on a temporary pirate gig

last night i had drinks with two of my best girl friends, lai and claire at celia's mexican restaurant.  when i took the first sip from my margarita, i told them, 'hmmm, my tongue feels funny.' they, like me, just shrugged it off and we proceeded with our chatter about life, love, and the draw something game that we were all playing!  after a couple of margaritas, it was time to head home.  


this morning, i woke up with my left eye bright red, not pink eye, but blood shot.  because i have chronic dry eyes, i said to myself, 'gotta use them eye drops more often!' during breakfast, i noticed that my coffee tasted funny and so did the water.  it had that iron-y, metallic taste (lasang kalawang, sa madaling salita!).  again i ignored it.  in the shower, i could taste the water, too, and i thought to myself, 'could our water be contaminated?  this is weird.'  


since paul and i woke up late, i had no time to put on my make up at home.  so in the car, at a stop light, i pulled out my lipstick and started to apply it on my lips.  i puckered my lips and noticed that my lips were lopsided.  i took off my aligners (invisalign) and puckered again.  still lopsided!  'did i have a mild stroke that i did not know about???'  i immediately called paul and started freaking out! 'beb!  there's something wrong with my face.  my lips are lopsided...i just noticed it now...'  there's nothing that freaks out a husband more than a freaking out wife!  when i got to the office, i immediately told my boss what i was feeling and scheduled a doctor's appointment for 940 in the morning and got it checked.


i told the doctor what i felt, what i saw, and when it started.  she started nodding her head...i did not see a look of panic in her face so i said to myself, 'ok maybe this is not as serious as i thought. thank God!' after a series of minor tests and exercises she said, 'what you have is bell's palsy.  have you heard of it?'


i told her yes, i know about it and have read about it in the past.  she put me on prescription steroids for the next 10 days.  i had the image of the totally ripped arnold schwarzanegger flash before my eyes when i heard steroids.  and as if she read my thoughts, the doctor said, 'there shouldn't be any major side effects with the medication since it will be a low dose.'  the doctor assured me that i will make a full recovery but it could take any where from a couple of weeks up to 3 months before i feel the rest of my face again.   the left side of my face is affected...it's hard to eat and everything tastes weird!  when i drink water, sometimes it dribbles down my chin.  thank the Lord i'm not drooling!  i can hardly shut my left eye, thus, i was advised to wear a patch over it (day and night) so my eye doesn't dry out like it did last night so when i went to walgreens to pick up my prescription, i bought an eye patch, too. so i will be on a temporary pirate assignment until this all goes away.  lai looked up my pirate name today and said i shall be called Pirate Uma the Staggering Drunk.  


But when i got home, guess who insisted on wearing the patch?

arrrr you rrrrrrrready?