life is the weirdest thing imaginable…

after having one of the best weeks of my life, riding my motorcycle through the canyons of the california coast, hanging with great friends, and working on amazing projects, i came home on thursday and started to notice odd sensations in my face. it started with a numbness on my tongue, then lead to weird irritation im my right eye, till two days after the first symptoms appeared, i woke to find the whole right side of my face paralyzed. needless to say, this launched quite a bit of concern, and i dashed off to Hennepin County ER. After a battery of tests to rule out the really scary stuff (like stroke), 3 nurses and 3 doctors all agreed: Bell’s Palsey.

Bell’s Palsey is generally a temporary paralysis of one side of the face, caused by an inflammation of the Cranial Nerve VII. There are tons of things that can cause Bell’s, but often times, it just…happens. the good news is, it most cases it heals itself in 2-3 weeks, and literally every part of me is fit as a fiddle, except for one half of my face.

i am taking a steroid to help the healing along, and i have to do lots to make sure my right eye stays lubricated, as it is tough to fully blink an there is risk of damage due to dryness. it makes eating, drinking, and applying chapstick weird…if not down right hilarious. Rapping is pretty tough to do, without sounding like marble mouthed Ma$e, but i DO get to have a short run, working an eyepatch into my wardrobe.

so, there is an upside to everything!

all in all, it is most likely going to be a weird couple of weeks for me, but nothing serious or long term. i am good, everything about me is normal, and healthy, and i need no assistance on this, but i like telling the story en masse so i don’t get worn out telling it over and over again.

most importantly, despite fires, flooding, and now facial paralysis, i STILL think 2013 is the best year of my life so far … and most certainly the very weirdest.

staying weird since ‘81,

*andy

ps. funny enough, almost 9 years ago to the week, i was in the EXACT same examining room at HCMC for a skull fracture i got on the warped tour … which is also a fun story.

pps. i don’t need any help, but i will be accepting all gifts of dashing eye patches, as this CVS model isn’t quit up to my bespoke standards.

ppps. not trying to make a smirk there…that is the best nonweird full mouth smile i can muster right now.