DENVER -- It started a couple of weeks ago when she felt a strange sensation on her tongue. Then Baylor coach Kim Mulkey noticed that her left eyelid was drooping, ever so slightly.
A trip to the doctor confirmed the worst: Mulkey had Bell's palsy.
"Listen, the alternatives are worse. Bell's palsy is fixable," Mulkey said Saturday at the women's Final Four. "Bell's palsy with time will get better. This is just a ? I guess you call it a little bump in the road. I can assure you the spit that will fly out of my face in a timeout won't faze them. ... They'll understand what I'm saying. It's really nothing. It hasn't affected them.
"Don't ask me to smile. And I think the distortion of the face is mild compared to cases I have seen before. The biggest problem I'm having is my eyes. The light bothers me. The tears and the dryness and itchiness, they say, is all a part of it. And my ears. I feel like one ear is blown out and I can't tell if the other one is hearing or if it's just off balance."
She clearly doesn't feel sorry for herself.
"As far as the distortion or whatever you want to call it of the face, hell, I'm just another ugly coach," she said. "It is what it is. And I'm not vain, so it doesn't matter."
Bell's palsy is a form of facial paralysis, which is, in most cases, temporary. According to the Mayo Clinic website, Bell's palsy occurs when the nerves of your facial muscles become inflamed, and may occur as a result of a viral infection. An average of 30,000 to 40,000 people a year are affected by the disease. Besides the temporary facial paralysis, other symptoms include jaw pain, sensitivity to sound, impaired taste, headaches and tear or saliva changes.
And while during the press conference, Mulkey often covered her eyes with her hand as she looked out to see the questioner, the bright lights on the court aren't what's truly bothering her.
"The only thing that's bothered me on the court was the (pep) band when I was on that end. My ears feel like they're about to explode. I'm sure some referees feel that way when I get in their ear," she said to a chorus of laughter.
"It hasn't really affected me. It aggravates me. It aggravates me, but there are worse things in life. You just deal with it. A kidney stone would hurt a lot worse than this. Having a baby didn't hurt near as bad as a kidney stone. You deal with it.
"Every male in here needs to have a kidney stone. It's the closest thing to child birth for y'all, so y'all need a kidney stone."
No, thank you, Kim. No thank you.
celsberry@ctpost.com
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