MAY 18, 2016
108 days after my diagnosis of Bell’s Palsy, I finally begin to see and feel some progress. A slight smile can be created on my affected side. The muscles, the nerves are seen activated by my jaw.
Though I’m far from out of the woods, this is a huge step. I will maintain my nightly routine of moisturizing then taping shut my affected eye. I will try to get more sleep than I do. Lately, I’ve had more. My eyebrow can barely raise. I can’t do a Groucho eye-raise, but more like a mini raised arch. The lines are still on the affected side’s forehead.
This came about while working out on Wednesday, when I felt a little different. I tried to smile. I sometimes try to do this. I’ve chided myself for not doing a battery of exercises for my face. It’s hard to be on top of everything, even though it had felt that I was doing pretty much all I could be doing.
I checked the mirror at the gym. I could see my lip curl up. I could see the jaw muscle straining with a line of motion. I couldn’t believe it. It’s been long enough since anything like this happened, that it began to feel almost-normal to not be able to use my mouth. I’ve resisted taking pictures of myself except for sending samples of my face’s immobility and droopiness.
I imagined posting on this blog almost daily. Here we are two months after my most recent post. No matter: here’s a recap. I have spent a couple months using acupuncture to treat Bell’s Palsy. First Acupuncturist saw me 12 times total; 3x a week. Though encouraging, I wasn’t feeling we were going deep enough. Something was missing. E-Stim was attached to some of the needles in my face — and it just didn’t seem right – artificial to try to move my face. (I’ve benefited from E-Stim previously on an acute injury, but this was different) As I approached the halfway point of allowable sessions as per Insurance, working with Acupuncturist #1, the technician moved away anyway. A change was happening with or without my input.
Second Acupuncturist saw me 12 times; 2x a week. They said 2x a week is plenty. They didn’t plug my me into any e-stim. In contrast, when the practitioner put the pins in, I felt plugged in. That’s the ‘Chi’. This felt more authentic and potentially helpful. Though I continued with supplements and a more strict adherence to recommended dietary changes, this was no big change in my appearance. OK, maybe my eye didn’t seem as droopy. But the mouth looked as bad as ever.
After my 12 sessions each with both Acupuncture offices, I needed to pause again to figure out the Insurance. Not too helpful is how the insurance company has a policy of 24 sessions per calendar year. After my two months+ of acupuncture, I spent the next three weeks trying to get the insurance company to approve more sessions. And, to do so in writing for the benefit of everyone’s peach of mine. They refused. They passed the buck. They said different versions of No. But eventually, I found some saying YES — just not in writing. Some supervisors and even some people in the Authentication Department said to just do it. They informed me that there was no official approval to grant. HOWEVER, the process would be similar as before: Get the service done; Provider bills Insurance, Insurance then asks PCP for Medical Records before eventually paying the Provider. Only problem, the Provider (acupuncturists) get nervous they won’t get paid. Acupuncturist #1 had a better command of English language, and I thought that they’d be more amenable to this continuing. But they would do so only if I paid my pro-rated Full Price first — with refunds to follow … once insurance honored it. I was not in a position to do that.
Acupuncturist #2 struggled a bit with the language — but in fairness, I think when dealing with the Insurance company, everyone struggles with the language. The language of gray areas, nuance, and blind faith. Finally after three weeks of no acupuncture, I felt my mouth was getting puffier — more inflammation setting in. Speech became more challenging. In the recent past, Bell’s Palsy noticeably affected my ability to utter Fs and Ss. Now, it felt more like I had a mouthful slowly filling with clay. On some sort of desperate instinct, I cold-called Acupuncturist #2. I spoke with their nice insurance guy, and also with the owner, about continuing service. Finally, I offered – let’s do this: and if Insurance doesn’t cover it – I will settle it with them. This is risky, because their service is almost 4x more than my co-pay. I had a similar offer from Acupuncturist #1, but they were about 2x my co-pay; plus #1 is closer to where I live. But, in my heart, despite the cultural differences and language challenges, I felt the service was simply more effective at Acupuncturist #2. And so, days before my breakthrough, I booked two more sessions of Acupuncture.