5 months later....

Hi all...my pals Mika and Kai asked about my bells palsy and I figured I should probably do one more update. Here I am 5 months later and althought there was signficant improvement to the bells palsy, I wouldn't say I recovered 100%....maybe 75-80%? I don't droop anymore which is good :-). My right eye does close now when I sleep, but when I yawn, you can see my eye roll before the blink happens. Not sure if that makes sense. It's almost as though the blink is slow, but it gets there BOL!

Hey...I'm just grateful that it wasn't something else. I'm also grateful I didn't develop dry eye from it.

This will be the last entry on the bells palsy. Ususally recovery happens within the first 3-4 months and it's been 5 months. I would say I haven't seen any changes since mid November? End of November?

Thanks for all my pals who supported me. I sure hope this helps someone else one day. It's scary as heck when it first comes up. Thanks all!

11 weeks and....

Hi Friends....first, thanks to everyone for following along and for keeping up on the status of my Bells Palsy. The good news is mom is absolutely sure there has been improvement. Am I 100%? The short answer is no. But there is definitely improvement. I don't drool anymore at all. The right side of my face only droops slightly if I pant. It's pretty rare where the food gets caught in the corner of my mouth. The one thing there is only a little improvement with is the blinking. The right eye is definitely reacting, but not all the way. Maybe 50% or so? There is a reaction now when mom taps around the eye. In fact she thinks she may have seen one or two full blinks? I'm not sure though because just like in the beginning, mom wondered if she was imagining things BOL!

So, I will update again in two to three weeks and I am hoping for even more improvement. Thanks to all my pals!

8 weeks and....

Well, first just wanna say sorry for not updating the diary. Mom was trying not to think about it too much; to the point where she was imaging things...sound familiar? BOL!

Anyhoo, mom can't deny that there are very subtle changes. It's hard to describe it though. Mom sees the eye flinch a little when she pokes around it. She noticed the right side doesn't hang down as much. She noticed food isn't getting trapped anymore in between the gum and teeth like it was before. Still no blinking but she does see little subtle changes. The neurologist did say if there were going to be changes, we would see them between 8 and 12 weeks so I'm still going to be hopeful and HOPE to continue to see the changes even if they are subtle. Thanks everyone!

5 weeks facial paralysis...is mom imagining things?

Ok...so we knew if there were changes, they would be slight. Well, yesterday morning mom did the hand to eye test. If you do that I should blink. Well, my eye blinked once...it was slight and quick! She did it again and nothing...a couple of more tries and I blinked! Mom got my other mommy. It took a few tries but there was a blink. Mom said, "are we imagining that? Did you see it"? and my other mom smiled and said YES.

Soooooo, one thing to keep in mind is that could be it...we don't know if it will get back to normal, where my progress starts. It's only been 5 weeks, so mom is happy. Mom also poked around the top of the eye and she thinks there is a little reflex.

Why does mom hesitate? Well, what if she WANTS to see it and it's not. Soooo, i'm glad she's writing this. We knew progress would be slow and slight. Let's keep hoping and praying we see it a little more!

Facial Paralysis...4 1/2 weeks

Sooooo, mom came back from vacation. No noticeable changes. I don't know...i can tell you mom prays every day...every day she picks me up, hugs me and gives me a kiss and says "Scooter, i'm praying you get better".

Mom tries to tap around my eye...to see if there is any response or reaction. She noticed when she taps below my eye, my eye pupil flickers a little; if that makes any sense. Almost like my eye rolls a little. Then she looked at me yesterday while I was panting and said "scooter...is the right side of your mouth not drooping as much"? "maybe...maybe not".

It's so hard to say. I do know that changes comes slowly. Mom remembers the neurologist poked at my cheek to see if I reacted. She can't remember how he did it. The top of my lip near my cheek twitches, but she doesn't remember how to get it to do that so that she can compare with the other side.

anyhoo, keep the PoP going...praying...the good news is I'm not any worse, and I'm still producing teas which is awesome. Mom would hate to have to give me drops every day.

Facial Paralysis...three weeks

So it's been about 3 weeks since i experienced the facial paralysis. No changes and honestly, mom doesn't expect em yet. She thinks it's possible that I am a little more droopy on the right side of my face, but that's to be expected since am not able to use those muscles.

I'm still producing tears which is GREAT because one of the common problems is dry eye since I can't blink. I have had tear stains and mom is glad I have em. The doc said since i'm still producing tears, it probably means not every nerve was affected.

I'm not sure if I told ya, but one of the other problems could be developing mouth ulcers. Since I can't use the right side, sometimes food can get stuck between my gums and teeth. It's like I don't even know it's there. Dr. Gainsburg suggested a turkey baster BOL! Squirt some water in there. But mom doesn't do that. After each meal, she cleans off the right side of my face, sticks her finger in there to see if I have something. half the time I do, half the time I don't. May be a little disgusting, but it's quick and fast hehehehehe. Better than sticking a turkey baster in there BOL!

