was over and the At Work time upon us.

Mr. T tilled up the Cool Season garden area, along with the corn patch, in the heat on Saturday, while I tended the big pot of Shrimp Gumbo, made from the Harvest of okra, tomatoes, peppers, and onions...in the relative cool of the kitchen. And, this morning, I planted 4 kinds of lettuces (Black-seeded Simpson, Red Sails, Bibb, and Green Ice), leaf spinach, beets, and carrots. I would have done collards and turnip greens, but I ran out of energy about the same time I discovered I didn't have any seeds for the Seven Top Turnips (which are only grown for the greens). I'll head to the garden center tomorrow after I see Dr. K, as I need to get onions, too. I hope I can still find some cabbage and broccoli transplants, too...although I've missed the plant-by dates for Fall for them, I'm afraid.

So what's the rush, you ask? We are trying to play catch up with our chores...and get ahead of any rain we may receive, courtesy of Hurricane Isaac's churnings in the Gulf.

And, I am trying to find my way back to Normal. I talked with Bro. J on Saturday, from my perch in the swing, watching Mr. T wrangle the tiller (thank goodness for cell phones!), and he was wondering if I had managed to do much gardening since returning home. And, Bro. T (who just celebrated a birthday last weekend) called to check in...and ask basically the same question. They both know me too well!

Getting back in the garden is a good thing for me...and my soul. Even if I haven't made it back to Normal yet, I have made it back into our little Paradise. And that is so very good!

Honey, We're Home!

After 96 days, 22 hours, and 13 minutes, Elmo, Duche$$, and I are finally back in HPNC. Altogether now: hooray!

The Welcome Home was all I could have hoped for. Mr. T had made a sign and snipped several rose blooms. We took our Coffee Walk into the Way Back Monday morn, and when I went into the Kitchen Garden, I had to get me a ripe tomato for my first BLT of 2012! Yum!! I've waited nearly 3 months to be able to take that picture!

The trip here was every bit as much fun as you can imagine. I was so nauseated at the beginning that I almost asked Mr. T to turn the car around and return to Missy M's house. We made it to the first rest stop...then to the WV state line...down the Turnpike to VA...through the three rain storms back-to-back-to-back...and when we crossed the NC state line, I knew I could make it. Until I saw that sign for Winston-Salem though, I still had my doubts. Mr. T is a fantastic driver, and the dogs were troopers.

It has taken me a couple of days to recover, but I wanted to write a short post before the week aged much more. I'm taking it easy, making the transition back to my life with deliberation. I already miss Missy M and her pups, but it was time.

The simple things are the things I've missed the most about my NC life. Coffee Walks in the Way Back with Mr. T (although we have used FaceTime to make up for this). My own bed. Our gardens. Our automatic ice maker.

I discovered that I've forgotten how to use my electric stove...since Missy M cooks with gas. Momma used to tell on herself: when she got her first electric stove, she said she burned everything she cooked for weeks. Totally understand. You can probably tell that bacon in the photo is extra-crispy!

I've also forgotten where the right switch is for the light I want. Granted, the electrician who wired this house was a real jokester...light switches in odd places, etc. But I stood in the bathroom Sunday night, poised to enter our closet, and switched on three lights before I got the correct one. Grrrr.

I have also discovered how much I miss Gus. It really is a different place without him. Ah well...

So we are home...getting accustomed to it again. And trying to get back into our routine again. That may sound dull and boring to some.

To me, it sounds heavenly.

(BTW, I'll post a Bell's Palsy Update next week, and then every two weeks for the duration. No real changes to report...and I'm getting tired of saying the same thing in every post. Ho hum.)

Bell's Palsy Update - Week 8 Begins

The good news is that I haven't stalled: there is evidence of teeny, tiny mini-steps of progress as the Bell's Palsy slowly, slowly recedes. Bad news? Well, I'm sounding like a broken record here. Yawn.

