N    92   Bell’s Palsy   

I usually write blogs after I returned from a trip. There are much to write and also easy as I have to relate what I have experienced  only. But as I said in my last blog, for some reasons I did not post the blog about my trip to Gawranji Island. It was not actually that I had not written about it , but I did wrote it on some sleepless nights and only shoved  it somewhere because I felt hurt and resentful just to think about it. After I returned from Gawranji Island , on the 2^nd morning I got Bell Palsy. Some may  know about this disease and some may not.  So I will relate about this disease in this blog.

On the 2^nd morning I returned from Gawranji Island I was stricken by this disease. I did not know something was wrong with me as I did not feel sick. Only when I was drinking coffee and later mohnhinga I felt that I could not take in the food well, but some came out from the corner of my mouth. Then somebody told me that my mouth was not in the right position, but drooping down. Actually the left side of my face was like that, like it was being pulled down , the eye brow, the eye, the mouth and even the nose. I had seen some people who had this disease ,but had not dreamt I would become a victim of this disease.

So as usual , when something is wrong with your body you have to find the cure. On the first day I saw a doctor and a specialist who told me I had Bell’s Palsy , that it could be cured and gave me some medicines.

The next day I was also taken to YGH, but by the urging of my eldest daughter who happened to be in Bangkok we flew to Bangkok and to Praram 9 Hospital where I was hospitalized immediately. Every examination that need to be done was done on me including the MRI. I was given intravenous medicine without a break, and nurses came and gave me medicine regularly. If there was a special medicine to take like steroid (Prednisalone ) the doctor informed me beforehand. Bell’s Palsy cannot be cured in a few days.. So after 2 nights and 1 day I was discharged from hospital with a follow up to be done after 3 days.

So when I went for the checkup on  the appointed day the doctor explained to me about my condition, that I would have to do exercises when I got home , The exercises I had to do were shown to me by a physiotherapist.

So when I got home I took treatment from 2 physiotherapists who guided me to do facial exercises and also with the stimulating machine.

Gradually my face became nearly normal again, but cannot say I fully recovered. The signs of Bell’s Palsy still remain on my face and I can feel the strain in my mouth and cheek and also the eye which seems to get narrower than it used to be .

How much trouble had this disease caused me; time ,money, and feelings of pain,distress, and resentfulness. There is a saying in Myanmar ; A thwar ma taw ta hlan which means a single step can be critical. Did my journey to Gawranji Island brought this unfortunate fate to me.Myanmar people think that exposing the face to wind cause this disease, and that was exactly what I had done. But western medicine does not say like that.This is how they define the meaning of Bell’s Palsy…..

Bell’s Palsy is a condition in which the muscles on one side of the face become weak or paralyzed. It affects only one side of the face at a time, causing it to droop or become stiff on that side.

Its caused by some kind of trauma to the 7^th cranial nerve. This is also called facial nerve. Bell’s Palsy can happen to anyone*. But it seems to occur more often in people who have Diabetes or are recovering from viral infections.Most  of the times symtoms are only temporily

*B P can happen to anyone old or young, male or female. The famous actress  Angelina Jolie also suffered from this disease. She said that she was cured by means of acupuncture.

N  91   Gawranji Island   (   part 2   )

The motor cycle carriers suggested we should take a boat to cruise around and go to a place called Crocodile Head . So we got on our motor cycle and went to a fishing village where we can hire a boat. Some got a fishing trawler for us and we got on it to go and see the sea. We were taken to Croccodile head which really lives up to its name but we didn’t get down onto the sandy beach. We just cruise around the turquoise green water taking in the beautiful scenery. We also saw palm leaves huts among palm trees along the shore. 

So this is the lives  of people living near the sea and making their livelihood from the sea, I thought. Quite different from our highlander people ‘s lives. But everywhere the lives of the grassroot people are not easy. As our people struggle with land , these people have  to struggle with the sea which make their lives more dangerous than ours.I also thought about the lives of American farmers which I often see on TV, who do all their farmwork by machine, and work on vast lands. When will our country be developed and lives of people become easier? Its unthinkable until now….

As we were going back that day we paid for the boat and started for town  in our cars with the motorists trailing behind. We were going to have lunch at a motorist house.It was about 1 when we really sat down for lunch. How astonished we were when we saw the table laid for us.It was so full that some dishes had to be laid aside. We tasted all kinds of seafood which can be bought in Nga Yoke Kaung. I remembered I ate some goung which I hadn’t eaten before but the kamar ( mother of pearl ) was more delicious. Though we had paid for the food we noticed that they had done the best to cook for us and with much sincerity, that we thank them from the bottom of our hearts.

Our return journey was delayed at one place where repairing of the road was being done . They were covering the road with stones and was not still pressed by a bulldozer. So when a car tried to go up the ascending road the wheels slipped and cannot go up. Only after trying many times  and a delay of nearly one hour did we succeed in crossing that part.

  Nga Yoke Kaung is still much in need of good roads. And it will need time to become a developed resort. At present it is lacking all kinds of facilities and infrastructures. But with money and energy it can become a resort town like Ngwe Saung or Ngapali…..

N 90       The Gawranji Island

It is going to be 2 years this coming January that I had travelled to the Gawranji Island. I had written a travelogue about it but for some reasons I did not  post  it . But now I want to write about something and  as nothing will come to my mind that I come to think about posting it on my blogpost. I looked for the blog I had written but could not find it anywhere . Maybe I had discarded it as rubbish. So I decided to write it again all over.

It was in January 2016. We saw some posts about Gawranji Island in facebook and as it can be reached by car via Pathein we called some friends ( Ko Aung and Aye Aye Thi as usual ) and decided to go and visit there. So our 2 cars started for Pathein early in the morning but it took more than an hour to get out of the city.

After passing some delta towns and Pathein we reached Nga Yoke Kaung township  where Gawranji Island is. After that the smooth and wide road becomes narrower with rough surface and more ups and downs . The journey from Yangon  to  Nga Yoke Kaung is 200 miles and with the not so good road it took us nearly the whole day and we reached Nga Yoke Kaung at about  5pm. What  people said that it took 8 hours is really true.

 Nga Yoke Kaung is a small unattractive town. We lodged at a guesthouse which they said  is the only one in town. As it was still  daylight  we were taken by some folks to see the beach and sunset which is not far away. We saw palm groves lining the shore but a little distant from the water edge. The sand is not white , so it is not very attractive.

Electricity is available only till 10 pm there. As I can’t sleep without light we paid the guest house owner for the petrol he had to use to run the generator the whole night.

The next morning we were taken to the main attraction places by motor cycle carriers.Each had to ride at the back of the motorist holding tight to him.Thanks that I had brought a pair of pants and sneakers with me. A short ride took us to the water edge where all people and motor cycles had to go onto a boat which would take us to the place where we would continue by motor cycles.

The road over which the motor cycles were driven was rough and narrow as it goes over rice fields and rough terrains. Sometimes passed over sand when the motorist told me not to put my feet down while he steered the vehicle skillfully.

The place we were taken is  a beautiful place, which looks like an island with a wide sandy beach. But  the sand here also is  not white. From the sandy beach,  in the inner part of the island is a rocky island on which stood a gold gilded pagoda. Somebody said we have to climb over 300 steps to get to the top and that we can get a good view  around from there. I cannot climb that high and some were not so energetic that we decided not to go up.

We saw some photographers and some models doing photo shooting with a group of local children  using an old boat as a background. It seemed that they would not finish quickly , so we took some advantage with them. Asking their permission we all took some pictures with the children and the old boat, and so we got some nice photos to take home.

to be continued…..