Dealing with Bell's

 Wow - it's been years since my last post! Now I'm living in a much colder place (windchill of -40 these days).

And the topic is not anything cultural, but rather an update on my health, as I'm still recovering from the fatigue and Bell's Palsy which hit me soon after my first C. vaccine about 7 months ago. The fatigue is mostly done with - this past week I was able to jog on the treadmill for 5 minutes at a time which I couldn't even imagine doing a few months ago, so that's definitely encouraging!! As far as my face, there are many possible symptoms of Bell's Palsy (see https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/bells-palsy), and I got most of them:

--"Disordered movement of the muscles that control facial expressions, such as smiling, squinting, blinking, or closing the eyelid" YES. This has improved some over the months to the point that my face pretty much looks "normal" except if I smile a lot or laugh. I cannot close just my left eye, and blinking doesn't work well so bright light/sunshine as well as wind are hard to deal with, and I use a lot of heavy-duty eyedrops.

--"Loss of feeling in the face" YES. This was pretty much the whole left side of my face; now it is a lot better.

-- "Headache" not really. But I did have a horrible piercing pain behind my left ear for several weeks - was on painkillers a lot to start with and couldn't bear to wear earplugs or earphones. I was so glad when the pain became less frequent and then stopped altogether. I can still find a place behind my ear that is painful when I push it, but that's all.

--"Tearing" - I don't think so, but when you can't close your eye naturally, you lose track of what it can and can't do!

--"Drooling" - fortunately not, at least not day-to-day. It is more difficult to keep the one side of my mouth closed when I sleep so I have to work at it. And I do often "drool" when I drink or eat things like soup, so I always have a napkin or tissue handy. And talking about eating...

--"Loss of the sense of taste on the front two-thirds of the tongue" - DEFINITELY! This means that nothing tastes like it used to; in fact, most food just tastes bad and leaves my tongue with a cloying, almost hurting, feeling. This has been great for losing weight, but I have to work at getting proper nutrition. While simple starches are something I now usually avoid because of how they make my tongue feel, fresh vegetables also don't agree with my tongue plus the pieces get caught on the side of my mouth that doesn't work well (I usually chew only on one side). So much for the salads that I used to love! So I eat a lot of cooked vegetables and meat. I avoid acidic foods (tomato-based and citrus) as well as strong spices as they seem to "sting" my tongue; and I also avoid very cold drinks (goodbye iced coffee!!) as well as very hot food/drinks (it's harder to avoid burning my tongue when I can't sense the temperature well). All this to say that I can still eat everything, but it probably won't be enjoyable and sometimes I try to use my memory of how good it used to taste....

--"Hypersensitivity to sound in the affected ear" - hard to evaluate, as I've always been quite sensitive to sound, but I would say yes, this increased. Mix that with the inability to wear earplugs at night for a few weeks plus dealing with pain, and yes, I had some miserable weeks.

--"Inability to close the eye on the affected side of the face" YES. I've mentioned the eyedrops and the difficulty with bright light and wind. It seems like the eye is either uncomfortable (time for more eyedrops) or fuzzy (from eyedrops or salve). Ah the salve - every night I put salve in my eye and tape it shut to prevent permanent damage. Arrr matey! 

Treatment? There doesn't seem to be any treatment for Bell's (other than the initial Prednisone, which I did take, and daily stimulation of the affected side of the face, which I do), so the symptoms are treated to prevent long-term damage. Will I get totally better? I had hoped to be better before the end of 2 months, then 6 months.... I'm still hopeful, but there is also a chance I may never get my taste back or be able to laugh "normally" again. While I am not against the vaccine in general, at least for the foreseeable future I will not be getting the 2nd (or subsequent) vaccine(s), which might limit international travel (though a doctor's letter gets me into places here). While the lack of quick resolution to this condition has been disappointing, I only need to think of my friends around the world who are in much worse situations to realize how "blessed" I really am. God is still good. All the time!

Watching an Artisan at Work

Really bad traffic in Douala!

Recently we were away from the village for a couple weeks.  First we headed to Douala to pick up our tutor (yay!) - we were grateful her plane was late, because the backed-up traffic made us late picking her up!  Then we headed to Bamenda for the home-school group sessions - arriving a day early meant we had a "picnic" for Sunday lunch - sandwiches and snacks; our tutor was a good sport, enjoying the experience with us.