It's more fun to give you the crop report from HPNC: the cotton bolls are filling out, the peppers are plumping up...and the roses are reblooming! Check out the photos from Mr. T below.

BTW, that's a "Friendship" rose bloom in the picture; it's one of the AARS winners from 1979, and this is its first year in our garden. We purchased three Friendship bushes from Roses Unlimited, along with three Sutter's Gold (AARS winner for 1950) and three Chrysler Imperial (AARS winner for 1953). You can probably figure out where we're going with this combination...:-)

OK, back to the boring Bell's Palsy update...

But wait! I'm not the only one recovering here on Franelm. Missy M went for her check up with her foot doctor on Thursday, and she got a good report. The X-ray shows evidence of proper healing, and no evidence of any cause for concern. Hooray!!

She has been faithfully wearing her walking boot for the past three weeks (after spending over 9 weeks in a cast), removing it only to sleep, bathe, and drive. She's battled some swelling and some pain, but with ice packs and pain meds both of those have diminished a bit as the days went by. The doctor says that is normal...to be expected.

So now she gets to make the transition from walking boot to...well, walking normally. Gradually, said the doctor. Right. She admitted this morning that maybe she overdid it a bit this weekend, and she wore the boot to work...especially for the walk from her parking spot to the building. Still, you have to hand it to her: she did a great job of putting her weight on that foot for the first time in 12 weeks...and walking around the house. Woo hoo!

See that was so much better than hearing, yet again, that the facial paralysis is lessening, my speech is getting better (so I'm told), and my eye-tearing is almost a non-issue. Yadda, yadda, yadda. I still cannot smile, whistle, or wink...which are the three milestones I hope to reach. Sooner rather than later, I hope.

Yeah, yeah. No lectures on "focusing on how far you have come, rather than how far you have to go." I know, I know. Honestly? I'm just tired of BP. Way past tired. And when I get tired, my positive attitude goes down the pipes.

So here is Day 50's documentation photo. (Pink shirt again, BS, even though it clashes drastically with my California Coral nail polish...:~\) A little more upturn in my left lip, in response to my brain-command to "smile!" A little less droop of my left eyelid.

As I said before...teeny, tiny improvements. The Optimist Within (that I couldn't silence with all my earlier negative thoughts...no matter what...:~\) says "any progress is better than no progress."

Bell's Palsy Update - Week 7 Begins

Before we get to my Bell's report, I wanted to share my exciting (!) Cotton crop report from Guilford County. Seriously, I planted 10-12 heirloom seeds from a variety called Nanking Green that I got at the Seed Exchange at Old Salem back in January. And, now I have 10 beautiful plants growing and thriving at the end of the bean fence in the Kitchen Garden (photo below)! Can you see the pink-edged flowers (top of plant) and the green bolls(center)? Even though picking cotton by hand is one of the hardest jobs on this Earth (yes, I did it once...and only once!), I can hardly wait until I get to pick my own little stand. No, I won't harvest enough to spin, but I'll have enough to share next January...and to plant more next year.

Green cotton, you ask? Yep. And you thought all cotton was white, didn't you? Well, I sure did until I did a bit of research.

Turns out that naturally colored cotton was grown at one time, although it was not found to be as marketable as white cotton fibres. According to the Southern Exposure Seed Exchange:

"Naturally colored cottons were grown by the slaves prior to the Civil War. In many instances, slaves on plantations were not permitted to grow the white cotton of their masters. Brown cotton was the most commonly grown, but there are other naturally colored cottons such as green, blue, yellow, and pink cottons, and they all have their own subtle beauty. These heirloom cottons are now difficult to find. They have fallen out of favor because the fibers are shorter and not as suitable for spinning and dyeing as modern white cotton."
From Southern Exposure Seed Exchange's website

I wish I could report big, exciting discoveries in my recovery process. No such luck. Same old, same old. Tortoise-like progress as Bell's Palsy slowly recedes from my body.

