All the Bells and None of the Whistles

May 06, 2015

All the Bells and None of the Whistles

A half-smile is still better than a lot of
smiles I've seen

Seriously where did the last 4 weeks go? What happened? I honestly feel like I fell off the face of the planet a bit. Maybe that's not always a bad thing though. Sometimes a bit of a break from everything is good for the soul. That's of course aside from the crazy workload I've had at work, a desperate attempt to get ready for Cheyenne Mountain 50k, a pending IEP, countless feet of snow, and what month would be complete without a frantic trip to the ER when you're supposed to be getting on a flight to help deliver your nephew?

Just as I finished loading the car, printing boarding passes and double checking we had everything I was carrying James across the house when I noticed his smile...I always notice his smile...except that this time it was only half a smile. The right half of his mouth wasn't moving, his right eye wasn't moving other than an occasional blink...I desperately tried to hold it together, but facial paralysis that could not be a good thing. He was still running. I watched his arms, still moving both arms, okay it can't be that bad...right? I called the pediatrician panicked as James fell head first into a chair, which may not seem that unusual but it was more clumsy than a typical James fall. Add massive egg to left eye to the growing list of ailments. Needless to say rather than getting on that plane we were sitting in the ER at Children's fingers crossed. James got to experience his first head CT, hopefully an experience we don't need to repeat. Keep in mind for a head CT you need to lie perfectly still...James doesn't lie perfectly still when he sleeps. And low muscle tone be damned...that kid pulled out of the restraints, ripped off the chin strap and wriggled out of the head strap in about 30 seconds. Gotta love Children's though and the doctors who understand 2 year olds have no concept of laying still. Head CT cleared, cleared by nuero, cleared by infectious disease and sent home with a Bells Palsy diagnosis as a result from a recent ear infection. It was definitely better than other options, but now to deal with a kid who could only use half his face.

Post ER hike

After a week we finally noticed some progress with the paralysis diminishing. It was a long hard week. I felt like every time we went out in public we got stares, the pity looks, because now it was screamingly obvious there was something going on. Food and drinks spilled out of his mouth and James reverted back to primarily signing and barely speaking. It was frustrating. And we had no idea how long it would last. But James is a champion, so he figured out how to position is water bottle to keep milk from dribbling out, he figured out how to make new sounds that don't require him to use his lips and he did it all without complaining...or at least not too much.

Aside from the Bells my April training has been going fairly well. I ramped up well for Cheyenne, then did my typical jump-off-a-cliff style taper and just try to hang in there. I was super crazy busy with work and my long runs definitely suffered as a result, but I was pretty happy to have kept my mileage up as much as I was able to. April also brought with it the snow we missed all winter. So it felt like this constant dodging of snow storms. We barely got out for any stroller runs either. I'm really ready for the snow to be done so I can just run on some nice dry trails.

Week March 30 - April 5

Miles Running: 47
Hours Hiking and Running: 8.0