Well I guess I keep forgetting to make a video. The Bells Palsy is definitely at the back of my mind now. I rarely think about it. I don't need to tape my eye to sleep, I can eat and drink normally, my speech is back to normal, my eye doesn't seem to water or sting anymore .... well if it does its only a bit and not very often. I can whistle!, I can fill my cheeks with air. For the most part I am recovered. It is noticeable that my mouth is not exactly even or symetrical during expressive faces, and the muscles in my face feel really sluggish by the end of each day, especially if I'm really tired. I am glad I filmed a new video, it's been nearly a month since I filmed the last. The differences between the last video and this are immense. My mouth looks closer to normal, my eyebrow raises further and arches more etc etc. It made me feel a lot better. As it turned out, I wasn't one of the ones that got better in a couple of weeks ... it looks like I'm not going to make the three month deadline, but I'm fine with it. When I had Bells Palsy initially and especially after one week when the condition degraded, there was a small part of me that worried I would be like that for life. I remember thinking ... "so long as my speech returns to normal I don't care about the rest", and ... "If I can just get to sleep at night without taping up my eye, it doesn't matter about the rest". I wish back then I could have seen myself now, and all that worry could have gone away. I have watched many peoples videos online, and it does seem like almost everyone recovers eventually. Even the people that say "I never got better" are normally people that are still recovering, or have recovered 80% movement or so back. The worst case I have seen is FitGirl15's vidoes (search on youtube) her initial onset is so severe it completely reshapes her face. She recently posted a 2.5 year update, and although not back to normal, she looks so much better. I guess even after 2 years things can still improve. If there is anyone out there that "has not recovered" or "never got better", please post a vid or email me. I am genuinely interested in finding out more. It massively sucks when the Doctors tell you .... there is a small chance you may never get better. It's a big blow to take when you have only just found out what your condition is. Anyway. Here is my recovery video to date, enjoy.
Also ... I would like to share a video by Cait. It was her video that made me think of filming my recovery in the first place, and her video gave me a lot more confidence in recovery. I heard from her recently too, which was nice.