And, as I told Bro T and Bro J last week, I relate what is happening to the tide receding...going out...away from the beach. Yeah, yeah...me and my focus on The Beach. But with each day, a little of the misery that is BP seems to recede...go out...leave me. And, while that may not be Big News, it is nonetheless Positive News.

Missy M summed up my last week's progress yesterday when she said "you can see you are getting better; you can hear it, because your speech is better." She also said "you can tell when you are tired because you start slurring your words." A little good, a little not-so-good. Still some way to go to complete recovery. Ah well.

I didn't take my weekly documentation photos yesterday, because I thought any progress they might have shown would be overshadowed by the dark circles under my swollen eyes and the red tinge to my nose. I hadn't slept well the night before, and I had done my share of shedding sad tears in the morning. You see, yesterday marked a year since Nana/Momma/Edith passed away. Without a doubt, we still miss her so much.

And as any regular reader of my posts will know, it was a tough 6 months prior to 8/5/11, and it has been a rough 12 months since then. One can only hope it will begin to be a kinder, gentler chapter from this day forward.

Sigh.

You may not be able to see much change in my mouth (less paralysis, more of a smile on the left side) in this photo (below). And I think there is possibly more left-eyebrow droop...but I "credit" that to residual "puffiness" from yesterday's tears rather than a reversal in the previous week's progress.

What you will probably see right away is that I wore a different color shirt for this photo. Sweet friend BS commented earlier about my wearing some pink lipstick (which I have rarely, if ever, worn in my life...:~\)...so, instead of sticking with the same old aqua shirt I've worn in all the photos for consistency's sake, I switched to a pink one that I borrowed from Missy M for this set.

So, now I have entered the decisive part of the recovery period: weeks six through eight. Whatever happens now, is probably what I will be living with...my "new normal," as friend LB says. My NC Nurse Practitioner calls this the most telling of the recovery period. While she said it can take up to a year to completely recover, it's the two weeks I am living now that can be the most important.

Fingers crossed. Toes, too!

Bell's Palsy Documentation Photo - Day 44

Bell's Palsy Update - Week 6 Begins

First of all, let me share some Summertime with you! What says Summer better than crape (or, crepe) myrtle? This picture is the first bloom on this particular tree, which we transplanted to the Way Back last year.

And, Mr. T harvested the tomatoes, peppers, and okra (pictured below)...after he bushwhacked his way through the overgrown Kitchen Garden in HPNC. Amazing that anything has survived our benign neglect while we've been in KY. He also reports that my tiny stand of Nanking Green cotton is thriving.

So what has that got to do with an update about Bell's Palsy, you ask? Maybe not much, but it seems to me we can draw a parallel or two.

For most of the past week, my forward progress in my recovery from Bell's Palsy has felt glacial, as I've sleep-walked my way through the days, neglecting even my facial exercise routine. Teeny, tiny, itty-bitty signs were there each morning: a little more feeling in my lips and cheek and a little more release of my mouth, allowing me to chew my food more easily and to comfortably floss and brush my teeth after eating (extremely important because tooth, gum, and mouth care are paramount with the paralysis that is Bell's); and, a bit less of a droop of my left eyebrow, making it easier to consciously close the lid, meaning less tearing of that eye...and therefore better eyesight overall (although neither the blink reflex nor the ability to independently close the left eyelid has returned yet). I am still taking 300 mg Neurontin/gabapentin twice daily...and still spend each day in a haze, with nothing really registering and no energy to care. The price I'm paying to allow time for the nerve to regenerate, I suppose you could say.

And then...

Friday dawned. I awoke to a markedly different feeling inside. Where I had previously been clumsy, dizzy, and disoriented from the moment I opened my (right) eye each day (remember, I still wear an eyepatch on the left eye at night), Friday morning I felt clear-headed, with the ability to decide what came next...without having to concentrate too terribly much. It felt good!

