This is what happened

[carlita]

Hi my name is carla and my friends call me carlita. I had an acoustic neuroma of 5cm, until the day of my surgery on march 26th of this year. After 15 hpurs of surgery, accidentally my neruosurgeon cut the facial nerve and left me with half of my face with no sensation or movement. Days after i had meningitis and almost a week after an arterie explote because of a blood clot. so had 3 surgeries in my head one on my eye lit because i couldnt fully close it and the most recently was the conection of my facial nerve with the hyploglossal. I stayed in the hospital for almost a month and a half, and in the ICU for two weeks succesfully now alive. So right now, i am just waiting for my smile to come back, and tears and taste, and able to chew with my other side of the mouth!

[Kate B]

Carlita,

You have come to the right place for support.  You had quite an experience and I can't even begin to fathom being in ICU for that long of a period of time.

May I ask where you had your surgery?

Kindest Regards,
Kate

[carlita]

It was on parkland. My insurance canceled me 2 weeks after they found the tumor. Went to the emergency room in parkland, because i faint a night before and my mom got scared.

[Kate B]

It was on parkland. My insurance canceled me 2 weeks after they found the tumor. Went to the emergency room in parkland, because i faint a night before and my mom got scared.

Carlita,

What a rough time. You were first blindsighted by the diagnosis, then jilted by the insurance company, and then had an outcome that kept you in ICU for over a month and a half. 

Many of this site will provide valuable information about losing the facial nerve.

I am glad you found us!

Kate

[carlita]

My docs sid the the movement will come back but they dunno for sure how much

[lori67]

Carlita - welcome and WOW!  You've really had a lot thrown at you at once!  You must be very strong to have made it through all of that.  I hope the worst of it is behind you and you continue to get better.

When did you have the facial nerve surgery?  I'm scheduled to have that done myself in October and would love to hear how things are coming along for you.

Lori

[carlita]

Well it was on june the 6th, i guess i can vocalize better now and my bottom lip is also movin a lil bit more, i have experienced tearing on my lef side but rarely.

[sgerrard]

Hi Carlita,

Welcome to the forum, and I hope you are starting to feel better these days. You will find lots of friendly people here to offer support and share stories with, as well as provide more information on facial nerve issues and recovery. People go on to have families, climb mountains, and do almost everything else, whether they can smile properly or not. Turns out it doesn't really matter that much.

Please feel free to ask questions and make yourself at home.

Steve

[jazzfunkanne]

I have a friend in italy who had the same nerve operation to her face, she is making a good recovery, they told her to expect a grade 2/3 recovery which is good, and to the untrained eye looks normal

[Kate B]

Carlita,

I see you clearly now:-)  You were able to post your picture. You have a great smile and I hope that as you heal, you get  back to smiling.

Kate

[carlita]

yeah how much is 2/3, my surgeon told me the same?

[saralynn143]

The House-Brackman scale is explained pretty well toward the bottom of this page:
http://www.entusa.com/bells_palsy.htm#House%20Brackman%20Facial%20Nerve%20Grading%20System

Sara

[LADavid]

Hi Carlita

You've found a good home.  Please rely on us for support -- emotionally and for information.  And I don't know whether this is cool or not (Phyl? Judy?) but can Carlita mention the name of the insurance company that dropped her?  I really do think the bad guys should be exposed (just as the good guys should be praised).  Maybe with enough bad exposure, they would think twice before sticking it to one of our own.

David

[sgerrard]

In the section under Insurance, people name names all the time when they are complaining about insurance companies on coverage issues, so I don't see any reason why Carlita couldn't name names as well. We gotta call 'em like we see 'em.

Steve

[leapyrtwins]

I say Carlita should name names if she wants to.

If it turns out to be inappropriate, I'm sure Phyl will censor her 

Jan