Today I had my six month follow up with Dr. Ostrowsky, my ENT. He is the most amiable doctor I have ever had the pleasure dealing with as an adult. He is positive while being upfront and never cuts an office visit short.
Prognosis: I am at the 11 month point post Palsy. At 12 months I will have recovered 80% of what I will ever recover. At 18 months, recovery will probably halt. He was very pleased with the closure of the eye but noted the forehead and lower lip had almost no recovery. During a non-voluntary state (face at rest) it is hard to tell I have the paralysis due to good resting tone. During voluntary movement, synkinesis makes the condition apparent to different degrees depending on what facial expression I am attempting.
Synkinesis: When the nerves grow back they don't follow a road map, they just get close. When a command is sent to smile all the nerves kinda send signals and the result is an eye closing with the smile, or a smile when you try to blink. Physical therapy may help but is usually for more severe cases.
Physical therapy: I asked for it, I got it. A lady on the east side that I have spoke to before... She will give me exercises to do at home to isolate the different facial muscle groups and help separate their functions.
Eyelid Weight: With the good progress of the eye he said removing the weight was an option if it bothered me. (forgive the bad grammar) We will consider this again in 6 months. The weight doesn't hurt but is just annoying and causes the lid to droop ascetically.
Acupuncture: He was not opposed to the procedure, but could offer no quantified advise or data on it's effectiveness. Our general consensus was: Why not try?
Hearing and Balance: Hearing the same, Balance should not be a problem. (I did beat Heather at twister the other night...she can't claim the cramp in her foot had anything to do with it).
So overall positive and negative. Anyone would hope for complete recovery but I am glad to here the weight can come out eventually. Thanks again for all the prayers and support!
1 comment:
Such a long journey. We are very proud of you and how you've lead your family with such faith during uncertain and unforseen times. Many times we've said "If we could hadle that situation 1/2 as good as Paul and Heather we'd be just fine."
Either way.... it's great to have you back in the sky!
=Dacia
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