Day 2 with Bell’s Palsy is done. I have lost more feeling and muscle control on the left side of my face today. My web research says the worst usually happens with the first 48 hours of being affected. Only a few hours left in that window! Because of the loss of feeling and control I experienced today it’s really hard to drink without using a straw, I can’t spit and I still can’t close my left eye.
I stopped at Wal-Mart this morning and swapped the empty eye patch box for one that actually has an eye patch in it. I wore it tonight for dinner, TV time with the wife, etc.. Now my wife has been kind enough to gauze and tape the eye for me before bed. I don’t know I could keep the patch on all night and not go nuts.
Tomorrow I’m taking the day off, sort of. Because I’m on call I’ll still receive calls that go to the Blackberry because the other guys are all on the phones or off working on a problem. I’m just hoping the offshore contractors don’t wake me up every hour between the time I lay down. I want to use tomorrow to do what I didn’t do yesterday or today, relax.
I didn’t wear the eye patch at work because I was embarrassed. I wish I had because I rubbed some of the skin around my eye raw from rubbing at the irritation and trying to push the lids together.
I couldn’t even eat the damn sandwich my wife made me for lunch because I couldn’t get the left side of my mouth open wide enough. I haven’t broken down and cried about this. Not sure if I will or not. Got a lot of stuff bottled up and don’t want to let it all come streaming out.
My mother came by today and dropped off a gift bag for my wife, her birthday is Friday, and an eye care kit for me. The kit has a tote bag, eye patch, paper tape, eye drops and sunglasses with full coverage. The sunglasses remind me of the ones worn by the visitors in the original V mini-series. My brother has been sending me texts trying to keep my spirits up.
I have lost more feeling and muscle control on the left side of my face today. My web research says the worst usually happens with the first 48 hours of being affected. Only a few hours left in that window! I’m still damn depressed about it all. Sometimes life just sucks.
Today my wife made an appointment with the neurologist for me. We now have the same primary care doctor, dentist and neurologist. At least we can keep our appointments at about the same time.
I’ve gotten a lot of positive comments on my facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/AnthonyRMiller, and lots of “I had it and recovered, you will too.” That has helped but I’m still damn depressed about it all.
Thanks for the positive comments and support I have received I really appreciate it.
I’m actually surprised I haven’t been angry at people. I understand that when we are confronted with something we don’t understand it’s easy to joke about it so it’s not so scary. I’ve had a couple of people make jokes about my condition when they found out. The common joke is a reference to Rocky and “Adrian!” Those that started with a defensive joke have wanted to know more though. At least I’ve been able to educate people.
The short description I’ve been giving people is “All the symptoms of a stroke without actually having a stroke.“
