I will honestly say that the first day after surgery I questioned my sanity about having this done because my face and body hurt so much. And I know that sounds selfish considering how badly I wanted the surgery. But when you are in that much pain, you will question your sanity. Today (4 days later) I am much happier and not in pain and would highly recommend it. I'm still tired and my face is still swollen but I'm slowly returning back to my normal. I'm thinking that in a few months I may even have a newer normal.
Here is a post operation picture. Pretty much right after I took the head wrap off. I think my face expanded by three or 4 inches when I took it off. It was holding all the swelling in. I looked in the mirror and I was a little shocked at first. No, I am not giving you a picture straight on because that is just a little bit too revealing.
You can see that I have about a 3 inch incision on my neck and that's where Dr Boahene did the muscle release for the synkinesis. There is also a cut right on my hairline by both ears where he did the nerve transfer and nerve testing. In front of my right ear there is a Steri-Strip with a stitch that is holding up a nerve out of my face which Dr Kim actually ended up snipping today. It relaxed my face a little more and helped with the bunching up.
You can't really see the stitches on either side of my ears. But I could tell you that when they took them out today I felt every bit of it! Thankfully, I had my sister-in-law Donielle's hand to squeeze really tightly while she assisted the nurse. (And thank you to my "Uber driver" Donielle, who spent seven hours with me today getting me there and back in some of the crappiest traffic!)
Now for the reveal.....
There is still a lot of swelling in my face (it's given me and very big second chin! ) but I am SUPER happy with what I am seeing!!!!!! The right side of my face looks so much more relaxed and it feels so much better. It's not like a balled up fist anymore. The left side is getting movement back in my lips and in 3 months either the new one will take over or my seventh facial nerve will have regenerated more and show even MORE movement. In January I might have some Botox injections to even things a little more. The more movement I get in my left side will help it not pull to the right.
For those of you who suffer from Bells (and I know there are many because I see you on support groups) Don't take the word of just one neurologist go seek out someone who can help you. They are out there!!! You want to see an otolaryngologist. I know without another major surgery (muscle transfer), which I probably will not have by choice, I will not get my toothy smile back. I'll be honest with you, I'm 50 years old and I'm not sure that I want to go through that much more pain, I just want to show a happy face. So when I can give you a nice even Mona Lisa smile then I will be EXTREMELY happy and live a very peaceful life and I will enjoy having my picture taken once again.
Merry Christmas, happy holidays, happy new year and love to you all!!!! Thank you for all the meals, constant concern, gifts and visits. Your belief in me and my family has held us up so that we could get through this. I am ready to celebrate a New Year!!!
Ox
Mia
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