We just found out that Jeff has Bell’s Palsy. The right side of his face is paralyzed. He can’t blink one of his eyes and his speech is slurred.
This all started when he went to the dentist. He went for a cleaning and they said that he needed some work done under a crown. He went and had the work done and was doing ok until about 4 days later. He started having severe pain in his jaw. It hurt so bad that he didn’t sleep that Saturday and into Sunday. He was awake for 24 hours in PAIN! I called the dentists emergency number and he called a pain killer and antibiotics in to my pharmacy and said he wanted to see him at 9:30 the next morning. Jeff stayed up all night again because the pain medicine didn’t work. By the time we got to the dentist he was pretty bad. They did X-rays and found nothing wrong so they gave him a shot and sent him home and told him to come back if the shot wears off and there is still pain. He finally got some sleep and woke up a little before 5:00 and was in pain again. I called the dentist and they said to come right up there. They did another x-ray and decided he needed a root canal.
After the root canal he was pretty numb, but the pain was gone. The thing is his face stayed numb for a few days and then started to travel to the other side of his face. I thought maybe the dentist hit a nerve and there was nerve damage. The dentist thought maybe he was still swollen and something was hitting a nerve.
Well that was a week ago! His face has been numb an entire week! I called the family doctor because he was starting to have dizzy spells and his eye wouldn’t close, he was drooling and had slurred speech. I though maybe he had a stroke or something. The doctor was pretty sure it was Bell’s Palsy after she evaluated him, but she sent him to the hospital right away for a CAT scan. I called my family to tell them and next think you know Pam and Mike are at the hospital. I know they didn’t want me to be alone in case it was bad news. I thought for sure he had a brain tumor or something. It’s sad, but with our track record I have started to think the worst and hope for the best. The CAT scan came back negative thank god.
It hard to watch him try to eat and drink andhis eye is so irritated that it tears up and just streams down his face.
Today he had to go to the dentist again and have more work done. The doctor said it would be fine to go ahead and have the rest of his root canal finished up. He did really good and the numbness from the shot is wearing off so that’s a good sign.
So the diagnosis is Bell’s Palsy. It can last for weeks, months, or longer. It just has to run it’s course. The doctor is pretty sure he will fully recover. It is unclear what causes it but sometimes it can be an infection, or exposure to cold or even stress.
The worst part for him is the dizziness. I called the doctor and she called something into the pharmacy for him. I really hope it works. He is just miserable.
