"I don't have to sell my soul/[she's] already in me." --Stone Roses, I Wanna Be Adored
Quick interlude about my Bell's Palsy nonsense, and we'll go back to health and fitness in future posts. Sorry about the delay between posts, but I've been kinda sick...again...fighting off the flu which my poor husband contracted. He's been quarantined to one part of the house, using one bathroom, and I've been quarantined to the other part of the house, using the other lavatory. Good times.
And our son, Steven Ames? Off with his grandparents for the past four days, since no one wanted him to get sick, either.
And the H1-N1 shot I need to get once my immune system is back to normal (and so far, no dice, but eight tubes of blood were drawn recently, so we'll see soon enough)? Ah, my primary care physician's office can't get any yet. There's signs posted on every wall. They have no idea apparently when they'll get more. OK. That officially sucks.
So, basically, I'm going to be stuck inside with a limited foray here and there until SPRING, which I believe is three and a half months away. That officially sucks more.
When I go out to the doctors' office or to another health care providers' appointment, people stare. Yep. Now, mind you, I don't have the worst possible manifestation of Bell's Palsy. My face doesn't "hang" or seem horridly asymmetrical. The swelling's down on the right side of my face. Color has returned to my skin. And I can pretty much close the right eye if all my concentration is on doing so and I'm pretty much holding my breath. Fun! But the right eye...it still stares pretty much straight ahead, wide as can be. It's kinda bugging out. Gross!
The stares get me. Big time. Even better is when a stupid teenaged girl says loudly to a friend of hers, there to keep her company, "Look at her eye! Omigod, Jennifer, her eye! Do you...do you...like see it?" Then they both stare, agape, at me, like they're frigging invisible and I somehow can't see them four feet away.
"It's Bell's Palsy and it's temporary," I growl.
Well, I certainly HOPE it's temporary, and with no permanent residuals. Of course, I just fell for the old fashioned "don't rise to the bratty kid's bait" thing, but I was never good at that. In elementary school, in middle school...you get the idea. In the court room, however, I'm fine...because I expect my fellow litigator to goad and push, to say things to lure me down the wrong road of rationale. I don't fall for that crap because I expect it. I stick to my one, two or three talking points (three max) and I usually get the judge to agree with me. But in the outside world, what's wrong with me that I would think that people would actually be civilized?
Could I ask everyone out there in Web World to do the real world a favor? Stop staring at the poor folks who can't help the way they look? Trust me, they noticed that something about them is off. You don't need to remind them by gaping, pointing, lingering on them with your eyes bubbling up sympathy (ewww) or unmitigated pity. Move on and groove on, folks. That's what I'm trying to do. And I'm going to kick the ass of this affliction yet!
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