I also wanted to report that I didn't hear back from any of those who may have had previous experience with facial paralysis or bells palsy. It's a little disappointing, but I think in my own way, I didn't expect to hear anything since they don't appear to be active.

Anyhoo, I'm doing good. Mom goes on vacation next week, so my next update won't be for least 10 days or so. Let's hope and pray mom has a little bit of good news, but again, she doesn't want to get her hopes up since the doc did say 8-12 weeks.

Thanks everyone for your support...it means more than you can know. I feel kind of alone here since I don't know anyone else who has been through this, but my pals are right there for me. Thank you!

oooooh so i'm a diary pick!

So today, instead of talking about my facial paralysis, let's talk about my obsession with food and ice. Oh and the tendon sitting on the kitchen counter.

Everyone knows I love food...you got it? I want it. My ice obsession comes from the sound of the rrrrrrrrrrr sound coming from the freezer. I'll be dead asleep and I hear that sound and I come a running! I'll take cubes, I'll take crushed ice, doesn't matter...I'll take em!

Or maybe Billy doesn't chew his tendon and mom puts it on the kitchen island. What do I do? I sit for about a half hour, staring at it. Keep in mind, mom is ignoring me grrrrrrr. Then I jump up on the crate thinking maybe, just maybe I'll get closer. That doesn't work so back down I go...staring at the kitchen island.

Mom says it's not healthy to be that obessed so she picked it up and threw it in the trash. Why in the world would she let that go to waste! She says, "Scooter, it's for your own good...you already had one...you can't always have everyone elses".

Patooey! That's what I say!

Thanks for making me a diary pick today Dogster!

Facial Paralysis Part 4

So, here I am...on a Saturday night BOL! I sent messages to a couple of dogsters that were suggested in my Bell Palsy thread in the health forum:

http://www.dogster.com/forums/Dog_Health/thread/75 4561

I reached out to a couple of them and so far no luck in the last few days so I'm now reaching out to the rest. It didn't appear any of them were active by looking at their pages, but I'll give it a shot.

No changes here, but I don't expect any. I just want to say thanks to my pals. I don't want anyone to worry. I was hoping to find other dogs who have gone through this. I'm keeping the diary up because one day, you will have a pal who goes through it and they will say, "I wonder if anyone else can offer insight or feedback". You will say, "hey, scooter! she went through this!". So, that's really the main reason for the diary. I do hope to come back in a few weeks to several weeks and say guess what?! The paralysis went away! Either way, I'm still my same spunky, nutty, scootie doody BOL! Thanks pals!

Facial Paralysis, aka Bells Palsy, Part 3

Well, it's been one week past diagnosis. There are no changes and for now, mom takes that as a good sign. Dr. Gainsburg doesn't expect to see improvement for a few weeks.

I have to say it's been kind of hard. Mom is a googler and she hasn't found much on bells palsy in dogs. I also reached out in the health forum and apparently, no one else has been through this.

So now I'm glad I'm doing this diary. I hope it helps someone one day. I know not everyones case is the same, but just knowing that there's one other dogster, someone else who is going through something similar, would be a big help.

Anyhoo, thanks to all my friends who are giving me their support and checking in on me. I appreciate it!

Facial Paralysis Part 2

So, I saw Dr. Chicken Strippy. First, I just gotta share. i remembered Dr. chicken strippy. Mom was shocked. If you know me, the humans don't excite me too much BOL! Well, when he came into the room, I was wagging and butt wiggling and I whined a little bit, and ran up to him. He said he remembered me too! He said you are the beagle that looks like a puppy and eats like a horse BOL! he remembered mom naming him Dr. Chicken Strippy for me hehehehehehe

Ok...so he he thinks I have bells palsy. He did a lot of nerve touch tests. I definitely have feeling in my ear, nose, top of my head. It's pretty much isolated to my right cheek, lower, upper lip, and right eye.

He checked my ears and said they looked great. He said he didn't believe it was a tumor because we would most likely see more neurologically. He did a full body neurological test and it's just isolated to the right side of my face.

Mom asked if it would go away and he said it's about a 50/50 chance and there was a small chance it would go to the other side of my face. If I am going to get better, it would be in the 8-12 week range, sometimes it happens earlier.

If mom sees any change neurologically or I become depressed, my behavior changes, he wants to see me again.

Not the best diagnosis, but given the other possible diagnosis, this is as good as it gets.

So, I can tell ya that you can't really tell the right side of my face is paralyzed unless I'm panting. It's really noticeable then. You might also notice I don't wink at ya with my right eye. ;) Oh and about the fact my eye isn't blinking. He did a tear stain/dry eye test and I'm still producing tears in that right. He did say if mom notices changes in the eye, it's time for artificial tears. He said there are 3 nerves that control the muscles in the face...it doesn't think it's all three nerves because I'm at least on day 5 and I'm still producing tears. So that's a good thing =;

I think that's it. As far as we can tell, I'll be a-okay. No one knows what causes Bells Palsy, but this is better than the C word.

I pawmise to update this diary if there are any changes.