A couple of weeks ago I was in a mall and I noticed a man coming towards us in a 'hemi' wheelchair propelling with the left foot only while holding a phone in the left hand. The right hand was in his lap and the the right foot was on the foot rest. (Typical of right hemiplegia and left CVA). As he came toward me I was interested in seeing if he acknowledged me with the left side of face and how I would react. His smile was definitely left sided but more interesting was my reaction. Even though I was trying to connect to his left side with my left side, mid stream I switched to my usual and tried to connect with his right side. I realized it and had to try and re-establish the left side contact which took a good deal of mental effort and a second or two. It felt like the habit of seeing the 'persona' in the right side of someone's face took over and I had to verify what I was seeing on the left. However the right side of his face was very stroke impaired. So I was left hanging in no man's land for short period of time and I assume the man in the wheelchair got a mix message from me.
A side issue which seems to be happening as I am trying to work with my left tongue (which still is remarkably undefined in movement) is that it almost feels like I am moving the bones of my face mainly on the left but some on the right. Areas in which I seem to expect no movement are being pulled very forcibly. Again even though the movements are very small the amount of force seems to be quite large and the areas activated are often quite distant from the focus of the 'left tongue'
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