Partially-Paralyzed Pirate Post-Script

Just thought I'd give one last pirate-update. There is real physical power in prayer and priesthood blessings. I have been blessed with a quicker recovery than I imagined due in large part to the faith and prayers of so many friends and family members. Thank you all!  Here's my recovery status at 3 weeks out:

- I no longer have to tape my eye shut at night (my eyelashes are happy about that). 

- I can drink fairly well in public from a straw or cup. 

- My tastebuds are about 75% back in working order. 

- While I still cannot swish a normal punt of water in my mouth without some mess, I am able to whistle somewhat and swish a tiny bit. 

-My smile is a bit wonky but it's getting there. 

Overall, I'd say I'm at about 75% and I'm thrilled with that!  Life is such an amazing and fragile gift. I hope that this sense of gratitude and purpose doesn't fade as my symptoms do. Life is good and I am very blessed. 

Partially-Paralyzed Pirate Lessons (final installment): Savoring life - taste and the whole shebang

I had to use one last pirate photo - my dear friend helped me see the humor in my situation by giving me this fabulous pirate bandana. 

Let me just say that one way to avoid weight gain over Thanksgiving is to lose your sense of taste.  ;(  I knew that my tongue was numb, but I didn't know just how much taste I'd lost until I had a tear run down my cheek into my mouth and it had absolutely no saltiness. It was surprisingly unnerving.  (My husband claims that he has no idea what tears taste like, but women certainly do.) 

So I've gained a real sense of gratitude for the blessing of taste. Appetite, cooking and finding enjoyment in food is a wonderful part of our mortal design and one thing I look forward regaining. 

I've decided that there are two types of tender mercies: 

1- sweet bonus blessings

2- tender as in tenderizing (going through something painful) experience that brings mercies, understanding and empathy. 

I've seen both types in this adventure and uniquely felt the love of both my Savior Jesus Christ and my Father in Heaven. I also have to say thanks to everyone that has been so patient with my challenges. I honestly love laughing with people about my lopsidedness, so keep the smiles and laughter coming - it brightens my day. 

Partially-Paralyzed Pirate lessons: the blessing of duck-face??

Ok, this one sounds like a stretch, but bear with me. It has a lot more to it than the hokey-selfie-pose lips. Here is why I'm grateful for lip musculature:

1. Speech - consonants like p and b are particularly tricky if you can't seal your mouth shut. 

2. Brushing your teeth - you can't spit in the sink, nor can you hold water in your mouth to swish after brushing. 

3. Whistling - out of the question.

4. Drinking from cups - without making a seal around the cup it gets hard. Luckily I can wedge a straw into the left side of my mouth pretty well. 

5. Licking your fingers - doesn't work without some serious lip muscles that you never before considered. 

6. Avoidance of biting said lips - it becomes tricky to get the food in while keeping your lips out of the way of your teeth. 

Needless to say, to quote Larry the Cucumber, "I love my lips" but until now I didn't know just how much!  Another reason that reinforces my belief that we are divinely created. What a blessing to have such an expressive and multifunctional facial feature as a mouth - take care of it well and watch, what goes in as well as what comes out. ;)

Partially-Paralyzed Pirate lessons: the blessings of blinks

So, one of the things I'm most grateful for now comes from one of the smallest muscles in my face - that of the eyelid. With this paralysis, my eye doesn't close. Few things are quicker than the blink of an eye, but although it maybe just a fraction of a second, you miss it in the oddest places. 

Washing your face or taking a shower, wiping a tear away (fingernail to the eyeball), walking in a breeze all are more complicated without the ability to blink. At night I tape my eyelid shut so that I can rest without my eye drying out completely. Throughout the day I manually have to close my eyelid and of course eyedrops are my

So you may not think much about that small flap of skin aside from putting makeup on in the morning, but it is a huge blessing.  What an intricately, divine creation our bodies are and what a marvelous opportunity and responsibility it is to be entrusted with this mortal machine. 

So take a few extra-long blinks and enjoy the blessing of opening and shutting that shutter to your soul.