Bell's Palsy; Day Eight Plus

Just wanted to capture a couple of thoughts before the end of the day.

• Physician's appointment: When I was in the Emergency Room, I was told I had to check in with my primary physician within the first week. So a few days after the ER visit, I called the office, left a message, and said "Hi. I'm checking in." Why was I so cavalier? Well, there really isn't anything my physician can do. This is a viral thing and there are no drugs or treatments (that I can afford, anyway) that can be prescribed. What else is my physician going to tell me? "Yep. You got exactly what they told you at the hospital. Your recovery will not be accelerated in any way by your visit today. That'll be $200." From where I sit now, Thursday's visit to my physician (who, by the way, I really like and believe to be Very Very competent) seems like a waste of his time and my money
• What does recovery look like? Nobody has discussed this with me and I can't find any clues on the internet. By the way, that is one reason why I'm taking so much time with this series of blog posts. For others out there who will contract this condition, it can be nothing but helpful to compare and contrast their own experiences with mine. Still, I don't know what it's supposed to look like, feel like, or ... whatever when (if?) I start recovering - there is not any information
• Related to that last point; maybe I do know. This afternoon I related in the last post how I'm able to endure significant amounts of time without the eye patch. By this evening, I was rather comfortable. Hmmm ... that looks like 'improvement.' Sometime earlier this evening I started experiencing a new sensation: my facial muscles on the left side started twitching. You know, like those uncontrollable sort of random movements you can start making? Well it is like that. At times, it got to be a bit annoying. AND my facial muscles on that side started 'talking' to me - a slight soreness, as if I'd been smiling or laughing hard for a long time. ADDITIONALLY, my face started 'feeling' different on the left side. The sensation was as if my face were just a tad warmer on the left than on the right.

Summary: improvement detected; cautiously optimistic.