Two weeks of home-school group sessions included a special unit on governments, a guest music teacher, field hockey,


fitness (including the mile run),
and basic quilting for art.




One afternoon, a group of us went to observe a local brass artisan at work.  It's incredible what can be done with very few resources!

This is the kiln that he uses.  He used to use hand-bellows to fan the fire, but now has an electric one that works well... when the power is on :).  He was ready to bring two of his creations out of the fire when we arrived.  The first step was to disassemble the front of the kiln!  The mud bricks get built up every time he fires a project - lots of work....






Finally we could see a bigger "lump" right in the coals, and this was one of his creations... well-covered in clay, of course.  He removed the lump and carefully flipped it upside down, then left it alone while he explained the process.


 He uses old brass taps (faucets) for a lot of his brass, putting as much as he thinks he will need into one end of this lump of clay.  On the other end, he has formed his creation out of WAX, covered it tightly in a mixture of clay, crushed rock (certain type), and dung, and then put it at the other end of the lump of clay with a small tunnel leading from the wax creation to the brass.



When the lump has been in the fire long enough, the wax has melted and the special mixture has hardened around the empty form where the wax used to be.  The brass has also melted.  So when the artisan careful turns the lump over, the brass runs into the empty place (I didn't catch where the wax ends up going) and the brass hardens as it cools, turning into a brass object, a replica of the wax creation.  Neat!  And when it has cooled enough, the artisan breaks open the clay lump to reveal his art.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of creations that don't end up coming out well, so he has to redo (reusing the brass); all of this needs to be paid for in his wares that DO come out well.  Sorry I don't have any picture of his actual products - they ARE nice though :).

Amazing what can be created from a small lump of wax, some clay, some ground-up rock, and some charcoal...!!  God has given us a lot of creativity, and it's really neat to see some of it displayed like this.

What Does "An Occasion" Look Like?

In the village, "an occasion" can happen for a variety of reasons - to celebrate a birth, a specific group's get-together, etc.  But often it is for the purpose of raising funds.  Here are some pictures from an occasion earlier this year....

The occasion was to raise funds to finish the roof on the new community hall.  We arrived more than 2 hours after the invitation starting time, and we were among the first there.



Right next to us, a large truck had become stuck the night before (bad roads even in June, before "serious rains" had started).  Before the occasion got well under way, young men had come and dug/pushed the truck out.

We took a seat in the first area we came to, just to wait; this area had a "natural" cover of posts and palm fronds - left over from a "die" (funeral) in previous days.  We soon learned that this area was designated seating for the village council, so we moved to the other side, where the "invited guests" were supposed to sit.





Meanwhile, the village "caller" walked by, ringing his bell and reminding people that the occasion was starting and that everyone should now come.



The sound man / D.J. had the music cranked up high, and soon someone came to test the microphone.



We knew things were REALLY starting when a parade of chiefs from neighboring villages came down the road and were seated in the VIP section.


By this time, K and L's friends had arrived, so our kids happily joined them across the street in a tree :).


 And the program started - a prayer by a local pastor, immediately followed by the throwing of kola nuts by the village elders to determine if the ancestors were in favor of the occasion - good old syncretism, blatantly displayed.  We excused ourselves early from the occasion as M had to travel, but we were sure to leave our donation :).

Other Family Fun...

Besides time at the beach, there were other memory-making times for our family.  More "necessary" than fun most of the time, traveling can be enjoyable in the right company, especially if we stop for ice cream at LGM...!





And there are always interesting sights to see along the road - including motorbikes sticking out of small taxis....




The school room holds both good and bad memories, but seeing so many of the good books K and L are reading brought smiles to C and J's faces :).

Working on jigsaw puzzles together is a good memory, especially linked to listening to sermons on Sunday evenings.





C and J didn't stay locked in their memories though - they used their time to expand their knowledge of sewing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!





 We're thankful for many pictures and mental images of our time together.  And we look forward to making many more memories during times together in years to come!!

Beach Family Fun!

A few months ago, all 6 of us had a great time at the beach - remembering old times together at the beach, and making new memories :).

Limbe...

Kribi...

Black (volcanic) sand... 

or brown sand?