I"m back........In oregon teaching the Oddessy is required freshman high school subject matter....I always primed the story by first introducing greek/roman mythology. Why Prometheus is in Rockerfeller Square NYC, why Sisyphus rolled the rock up the hill, Titan rockets, nike and why mercury is in thermometers. Why bees are the only bug that dies when it bites.
But the one punishment I always feared as a adult was that of Tantalus, a thief, whose punishment was to have never ending thirst, even though, chained, could not lower his lips to the water at chin level. I imagine the horror of being a bed ridden senior and not have access to water....... Well my thirst is 25 hours a day, I have no saliva.
The anesthetist, in out patient surgery could not work around my mouth that no longer opens round and wide due to left muscle in face removed. If at the hosptial OR, and I was in trouble, he could have others and better equipment to revive me. Dr said, okay local numbing....when they laid my head back into the hole on the surgery table....I knew that it was not going to happen, and told the Dr so...my mouth is Sahara desert dry just shopping for 10 mins in a grocery store...let alone an hour with someone messing with my eye while I am awake. So postponed the surgery, will be in OR, I will be under, but angry dr said it would be thru my nose.....well...my nose is plugged with lymp node fluids leaving my head....so now head surgeon has to weigh in with what to do with my disfigured head....Orpheus that I may be......Styx and poems may hurt my bones, but words will always soothe me