Bell's Palsy; Week Five

Well it has been a good week and I am now into week five. Clear and steady improvement and several, "If I don't look closely, you look normal!" comments.
A few random observations:

• I'm still not "all better," but I am better. The left (affected) side of my face is no longer slack and is moving more in synch with the right. The corners of my mouth move up a bit when I smile and my eyebrows move a bit. This helps my non-verbal communication
• Prolonged speech is still a chore. I gave a brief lesson where I talked for about ten minutes and by the end of it my speech started to deteriorate and I was significantly fatigued. Still, that is better than I have been able to manage a week ago
• Mornings are better, as I've noted before. That hasn't changed
• Massaging the afflicted side of the face seems to help - I'm not sure why. I will vigorously rub my face a couple of times a day for just a few seconds
• Before The Palsy, when my eyes would get tired, the eyelids would spasm. Then, that was a warning to me to rest for a few minutes. That same phenomena, but only on the left side, has become frequent in the last week
• It is funny to have people stare at my face to check on my progress. Good thing I don't have a bunch of zits going on!
• I'm able to tolerate reading more
• I am still getting fatigued. Again, I believe that's because I am improving so am pressing myself more. But I do believe that the more I press myself (and then get rest), the faster my recovery is going
• One of my (pardon the pun) bell-weather improvements is my ability to spit after rinsing toothpaste. That was one of my first symptoms. When I can spit well, then I am well

In all, I consider myself very fortunate. As I mentioned previously, my symptoms have not been as severe as other stories I've heard. The inflammation was only in the facial nerve and had no brain involvement. In the same way I seem to be making completely average progress in recovery. That is an answer to prayer and I thank God for that small grace. Really, if you have a choice of neurological impairments, I highly recommend Bell's Palsy. :-) It has worked out rather well for me.
Of course do not take that joke too seriously - I know that there are some rare cases where the condition is permanent, persists for many months, or a full recovery is not accomplished. For those people ... I encourage you to please extend a full measure of grace and support.