Wednesday 12th December
I didn't sleep well lastnight. The pain from my ulcers / canker sore / un-diagnosed mouth condition woke me up more than once. I am so sick of it already. I go to work like any other day and I mention it to a few people, mainly because the pain keeps it at the front of my mind. I'm not sure I have ever had an ulcer before. I eat some tomato soup and bread for lunch and the pain is manageable. My vision is a little off today, and my eyes are stinging by the end of the afternoon, like someone has been chopping onions. I ignore it. I do Brazilian jiu jitsu on Wednesdays. Earlier in the day I wasn't sure about going, but now I have eaten something accompanied by a bit less pain, I want to get on with normal life. I ride my motorcycle from work on the short trip over to the gym. On the bike, I get wind in my eye as my visor is not fully closed. When I squint, I notice my right eye didn't fully shut. I try blinking with the left and then the right and also with both eyes. Left is good, both is good, right alone isn't fully closing. I remember thinking that was odd, but couldn't remember if I can blink with my right eye or not anyway so forget about it.
A few comments are made to me by my training partners at the class. "What is wrong with your face" and "your mouth looks a little funny, dude". I just explain to people that I have a bad ulcer and the pain has been effecting me quite a lot. I am getting changed to leave at the end of the class (i did the whole class like any other day, without noticing any problems), my friend Adam who knows me better than anybody else at the club shows some concern as he doesn't think my face looks normal. I tell him to stop worrying, it's just the ulcer. He asked me to do him a big smile so he could take a photo of me. He showed me the photo and I got a real feeling of fear rush over me. One side of my mouth was wide open and the other was shut tight. I tell him about my eye being funny too and that I cannot close it. We both worry I may be having a stroke so rush down to his car and he drives me (very quickly) to A and E.
I speak to the woman on reception and explain that half my face is not working. She asked about my address, next of kin etc, and I wait to see the assessing nurse. It's not a long wait. The Male nurse on duty calls me into a room. I tell him about my facial problems and he immediately thinks I have Bell's Palsy. He says I am not having a stroke because my cognitive responses are too accurate. He says Bell's Palsy is a problem with a nerve in my face and that I will need steroids and the problem will go away. I feel overwhelmingly relieved. I go back out to the waiting room and my friend Adam waits with me. This time we wait hours, I do some heavy Googling on my phone and find out the condition is sometimes permanent. I decide to stop Googling and wait to see the Doctor.
The Doctor calls me in. I remember her having an amazing bedside manner (it's weird what you remember in strange situations). She makes me try to whistle, fill my cheeks with air, raise my eyebrows. She confirms I have Bells Palsy and the diagnosis is done. I am told it is very rare that people do not recover, but she also tells me there is a Doctor working at this hospital that had it and never recovered. I tell her about my frantic Googling session and we talk about how most people have a completely paralysed face. Most of my face still moves, just not full movement, and all the movements are exaggeration and slow. She tells me the condition does not get worse, and once it has happened it has happened. She asked if I had any ulcers or colds. I tell her about the ulcer and she says this is the probable cause, she also asked about ear pain. I remember I had pain in the right ear whilst listening to music earlier that day. I am given 1 800mg Aciclovir tablet. My eye is taped shut by the Doctor to prevent it from drying out. I am told to go to eye casualty first thing in the morning and get sent home, she also gives me a prescription for more Aciclovir.
