"I think your whole life shows in your face and you should be proud of that."

(Apparently, George Clooney has had Bell's Palsy. If he's had it and is famous and rich, there is hope for me.)

Guess where I was last night.
Let's just say the body is capable of some amazing/mysterious things and it keeps my life eventful as ever.
Last night, I spent the it in the hospital because once I mentioned my eye issue my rheumie noticed that I was exhibiting signs of what looked like Bell's Palsy. Due to the fact that I have lupus, he was also concerned that it could have been a minor stroke caused by a blood clot (I am more susceptible to clotting than others due to my medication and lupus). My CT scan showed no clots and no proof of a stroke. It's all the palsy. 


It's kind of scary how easily one little thing can go wrong and what most people would consider insignificant is so much more significant to someone with lupus. What I thought was a minor cold (soar throat, congestion and slightly feverish) was probably the initial cause of my Bell's Palsy. I was reading on the Mayo Clinic website that it could have also been a latent side effect of my shingles (awesome). I still have some of the antibiotics from  that  epic debacle so I will take that along with my high dose of steroids for 10 days. 


So that's that. 60mg of steroids again for 5 days then taper it down 10mg per day until I'm back at 10mg. That should do it for the Palsy. I'm also looking into facial exercises. It is said that acupuncture also helps, along with physical therapy. I'll look into that too. It's not that serious that I will really NEED physical therapy, but acupuncture wouldn't hurt. 

My crooked smile:

(notice that my right [your left] laugh line is more fully formed that my left [your right] laugh line.)

It's not too bad. But still annoying.

I was not kidding when I said that my health keeps me on my toes. Never a dull moment. Indeed. 
In my next post, I want to share my recent experience in the hospital. My roommate and her case really made me re-evaluate a lot of things and plucked an emotional chord with me.


"After a certain number of years, our faces become our biographies"