OK. So I'm still not ready to run any races...or even to walk around the block...and I still have to take a long nap in the afternoon, in response to the day's dose. But I was looking forward to watching the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics Friday night...and I knew they would run way beyond my usual bedtime. So was I ever surprised and pleased that I made it all the way through the Parade of Nations to Sir Paul singing "Hey Jude!" Possibly I am adjusting to the med?

For sure, good things have indeed been happening "behind the scene," so to speak. By Saturday morning, Mr. T (who is back home at Casa 3917) could tell a difference on our FaceTime call...and he remarked on the positive change in my appearance as well as in my speech. Now, that made me feel great, don't you know?!

And by Sunday, I was looking forward to taking my weekly documentation photos. I just knew I would see a difference.

And, lo and behold, I did. I saw what I have been waiting for these past 36 days. I saw improvement in the paralysis...and the beginning of a smile. Just a little one, mind you...but a smile, nonetheless. Right there...corner of the left side of my mouth. It's turning up in response to my mental command of "smile!" Fantastic!!

I can't wait to see what this week brings, can you?

Bell's Palsy Update - Week 5 Begins

di·chot·o·my
[dahy-kot-uh-mee]

2. division into two mutually exclusive, opposed, or contradictory groups: a dichotomy between thought and action.
---from Dictionary.com

And the answer is...yes...and no. Yeah, I know...contradictory. Sigh. More on that in a second.

First up...I must start out with good news. It's my nature...humor me. Missy M drove herself to work today! She got a walking cast last Thursday and was determined to begin to recapture her life after 9 weeks of having to rely on us for everything. I got a text that she had made it OK. She's still got her crutches and her knee walker, just in case, but my guess is she's ignoring both with vigor.

Here's a photo of a red zinnia (which came out orange on my iPhone) in The Secret Garden to celebrate...proving, yet again that zinnias can not only survive extreme heat conditions, but thrive as well. Cheers!

Speaking of photos, as I took my documentation photos (below) to mark the passing of another week in the clutches of Bell's Palsy, I knew I would not suffer the same devastating reaction that I did just seven short days ago. [Last Sunday, when I saw how little the pictures differed from two weeks before (since I neglected to take photos on Day 14), I "took to my bed and covered my head."]

Some of you wrote to say...hey, there IS a difference. Too kind, my dearies, too kind. Sometimes you have to hit bottom, if for no other reason than to gain purchase for your toes to push yourself out of the deep water. That was last Sunday for me.

Every day this week, I have awakened to the knowledge that I am on my way out of this nightmare...a tiny bit of nerve regeneration at a time. By Sunday morning, I could enjoy my coffee without a straw, as well as eat a small stack of pancakes without slicing-and-dicing it down to crumbs. My eye has stopped tearing constantly, and I only have to use an eyepatch or tape during a nap or at night for protection.

Hopefully what you will see in the new photo from Day 28, is the lessened droop to my left eyebrow and the less-pronounced pull or drag on my mouth. I am now able to wiggle my eyebrow and to lift the left side of my mouth in the beginnings of a smile. Those are more difficult to document, so you will have to trust me until I can snap a whole smile. Soon. Very soon, I hope.

I have almost ended my relationship with prednisone entirely, tapering off to 5 mg/day. It has done what it needed to do as far as serving as a powerful anti-inflammatory...and now we need to part ways. A host of side effects kick in after a month of use, and I'm there. One of those that is evident is the "moon-face" effect, exaggerating my natural tendency toward that look anyway.

I am currently at the mercy of the nerve medication, gabapentin/Neurontin. On the one hand, I credit it for masking all the jaw and ear and skull pain that I've had as the nerve behind my left ear is regenerating. Hooray! All I feel there now is a dull pressure.

However, I am paying a price for this pain-controlled luxury. I now live in a fog, from which I emerge twice daily. I have been instructed to "keep the amount of gabapentin constant in your system...taking it exactly 12 hours apart."

