It is July and I am in still in Dallas. I dial my insurance company’s nurse hotline on the way home from work and regret my decision within a few minutes —
“Sir, you need to pull over right now and call 911,” the nurse says.
“What?” I ask. (I can’t believe what I’m hearing.)
“You need to pull over your car and call an ambulance,” she repeats. “Based on the information you have given me, my professional medical opinion is that you are having a stroke.”
The numbness has been going on for about a month now.
It starts in my neck – immediately under my right jaw. It then spreads to the right side of my face – lower lip, then upper lip. Then to my cheek – and sometimes to the back of my head.