Ding Dong

Welcome to a short (I hope) set of posts about living with Bell's Palsy. Since I have little time this morning I will give an update then in future installments breakdown what has happened to date.

Today is Day 12 with BP. I have much movement in my cheek area and the top half of my eye. The droop is gone on the mouth and people cannot even tell I have BP anymore. The people I know who have had it say I am very lucky and check me out every day. One friend told me I have more movement after almost 2 weeks then he had in 3 MONTHS!!!! Taste is still an issue as most things taste a bit off. And eating requires great concentration as my mouth does not open all the way but I am not sure I have it wide enough until I start to bit down on a sandwich, say, and fell my lips in the way (ouch).

My biggest concern is my eye. I still have zero control over the bottom lid and little control over the top. This was painfully illustrated to me while mowing the lawn this weekend. As I turned into the wind the side discharge of grass blew right into my face and WHAMMO, even with glasses there was grass clippings everywhere. The first reaction is to shut the eyes SO TIGHT but the right one did not work and I freaked as grass and dirt and other crap went right under the glasses and into my eye. Bugger!!!

Speech is still an issue as well. I am heard very clearly but as I talk more the side of my face gets tired and things sound a little slurred in my head. My wife and co-workers and friends say the do not really hear a difference, but I do. Especially since I talk for a living and have a voice that has been asked to speak at several occations. I do two 'recitals', the Eagle Charge and 100 Scouts. Both are fantastic and I have been asked to do them 4 times now and people like it. But I have one coming up in about 3 weeks and I am a bit worried about it. Lots of P's, b's and f's.....

All in all I am very lucky. I have a mild case and am dealing with it quite well. It has taught me a lot about myself and my life and while I look forward to the morning I awake and have full control over my face I now know that this could happen again at the drop of a hat and that I need to make certain precautions to eliminate some possible causes.