It takes about one hour to kick in after I take it, so you see have about 2 hours each day when I am myself...a logical, thinking, moderately intelligent human being. And, apart from some stomach issues that best be left unsaid, I feel pretty good. The rest of the time...not so much. "Clumsiness, tiredness, drowsiness, nausea..." reads the prescription info sheet, and I have all those in spades...when I'm not just plain asleep.

It's a good thing that Missy M is now driving because I can't...not as long as I'm taking gabapentin, which is for 2 more weeks.

So, yes...I am better. And no...I'm not there yet. But progress is evident...even to the toughest judge: me.

Day 28

Day 21

Day 7

Bell's Palsy Update - Day 26

Now isn't it funny what we are celebrating on this monumental day? Let's see...It was Ella Rae's Gotcha Day, making her four years old in family time (and since she was a baby puppy when Missy M brought her home, that's close to being accurate). Isn't she a cutie?

But that wasn't the Big Thing of The Day.

And it was the anniversary of the date Mr. T and I met in Jackson, Mississippi. Mutual friends introduced us, and we are forever indebted to K and R. But even that wasn't what we were focusing upon.

No. It was my teeny, tiny, itty-bitty, left eyebrow movement. Progress with my Bell's Palsy that was describable...tangible...shareable...shoutable-from-the-rooftop! Yes!!!

Look! Did you see it?! Tell me you saw it! said I.
Why look at that? Your eyebrow moved! I did see it! said Mr. T.

OK, before I veer too far over the center line here, let's put this into perspective. I have known all week that tiny improvements in the severity of the paralysis were happening. I knew it. I just couldn't seem to demonstrate it in any real fashion. And we all know that Mr. T was aptly named at birth...nothing gets by him without doubting it beforehand. Show me.

(An aside. He dearly loves that wonderful Christmas movie, Miracle on 34th Street...the original, of course...as do we all. But I think he relates to the line about how they have to have AUTHORITATIVE PROOF, to establish the existence of Santa Claus. You can't just say something and have it be so...there has to be visible PROOF for him.)

Anyway...

I may be standing on the hump...but I'm not over it just yet, as I was reminded at my follow up doctor visit in the afternoon. By the time I was seen, I was exhausted by the heat of the day...and the noise in the waiting area, of all things. Apparently they are in the process of switching to electronic medical records...and it was a zoo. I was never so happy to be placed in a tiny exam room in my life. My eye was watering terribly, my eyelid had started to droop more than usual, and my speech was more difficult to understand.

Fortunately, the nurse who came to do my vitals was the same nurse who had triaged me on that fateful Sunday, 4 weeks ago. She remembered me...and was quick to tell Mr. T how much she thought I'd improved since she last saw me. That helped raise my spirits.

I learned that I have maxed out on the prednisone, so no more steroids for me for a while. Actually, I'm OK with that because surely it has done whatever it could have. Surely. Plus, my skin is turning paper-thin right before my eyes! If I moved around more than I do, I'd probably be black-and-blue from bruising...another side effect. Still, because meds don't necessarily just target one problem over another, my back, hips, and neck haven't felt this good in years!! I love serendipity, don't you?

Since I still have some nerve pain in my jaw and behind my ear, especially at night or when I'm tired, I'm now on a double-dose of Neurontin, adding one in the AM to the PM pill beginning today. That should do a better job of keeping the dose at an even keel. But it may take a few days to get used to being drowsy during the day. I foresee morning naps...and NO DRIVING.

And, with a double-dose of caution, I've been referred to a local neurologist. I had planned to see mine when I got back to NC...honest. But, either because I'm not a local here with a local Primary Care doc...or because I have decent insurance...or because it was just easier to agree to the recommendation...I'm now awaiting an appointment. The doc wants to be comfortable about any connection between my case of Bell's Palsy and MS, and I guess that buck stops with a neurologist.

So celebrate with me today! Progress! And all the other good things the day has brought. It truly feels like I can see the light at the end of this long tunnel...albeit through a still-watery left eye with a droopy lid.

No matter. We'll all be smiling whole smiles soon if this keeps up...:~\