Eclectic: Diane - Walking in the Early Morning Fog

Diane - The Pink House OTC

This morning, I took Boomer for a walk. The fog was so thick, you could hardly see to the end of the block. It felt like walking through a stage set of the first scene in a horror movie. It was eerie and haunting and sadly beautiful.

Which rather put me in a reflective mood...

About starting a new year and not knowing what lies ahead...

Oak tree draped with Spanish Moss
in our neighborhood this a.m.

And for a minute, I thought it was raining. I could hear the rain, but couldn't see it. Even Boomer looked up, expectant of rain. Then I realized it was only the sound of the leaves trembling in the breeze...

Later, Boomer and I turned a corner and there ahead of us, in the alley, sat a cat in the fog. And I thought, oh look, a kitty. But as we neared it, I could tell something was wrong with that cat. Then the cat looked up at us with its pale white face and pointy ears and I was startled to realize it wasn't a cat at all, but a possum. And I thought, sometimes, things aren't what they appear to be. Especially in the fog...

Last week, Bob and I went to see Dr. Doom. He's the ear, nose, throat doctor. This was a follow-up from the video swallow test that Bob had in November. I knew the test results weren't good as I had spoken with the speech pathologist afterwards, but to see this stuff in writing. To see "The Final Report" just sort of brought things home.

I took this pic for the attorney,
and had to tell Bob to please look a bit
sad, as he kept goofing around...

Phrases like: "severe impairment in the pharyngeal phase" and "decreased laryngeal elevation" and "delayed swallow reflex."

Like: "penetration, silent and weak". Or "pharyngeal constriction".

And: "spillage into valleculae", "spillage into pyriform sinuses", "labial spillage".

And this: "There was significant pooling of matter in the valleculae and pyriforms that could be ... ====>>


See the full article Walking in the Early Morning Fog
                               in The Pink House On The Corner