Hi everyone. I just wanted to share some good news. I had surgery on March 20th, woke up with full facial nerve functioning, then declined to a 6/6 on the House-Brackman scale at 24 hours. Needless to say, I was starting to get a little concerned at three months post op when absolutely nothing looked different. My fear was that my facial nerve had lost blood supply (I had an intracranial bleed twice during surgery, a clot on my facial nerve and a CSF leak) and functioning would never return.
And then it happened. On July 11th (I'll remember this date forever) I woke up and looked in the mirror while brushing my teeth and thought I saw just the tiniest bit of movement in the corner or my mouth. I didn't tell anyone, but had several people comment to me that my face looked better. The next day, I saw more movement and noticed my cheek had a little movement in it also. I am seeing improvement weekly and I am now four months post op and encouraged that something is happening.
In June, I had my first facial nerve evaluation and had scored the lowest anyone had scored at that facility. I must admit, that was probably the lowest point of my recovery. I saw the same rehab specialist on July 17th, just a week after I noted the first movement. My score in June was a 15 out of 100. My score in July was a 57. I was told by the time I get to the upper 60's, people wouldn't even be able to tell I had facial nerve issues.
My open mouth smile is symmetrical, although it is not as big as my usual smile. I see the ophthalmologist in two weeks and am hopeful he will reverse my tarsorrhaphy (eye stitched closed), so I can have some peripheral vision in my eye. I know I still have a long way to go, but I am encouraged to know my facial nerve still does work and I promise to try and exercise a little more patience in the process...maybe.
