Home from Hospital!!!!

[4cm in Pacific Northwest]

Dan,

Is this where you are going for rehab?
http://www.reha-klinik-hausbaden.de/cms/front_content.php?idcat=26

(I just did a black forest google and this was the first that came up)

I am 6 weeks post op and would love something like this here….

You mentioned facial exercises. I did not get anything like that from my physiotherapist … mmm I think you are getting better care there in Germany.

What sort of exercises are you doing for facial palsy?

4

[Dan]

4,
    The facial exercises are done 3-4 times a day in front of a mirror to control that both sides move the same, which is very difficult because my left side hardly moves at all. Most of the exercises you have to use your fingers to hold back the good side so its even.  EXERCISES:  Raise both eyebrows, Close both eyes, Raise your nose like a rabbit, Smile, Pucher your lips (kiss), Try to move your lips like a fish, try to blow up a baloon or just your cheeks evenly, try to suck your lips between your teeth.   
The other exercises you just use a finger to feel the muscle movement on the good side and then try and try until you feel a little bit of movement on the AN side, Finger Positions:  above the eyebrow, outer corner of your eye, next to your nose, next to your mouth, and in the corner of your mouth.  I have paper that explains the exercises but its all in German and I'm not quit fit enough yet to translate all of it, maybe during or after Rehab.
The Rehab I'm going to is specialized in Neorologie but not ANs, more strokes, other brain tumors, etc..
                                                      http://www.waldbronn.ruland-kliniken.de/
I don't know how to put in an internet address so you can go straight to it so you will have to type it in if you want to visit it.

The health care system here is very good, but expensive (Employer pays 50%).  Everyone in Germany has health care, it doesn't matter if you have work or not.
                                                                 
Dan in Germany
 

[deea]

Hello there Dan.  So glad to hear from you.  The exercises are pretty basic.  I went for evauatiion, they gave some excises to start with and then it took another 2 1/2 weeks to get the next appointment.  I continued doing the exercices on my own. I had no movement on the AN side and it slowly started coming back.  It is almost completly back now. I had the most trouble with dry eye.  I found a better eye drop, made for those with extreme dry eye and that made all the difference. 

It is hard work, discouraging at times, but you will see progress.  If a old lady can do it so can you!

Claudia

[leapyrtwins]

Dan -

the exercises can be a major pain - and you probably won't be too good at them at first - but if you do them, they will work.  My doc gave me both facial and balance exercises to do every 12 hours both pre and post op and I think they made all the difference in the world.  It wasn't always easy trying to fit the exercises into my daily schedule - especially after surgery when I was so tired - but they turned out to be very useful.

Jan

[sgerrard]

Hi Dan, just a quick welcome back to the forum, I am glad to hear that you made it through surgery and are in recovery now. I can't help with the details of the eye and facial nerve things, except to say that judging by posts on this forum, they usually resolve well in cases like yours. If you had full function just after surgery, then they are probably just due to all the swelling and healing that is taking place at the surgical site, and will get back close to normal in time.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery,

Steve

[Omaschwannoma]

Dan,

Glad you are out and on your way to full recovery.  The Black Forest recovery program sounds awsome as I spent every day walking up into the Black Forest from my daughters place and found it a very peaceful, energizing, inspiring place to walk.  I miss being there as I am now home in very flat Florida.  Perhaps you can take a trip to Meersburg (Lake Constance) area when you are ready to travel.  It is there in the restaurant of 3Stuben where I met Tino Pusceddu Battista.  He is the chef there and talking with him he revealed he had AN surgery in Germany 14 years ago.  His facial nerve was involved, but to look at him you would never know.  He is very proud of his progress after surgery and even though he has his days where his taste is off, you would never know it as his cooking was out of this world!  Prost Dan! 

P.S.  Don't sweat the issue of being able to sit at computer typing, reading, thinking, remembering as this will pass (I remember it well) with time.  It's a huge volume of info your brain is trying to absorb all at once, hence the difficulty and exhaustion it can bring on.