it's another sunshiny day!

it's another beautiful day in the bay area!  i love days like this when you don't need to wear a sweater during the day.  we always take advantage of rare days like this and celebrate with a bbq.  we grilled some liempo, hotdogs, and asparagus in the backyard for dinner.  michelle couldn't wait and has been asking, 'when are we going to start our bbq???' this girl loves to bbq.  =)

anyway, it's day 4 of bell's palsy.  i don't think it's gotten worse from yesterday.  everything seems the same...i'll take that over getting worse.  i feel tired though.  i took another nap today...maybe because i just want to keep my eyes closed.  


i'm feeling the love from family and friends who are aware of my condition and continue to thank them and the Lord for being so good to me.  =D  i am blessed and i know it!

bell's palsy day 3

day 3.  the left side of my face is drooping more and i think my taste buds are really out of whack today.  i have not felt the hyper-sensitive hearing yet...

i felt miserable last night and broke down and cried like a baby.  oh well!  there will be days like such but i hope that doesn't happen too often.  claire called while i was in the middle of tears...i think she felt sorry for me that she and her husband, jacob came over last night to check up on me.  jacob's a physical therapist and so i asked him for tips to strengthen my facial muscles.

i think i've found a sweet spot to put the tissue and patch to keep my eye closed.  my main gripe today is the taste bud thing.  everything, and i mean everything, tastes terrible!  but i still gotta eat because i need to take meds. *sigh* oh well!

i spoke with chel earlier today.  it was good to hear her voice.  she said she's been busy in the philippines but over all it's been a great trip.  they're going to burma and thailand next week.

the weather is gorgeous!  michelle took this rare opportunity to play with the water sprinkler in the backyard.  while she played, i planted some carrots, beets, cucumber and green beans.  i really hope they grow.  i have sage, thyme, rosemary and green onions that are thriving right now.  my jalapeno doesn't seem to like the weather here though. it bears fruit, but really tiny fruit and the leave always dry up and fall off.  i'm going to buy strawberry plants next week and maybe another apple tree since i read that you always have to plant two trees so they can cross pollinate...i did not know that.  i want to get some blueberry shrubs too because i just love blueberries.  maybe we'll do that next week too.

i'm really trying my best to keep my mind off of this condition and go about my day.  it's hard but you just gotta keep going.  i am so blessed to have my family and a wonderful set of friends who are always there for me for support.  God is great!  =D

bell's palsy: day 2

i took a 2.5 hour nap yesterday after i got home.  i have been wearing my eye patch consistently...taking a break from it only when my daughter insists on wearing the patch herself. 

taken using my phone's front facing camera so this is a mirror image.
i know it doesn't look too bad but if i smile any bigger, it becomes obvious
how lopsided my face is. 

the thing that bothers me the most is the eye not being able to blink or shut completely.  it is so uncomfortable.  i woke up this morning and my eye isn't as red as it was yesterday.  going to bed with the patch really helped.  my eye gets more watery so much more today than yesterday.  driving is difficult because i can't wear my patch when i'm driving and yet i can't blink my left eye so it starts to blur and get watery.  oh well!  i'm driving more cautiously and will probably not drive beginning tomorrow and hope the eye things improves by monday.  i don't want to take BART to work!

my taste buds are out of whack...everything tastes terrible!

you will hear me complain a lot as i document this journey but please don't forget that i am extremely thankful that i didn't have  a stroke or something worse than bell's palsy. 

it's so weird to have this condition after i learned about it several months ago.  i spoke with someone from our church who had bell's palsy last year.  i didn't even know she had it!  she said it gets better after a month...a little longer than i had hoped but what can we do?  there are some things in life we can't control and this is one of them for me. 

i try not to take it too seriously.  last night, lai was making fun of me and the funny way i say letter "P".  she asked me, 'what's the name of kate middleton's sister again?'  imagine popeye the sailor man's lips when he speaks...yup, that's what i look like. 

i'm popeye the sailor man!

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?

in case of an earthquake...

we live in northern california, just a couple of miles east of the san andreas fault - there is a highway that runs along the fault and it's kinda freaky knowing that you're driving just inches away from one of the most active faults in the world.  until the massive earthquake and tsunami in japan last year, i haven't really given earthquakes much thought.  if you've always lived in the pacific ring of fire as i have, earthquakes become part of normal life.  BUT that earthquake worried me enough that i started taking action.  we have an emergency container in each bedroom + the garage at home filled with emergency food, water, medicines, bandages, etc.  just a couple of days ago, we finally (after many years of me just thinking about it) got an earthquake shut off valve for the natural gas line that runs to our house. 

the 1906 earthquake and the loma prieta earthquake in 1989 did a lot of structural damage to buildings in the bay area but the most damage came from fires that sparked from leaking natural gas lines that run into the buildings.  now, i feel a little bit more prepared if an earthquake strikes.  

The Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906 

Loma Prieta Earthquake of 1989

next on our to do list, earthquake/emergency drill at home.

 

lent

i thought about giving something up for lent....and then i wasn't able to do it (fail!). but the Lord reminded me that He already paid the price to save me from my sins.  what he actually asks from me is not to give up something...because that would mean i am still holding on to other things.  he wants me to give my life to him, to follow him and to  be obedient to him.  he doesn't want me to just believe that he is the son of God because believing simply isn't enough.  he wants us to follow him, to be his disciple.  to be a follower of christ is to live life that is dedicated to God, to live a Christ-centered life.  


i know it sounds easier said than done, but the thing is, he never asked us to be perfect. i think a misconception people have about christians is we think we are holier than thou...i think there are people in general, who think they are 'better' than other people.  doesn't matter if you're a christian or whatever belief you have.  but that is not the way God wants us to think about ourselves, or other people.  God tells us to love others, as we love ourselves.  so if i think highly of myself, then i should think highly of others too.  if you love yourself (and you should!), then you should give the same kind of love to others despite of who they are.  god loved me despite of who i am, despite of my imperfections.  


again, Christ doesn't ask us to be perfect.  i can't count the number of times i've failed and felt like i disappointed the Lord because of my stubbornness and lack of faith.  but despite all of my shortcomings, he does not fall short.  his love for me is the same kind of love when i am following him...it's also the same love when i sometimes go astray.  his love is constant.  his love is consistent.  his love does not depend on his mood or my mood.  can you imagine if God was moody and only loved us when he is not pms-ing?  hahaha!  Thank goodness, God is not like that!  


so this lent, instead of giving something up...what i ought to have done is surrender my life to him...and not just at lent, but everyday of my life should be surrendered and dedicated to him.  sometimes i forget that i am here to be the salt and light of the earth, and that i am here to live my life for God.  holy week is a great time to reflect on how our relationship with the Lord stands.  is my relationship with Him where i want it to be at this point in my spiritual life?  the answer, unfortunately, is no.  but God is great!  it is never to late to either start a personal relationship with him or to rekindle that relationship you had with him.  i have changed over the many years and my faith has seen peaks and valleys.  but the Lord has met me at whatever stage i was.  when i was at my lowest moment, He was there.  when i was at my highest, He was there.  all i had to do was to call unto Him.  he met me whenever i needed him.  i continue to be amazed by his love for me.


Lord, thank you for the sacrifice you made on the cross 2,000 years ago.  remind me everyday of your love for me.  you are wonderful.  you are amazing.  i humble myself before you and ask for your forgiveness for ALL of my sins.  you are the Lord and Savior of my life.  teach me your ways that i may continue to follow you.  thank you for your love.  amen.

Florence

so after Venice, we took the train again for a 2.5 hour ride to Florence.


when we were still in the planning stages of our trip, michelle was telling me she wants to see the leaning tower of pizza.  yes, she said pizza.  and no matter how many times i corrected her, she still insists on calling it pizza.  anyway, i had to turn her down because i've been to the leaning tower of pisa and there's not much else to see.  we'll visit pisa another time.  since this is my 3rd trip to italy, i had to squeeze in a city that i have not been before, and i picked florence.  


when we got to florence, we checked in to our hotel...which was in a very ideal location (walking distance from the duomo) but it was just an odd hotel.  it wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either...so, i will not mention the name.  =D

after we checked in, we walked to the duomo and all over florence to take pictures.  with kids in tow, we knew we were not going to be able to visit the museums so we decided to just visit the Accademia the following day.  this was the only musuem we would visit this trip.  


my feet were already killing me by the time we got to florence.  we walked and walked and walked hanggang sa mag mura na ang kalyo ko sa paa!  it was worth it though.  


florence is known for it's leather goods.  most of the italian designers get their leather from florence.  paul bought a leather jacket from peruzzi and looked really good and the price was pretty good, too. 


another bit of trivia we learned is that the author of the original pinnocchio, carlo collodi, is from florence.  michelle got a pinnocchio marionette as her souvenir for this city.  


the highlight for me was seeing the statue of David by Michaelangelo and seeing it for free!  it was international women's day when we were at the accademia and women and children 5 and under got in for free.  paul paid 6 euro to get it.  pretty sweet deal!  i remember reading about this statue when i was about 9 years old and to see it in person was a real treat.  it is the most beautiful piece of sculpture i have ever seen.  the first thing i said when i saw the statue was, 'wow! it's so beautiful!  God gave michaelangelo such an amazing talent!  amazing!