Christmas Bell’s Palsy

Finished work on Friday, woohoo! The Christmas bells were ringing, but then the wrong kind of Bell’s hit me.

I was fixing my make up to go to the cinema, when I noticed that I could see myself blinking in one eye. That wasn’t normal, it meant my other eye wasn’t blinking properly as it was able to watch the other one.
I thought it could be to do with my dodgy eyeliner or something, but phoned at my lovely friend who’s training to be a Dr.
“Go to the hospital”. No, I’m going to the cinema. “You need to go to the hospital, it’s to do with the cranial nerves”.
So, I went to the cinema, but still a bit panicked by my friend. When I left and got the bus back home, I noticed in my reflection in the dirty window that when I smiled, I could only half smile. The right side of my face wouldn’t work. Probably best to go to the hospital now.
I went to Chelsea and Westminster A&E. They are fantastic there, was only around 5 – 10 minutes until I was seen.
What I have, it’s called Bell’s palsy. It’s a viral infection which causes the nerves in one side of the face to paralyse. It can take up to six months to recover! At least one size of my face will be wrinkle free.
I have been give a dose of steroids to take for two weeks. It was meant to be one tablet a day, but the useless chemists around here only have it in a lower dose, so now it’s five tablets a day! I have eye drops to take three times a day so the cornea doesn’t dry out which can cause permanent damage, and I have to tape my eye down at night to keep it from opening and drying out. Everytime I pull the tape off I’m sure my eyelashes will come off too!