today is sunday and i did not go to church. tried but decided better to stay home rest and research this issue a bit more. yesterday i woke up in the hotel i had stayed at with my two little girls (7 and 5) because i had my home sprayed for fleas. i could not be in the home for 12 hours or so because i just entered my ninth month of pregnancy. my kids saw it as a campout and i saw it as a pain in the butt! that interruption was nothin compared to my new diagnosis. i had a weird feeling in my left eye like it was beginning to get swollen or something and attributed it to not being able to sleep in a strange place and all so i got up and we checked out of the hotel and went home. my church family was giving me a baby shower that i had to attend of course! i was due to arrive at 1:00.

by the time i was on my way to the shower i was feeling really bad and only wanted to stay home and sleep. i knew my eye was worse now and my cheek didn’t fell right and i was also noticing my mouth starting to feel like i had come from the dentist. i couldn’t apply my make-up beacause my eye was watering so bad like when i get allergies and my other eye was starting to droop so i went to my shower in all natural glory! i kept saying didn’t know what was wrong with me and the other ladies were noticing it too by this time and i was really just wanting to go home and sleep it off thinking it was the stress from my husband leaving for the bay area for a new position in the national guard, a new baby coming right around the corner, having to prepare my home for the spray, the kids had three school functions this week and all this trying to get done with me waddling around barely!

my mom-in-law mentioned bell’s and so did my sis-in-law but i was pretty uninformed and had never even heard of it till yesterday. as soon as the baby shower was over i dropped off my mom-in-law and kids and went to the e.r. i only expected to hear them say go home and sleep it off but i was told i have bell’s palsy. it seems it is a combo of things that set it off in me from what i am told. i had a few days last week where i was running rather hot and had allergies (so i thought). my husband and kids were suffering with allergies too so i assumed i also had them as well. i developed a cold sore on my lip from the fever and am now healed from that. i usually run pretty hot anyway because of my pregnancy so a sinus infection never entered my mind. these things all at the same time seem to be my triggers for this condition. i was upset and even more so when my husband came home after his first day on the job(a 4 hour drive for him) and saw him and did not know if it was ok to look at me or not! it sucks trying to drink something and trying to talk and forget about trying to brush my teeth!

i am like a pathetic fool and my kids are like “mom you look kinda weird”. my whole left side of my face is now completely involved and my right eye is like faucet and it is difficult to see much less type this to you the reader and now sharer of my story. i am on day two now and was given acyclovir and prednisone as a treatment. i was also told that i had about a 72 hour window from the time symptoms first appear to seeking treatment to avoid any long term or permanent damage. i was extremely saddened by some of the stories i read here today and sincerely hope that you find some type of solution to resolve your condition finally.

please pray for me to heal completely and that i can go and deliver my baby without the complication of this condition and won’t be a source of embarrasment for my family to be out in public with me looking like this. we had a son who was severely handicapped and disfigured facially and it was so hard to deal with society and i am so afraid of my family going through that again but now with me. he has been with Jesus for about 4 years now as a result of his condition but that my friends is a whole other matter entirely. he was only nine. good luck to you all and the Lord be with you. Sonia, october 19