Includes bibliographical references (pages 337-350).
Contents:
Twins -- Opening night -- Bed rest -- The itch -- Bell's palsy -- Sir Charles Bell and the Greeks -- The NICU -- A brief digression on my Catholic God -- The NICU, continued -- Home -- Smile! -- Actors and mothers -- The Duchenne -- Still face and the Tony Awards -- The Mona Lisa and illness as metaphor -- Three children under the age of five and three kinds of vomit -- All the crying Mashas and the concept of a good side -- Show me what you've got -- The observer and the observed -- Celiac disease, or I remember bagels -- Childhood illness and the symmetry of siblings -- Can you have postpartum depression two years after having babies? -- Refuge -- I can only imagine -- Lizard eye, or kill the ingenue -- Hermione, the frozen statue -- The neurosurgeon who liked Irishwomen -- The good doctor and gratitude -- Ding-dong, ding-dong, or grow accustomed to your face -- Mirror neurons and narcissus -- The fortune cookie -- A woman slowly gets better.
Summary:
"Sarah Ruhl has just survived a high- risk pregnancy when she discovers the left side of her face is paralyzed. She is assured that 95 percent of Bell's palsy patients experience a full recovery. But Sarah is in the unlucky 5 percent. So Ruhl begins a decade-long search for a cure while grappling with the reality of her new face. In a series of meditations, Ruhl chronicles her journey. She explores the struggle of a body yearning to match its inner landscape, the pain postpartum depression, being a playwright and working mom to three small children, and the desire for a resilient spiritual life in the face of illness"-- Back cover.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.