29? Feels more like 49 - Week 11

I'm late on my entry once again, but like always..I have a good excuse.
I don't know what's up with my body, my health, but it ain't good.
On March 29, I was home with Taylor, Matt and the other kids were gone at his dad's house. Around 1pm I got a very familiar feeling, on my left side, my upper lip started to thicken, sting and swell. I checked the mirror, face still looked "normal". Ten minutes later, the feeling was worse so I checked the mirror again, but this time my eye had widened and my lip was drooping. I called my mom to let her know that I was having another attack of Bells Palsy (my first one was November 22, 2008) and since Matt wasn't home, I needed her to drive me to the ER. We got there, and by the time I was in front of the triage nurse, I was feeling very weak, warm and out of it, and my left arm was so heavy, I had to hold it. I got sent to a room right away, and it was alot easier this time than it was back in November, because I could tell the dr. that I was pretty sure what was going on. He did a few simple tests and determined that I was probably right, so he prescribed acyclovir and prednisone and I was on my way. He also told me he'd like me to follow up with an ENT Dr. because Bells Palsy isn't supposed to be reoccuring, especially in someone my age with seemingly good health. My face went back to normal within a day this time, so it wasn't too bad once I was past the inital onset of it.

A week later, Sunday April 5th, it's my birthday. I've been having some weird, sharp pains on my left side for a few days, but they've been pretty random. Over the course of the day, they got worse, and more frequent, but I was determined not to miss my birthday dinner. Matt noticed they were becoming more uncomfortable for me, and he made me promise that I would go to the hospital after dinner. Deal. So, after my dinner, Rose and I changed into sweats and headed to the ER. After 4 hours in the waiting room, I finally got into a room and saw a doctor. Urine test came out fine, so they ordered bloodwork and chest x-rays to rule out blood clots. Those came back fine, so they were ready to send me home, but I asked if there was anything they could do to check for kidney stones, so they did another x-ray, and a ct scan, but still nothing showed up. While I was there, they gave me 2 shots of dilaudid for pain, and while I could definitely feel the effects of them, they did nothing to take the pain away. Finally at almost 4am, I was sent home, and the Dr. called it a pulled muscle. For some reason I don't think that's what it is, but he said to give it 5 days, and it if still bothers me to have it rechecked.

Well, here it is Wednesday and I still have the pain in my left side. Plus, about an hour ago, I felt that familiar thickening of the upper lip, followed by numbness and tingling, this time on the right side. So, this is my 3rd attack of Bells Palsy in under 6 months. The ENT Dr. that I was referred to is out of network for my insurance right now, so right now I'm calling around to try and find one.

Til next time...

April