Dec 18th

Time Flies, I have to bow my head in shame I haven't updated in weeks. From everything we had read and heard from other people who had had Bells Palsy we expected the recovery to be many months in the making.

Steve kept insisting he was going to have one of the quickest recoveries known to man...I had my doubts while seeing him struggle with the daily pain and watching him stand at the mirror everynight struggling to control his expressions.

But the past two weeks have been almost miraculous. Steve now has full control of his mouth, a full smile, no problem talking at all, and he can now succesfully create a "fishmouth" and suck his finger,which totally has me rolling on the floor...

The only sign I can still see of the Palsy is his eye "isn't quite back to normal". I notice his eyelid doesn't always react the same as the other eyelid.

My Goal is to still get a pic of him now to compare to the beginning pic of him...But he is definetly back to his normal self and 100% camera shy again, making my goal elusive....

My father recently told me that one of his brother's had been diagnosed with Bells Palsy. It really is more common than people think. If you know someone who wakes up one day with loss in controlling their mouth and eye and lots of slurring....urge them to see a Doctor ASAP. Medical treatment within a week is crucial to recovery....

Nov 30th

He's finally starting to see real improvement. It's happened very quickly over the last couple of days.

He can drink out of a glass very easily now. Lots of movement in his eyebrow. And when I stopped by work to see him today he was all smiles with almost a full smile. Almost a full circle when he attempts fish mouth. And it looks like his moods and energy level are going back to a more normal level.

Although he still won't sit for a picture, I'm very bummed about this...

Nov 23rd

Other than bright lights bothering his eye; the past couple of days have been pretty good for him. He's been practicing his scowl and trying to raise his eyebrow and he's had very noticable movement; it's not full movement, but it's definetely there and you can tell what he's trying to do. And his fishmouth is much better than it was a few weeks ago. Last night he tried to hold a spoon turned upside down in his mouth with lip pressure and he was successfull, he couldn't do that at all since he'd been diagnosed.

I'm trying my heart out to get a pic of his face movements; but suddenly he's turned camera shy on me....

Nov 19th

Steve told me tonight when he got home that last night he was so wired, he was wide awake till 4am....And I woke him at 7:30am for work...

I had the worst day at work today; halfway thru the day I had to fight to keep from nodding off at my desk....

He's now dead asleep on the couch, remote still in hand....

It's been a week since he finished the Steriods; he thought they would be out of his system by now...I don't agree...

Nov 18th

Eating Torellini tonight he bit the inside of his mouth at least three time while eating...he wasn't happy...it may have caused a little swelling...

I tried to get him to pose for a couple pictures, he evasive...But I'm determined....

Nov 17th

Over the past two or, three days I have been improving steadily. My eye is closing well enough if not completely and hasn't been drying out. I have quite a bit of movement in my face. (not all of it has returned but I think most people who didn't know me wouldn't notice) So, this is good...

Nov 13th

The past few days haven't been that good. Friday Al pushed Steve out of the building and made him take the rest of the day off. Which was probably for the best, Steve was having a rough day. His eye and jaw was really hurting; his teeth even hurt and his jaw felt like it was locking up.

He finished the Steriods and Valtrex on Thursday {none to soon if you ask me; Steve & Steriods are not pretty :0} He is now taping his eye shut at night and soft foods are now a main diet staple to keep the jaw soreness to a minimum. I haven't made steak {his favorite} in weeks.

He's been experiencing more eye movement, though still not consistant. Yesterday and today he actually got a little twitching in his face when he tried snarling; this was really exciting.

Saturday he tried a short bike ride after work; he came back much sooner then I expected him too. The cold wind blasting against his jaw produced very unpleasant results...


Today is probably the best day I've had in a while. My eye isn't hurting and my jaw doesn't hurt.

Nov 10th

Steve has a new Nick Name courtesy of his manager Al ...Droopy :O)

I think I have a little bit more movement in my eye, sporadic though. And I think I've noticed sporadic movement in the outer corner corner of my mouth. Thanks to the Steriods, Quad shots and Mountain Dew; I'm READY to go!

Nov 8th

Steve's eye has been really bothering him since the gauze irritated his eye several days ago. He bought some "Genteal" gel eye lubricant last night and was putting it in his eye as soon as he walked in the door. An hour later he commented how it soothing it was to his and was helping some.

We had excitement this morning. Steve woke up and called for me to come watch; he was able to open and almost close his eye, several times. I was excited for him. I was hopeful this was progress.

I called him during the day to see how he was doing. His eye was bothering him again and the eye movement hadn't stayed throughout the day.

Nov 6th

Last night was a little rough. The tissue I use under the eye patch to keep my eye shut shifted and actually rubbed against my open eye and irritated my eye during the night which made for a sore eye after I woke up. Not quite as swollen today. The last couple of days I've resorted to trying to eat easily chewed foods; anything tough to chew makes my jaw hurt. Wondering if this could be part of the swelling problem.


I cheated and cropped a group pic I took today to get a current pic of him. It was quite sunny out, his left eye can't squint like his right eye.

He's been working hard to control the slurring.

Nov 5th

The past couple of days haven't been very good. My face really hurts and it's a little swollen.

I've noticed just a little bit of movement in his eye, but it's very sporadic. His slurring doesn't seem quite as noticeable the past couple of days; but it's hard to tell if it's him taking extra care in speaking or actual improvement.

Going to see if he'll be a amiable to posing for a pic tonight....

Nov 3rd

Not much to report today...Although Al my manager says he saw my left eye blink; I went straight into the bathroom and tried to blink and couldn't even get it to move.

I took my first day of three steroids today. I feel good but, I'm still bouncing off the walls...

Jacked up~ Nov 1st

I called Steve to see how he was doing later in the day...

Jacked up is how he's doing! Steriods, Quadshot latte, 2 Mountain Dews and counting...I could hear him bouncing off the walls thru the phone!

Tuesday Nov 1st

This is Steve's email keeping me up to date on how he's doing


Today.... the left side of my face is HOT.... and it is tingling, twitching. I think this is good but it's bothering me. With the sun so bright today too... it's a problem not being able to squint. Still sluring my words... :O(

Doctor, and lots of Meds Oct 31st

The doctor appt. on Monday the 31st was almost an afterthought due to Steve's surfing. The dr pretty much confirmed what Steve already learned fromed the internet. Bells Palsy. A trip to the pharmacy t get armed with Valtrex to treat the possible viral infection and Prednisone a corticosteriod hormone, eye drops to protect his eye and a pirate style eye patch

Steve's mood and attitude changed from being worried and on edge to positive and "I'm going to have the fastest recovery known to man"

Steve the workaholic of course went back to work after all of this.

I suspect he over did Monday; as soon as he walked into the door he made a b-line for the bathroom to drown his eye in eye drops and give his eye patch a whirl.

Steve is not the pirate type...and to my surprise he didn't object when I wanted a couple of pics.

This is an attempt to smile....

And this is an attempt to form the "O" mouth

His unsuccessful attempt to suck a finger had me rolling on the floor; I'm relieved to see his good humor in dealing with all of this.