Amazing news! Hollywood Elsewhere is a sudden, overjoyed victim of something that looks and feels like Bell’s Palsy.
All to say that this morning (six hours ago) I realized that the right side of my face had more or less frozen. I can’t smile on my right side — my upper lip just lies there like a limp prosthetic. If I sip coffee the coffee dribbles out of the right side of my mouth. I look like a guy in a Francis Bacon painting, or like Quasimodo. Plus my drooping right eye won’t completely close (no blinking to speak of) and won’t stop watering.**
If I can’t fix this my days of looking like a moderately attractive fellow are fucking OVER, man.
I tried my primary care physician and she told me to go Urgent Care, which isn’t going to remedy anything. I have an appointment with a facial paralysis specialist in Stamford early Monday morning, but Tatiana, who grappled with Bell’s Palsy seven or eight years ago, says I need to do something about this immediately as this condition can quickly degenerate. So I’ll take my computer along and post reactions to the NYFCC winners as things move along.
** I’m praying to God this is a temporary thing that will heal itself or otherwise go away.
Yesterday afternoon I was trying to get an imperfect lower-jaw veneer to fit correctly, and I pushed down upon it hard, which may have resulted in my natural teeth pushing down on facial nerves.
Update: The Urgent Care physican says it’s Bell’s Palsy, but a mild case of it. It’ll gradually go away, he says.
Bell’s palsy, defined as an acute peripheral facial weakness of unknown cause, has an annual incidence of 20 to 32 per 100,000. Most patients recover completely, with or without treatment, but 20% to 30% can have permanent facial weakness or paralysis.
Website: “A 10-day course of corticosteroids (prednisolone 25 mg., twice daily) started within 72 hours significantly improves the chances of complete recovery.”