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Days 13-14: DIY Eye Taping

Muscle function continues to improve. I've been able to move my lower lid several more times, and then I can't. It comes in spurts. My face is clearly less droopy, more taut. My upper lid now participates slightly when the other eye is blinking involuntarily. I can slightly tighten my whole cheek, not just the corner of my mouth. Super encouraging and hopeful!

I worked a 12 hour day on Saturday...I know I shouldn't have, but we had an exhibition and there was work that had to get done. I was wiped out, and yesterday and today (thankfully days off work, for rest) I've been laying low, not feeling so great... The virus that created the conditions for the suffocated facial nerve is running it's course (just like it has with others around me who had the virus, though not with my same complications). It's moved from bad headaches and fatigue to include head and chest congestion. I slept 13 hrs last night! The spot of nerve damage behind my ear is still painful. My vision is still blurry, and feels more so now, but that's probably just because of the pressure behind my eye from the congestion in my head.

Hearing in my right ear has been impaired since this began, and I feel like I'm walking around with a can on my head. It's especially excruciating when greeting people, because the cheek-kiss greeting here begins with right cheeks together before moving to the left side, and I'm often pulled in for a bit of a hug on that first kiss, with my ear pressed against their face, during which they make loud exclamations and greetings! In it's current state of damage, my ear drum cannot handle those sounds, especially when my ear is pressed to their cheek or neck! It's excruciating and shrill and ten times louder than normal, and it makes me want to scream and cringe and curl up in a ball! From what I've read this is normal for Bell's Palsy conditions. It seems worse than it was at the beginning. Maybe I wasn't greeting people as much then.

Keeping the eye taped at night is very important, because it doesn't stay closed on it's own and it can dry out while you sleep. After lots of trial and error, and painfully raw skin around my eye from using the wrong tape, I've settled on a good system, which I think works quite well! It took some searching but I finally found hypoallergenic paper tape at the wonderful Parapharmacie.  Actually, what I found here in Morocco is called "Hypoallergenic Microporous Surgical Tape". I don't know what it would be called elsewhere. But it's great because it soaks loose with warm water for a very gentle removal!! I'm a creative and I always document everything I make, so I figured I'd put that to good use. If anyone with Bell's Palsy every happens to stumble across this little blog, I hope these pictures and instructions are helpful! Lot's of websites tell you how important it is to tape you're eye, but good instructions on how to do it are hard to find, and you could cause more damage if you don't do it right!


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