I just got back from three clinics and an emergency room. After being given the wrong directions twice, and sent to the wrong doctor once, I finally have a diagnosis.

The case is that there is inflammation of a nerve (I would´ve asked which one, but it wouldn´t have meant anything to me in Spanish) behind my ear that controls the musculature of the left side of my face.

Ojo! My faculty director found a DL neurologist for me to see. Apparently she´s a professor from Hawaii and doesn´t practice but would be willing to see me. She just got off the phone with her and the M.D. confirmed that it sounds like Bell´s Palsy: http://www.bellspalsy.ws/ . It´s relieving to know what it´s called. I´ll be reading that site soon after I post.

My house mother calls it the Enfermedad de los Taxistas. That is to say, the illness of the taxi driver. It can arise from excessive intake of cold air into the ear. And, can be connected to a cold or fever (which I had the week before this started).

I remember last Monday night our house mother had just given us the extension cord we needed in order to plug in the air conditioning unit. It was Elliot´s new toy, and because he set it at such a low temperature and the fan at such a high speed, I woke up sick. I complained and we cut it back some. The cold went away but this inflammation had just begun, I guess.

So I´ve been prescribed a vitamin b-complex, and an anti-inflammatory. So I can stop taking the allergy medicine now that we all know that wasn´t the situation.

Navigating the medical system here, solo, has been frustrating as hell. Shit´s all cryptic and backwards. Makes a better story than a post.

I think tonight I´ll take some video of what this has done to my face and I´ll upload it for documentation purposes. Proud to say there isn´t too much to report as to what it did to my mood.

Might go dancing tonight. Less bodyguarding, more fun–even if I am the only male accompaniment to the female ensemble that is the GMU Center for Global Education Summer Study Abroad in Seville.

If all of this isn´t good news enough, I fucking ROCKED my oral exam today. Jennifer and I made a great team (she´ Puertorican). Entrabamos a la sala a tomar el examan y no se que no se cuanto pero salimos con buenas notas!

Oh, and I just thought I´d mention that Better than Medicine was published in the Spring 2005 issue of Apathy. Hopefully it will be available at http://www.gmu.org/org/apathy soon. Wait, did I already mention this? Whatever.