So the MRI today shows there is something on my brain that is not supposed to be there. The doctor thinks it is not a tumor. That would be good news. The thing is on the cortex (the outer layer), and it is in the motor region, which controls the movement of the limbs. Since it is on the right hemisphere, my left arm and leg are the ones that are acting funny. Lazy. Tingly. I have noticed myself stuttering, using the wrong word sometimes (broccoli instead of ravioli), slurring words, and 'mix-mashing' syllables ... or just not remembering the word I need. I counted this up to getting older and having two small children. The doctor says that the thing on my brain is close to the speech center, and that I have some other little thingies on the other hemisphere that are right in the middle of the speech center. So now I have an excuse for everything. I have an excuse for why I go to the store, find and verify the correct item that my wife sent me for, and still come back with the wrong thing. I have an excuse. My wife may wish she could get such an excuse.

If you are reading this blog you are probably a friend to whom I sent the URL by way of explaining what is going on with me. I don't want you to freak out. This whole thing could well turn out to be something simple and easy to treat. Maybe Lyme disease. Whatever. I don't know. I just thought that I would start this blog so that I could put down my impressions as I went along. I am hoping the story will be about some worry, followed by a big relief.

My wife and son just came back from a neighbor's house. They were dropping off gingerbread cookies. The neighbor's grown son was killed in an auto accident a couple of weeks ago. We usually see our neighbor and talk to her every week. But recently we wondered why she seemed to be avoiding us.

Which just goes to show you. As long as you are alive and have someone to complain to, you ain't bad off. I am alive and I am complaining about a mystery spot on my brain, and lazy limbs. I know how lucky I am. You are lucky too.

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A note to other readers: You may not have been invited but you are still welcome here. I made it public so that anyone could read it. Total strangers are welcome. Invited friends are welcome. But of those invited friends, I ask you to ask me before you out me as the blog author, or share the blog with other people who already know me.