Uncomfortably Numb (Again)

By John I. Blair

Symptoms
Of this crumby ailment
Hypoparathyroidism
(Trophy of the surgery
That saved my life
One Halloween)
Include recurring numbness
Of fingers, lips and nose
And confusion of the brain.

As a kid
When I did stupid things,
Dad would call me
“Numbskull.”
I think, I hope,
He never meant it literally.
Yet here I am, truly numb
In skull and other parts.

I was told, and once believed,
This numbness soon would pass,
And learned every day
How sweet it really is
To feel the roughness
Of my cats’ tongues,
A kettle’s heat,
A hug, a kiss.

Years later, reconciled a bit
To knowing this will be
A part of life for me
So long as I am here,
I still appreciate that lesson.

©2008, 2016 John I. Blair, 10/4/2016

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Author's Note:
This has appeared before in Pencil Stubs, but is sadly once more appropriate and updated three times now. This very serious ailment has been constant for me since surgery nine years ago brought it on. And just two weeks ago it hospitalized me for 10 days. This time I was told it could have killed me if not caught in time. One of those diseases that can be made “better” but from which you never get well. John