Author Topic: The Upside of Facial Paralysis  (Read 8386 times)

Kaybo

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Re: The Upside of Facial Paralysis
« Reply #15 on: August 03, 2008, 06:53:24 pm »
David~
When I have more time, I will tell the WHOLE story - it was a good one.  I am NOT one to think/play practical jokes, but my friend thought it up - I just executed it...   ;D

K
Translab 12/95@Houston Methodist(Baylor College of Medicine)for "HUGE" tumor-no size specified
25 yrs then-14 hour surgery-stroke
12/7 Graft 1/97
Gold Weight x 5
SSD
Facial Paralysis-R(no movement or feelings in face,mouth,eye)
T3-3/08
Great life!

leapyrtwins

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Re: The Upside of Facial Paralysis
« Reply #16 on: August 03, 2008, 11:20:58 pm »
OOOOOOOhhhhhh, K - enlighten us, please  :D

This sounds like a great story  ;D
Retrosig 5/31/07 Drs. Battista & Kazan (Hinsdale, Illinois)
Left AN 3.0 cm (1.5 cm @ diagnosis 6 wks prior) SSD. BAHA implant 3/4/08 (Dr. Battista) Divino 6/4/08  BP100 4/2010 BAHA 5 8/2015

I don't actually "make" trouble..just kind of attract it, fine tune it, and apply it in new and exciting ways

Kaybo

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Re: The Upside of Facial Paralysis
« Reply #17 on: August 04, 2008, 07:53:54 am »
OK so, here it is:

About a year after I had surgery, I decided to start a garden.  We lived in a rent house in Round Rock and it had a raised plot in the backyard that I thought had been a garden at one point so I thought I'd make the most of it.  I was working full time and I guess I had just had the 12/7 in January.  It was Spring Break so I had the week off & thought that would be a good thing to do during my time off.  I kept getting SUPER tired and was only able to do a little bit at a time (I figured out later that I was pregnant).  I was out hoeing (sp?) trying to work the soil when all of the sudden, I looked & I had chopped something in half.  Of course I ran SCREAMING into the house - Dave was at work & I called him and naturally I also had to call me parents and tell them!  What had happened is that we had had a RAT in our garage earlier in the winter - it must have been a tough ole bugger because it had chewed up the wires in the engine of my car AND the big orange extension cord to our Christmas lights (that was plugged in)!!!  Anyway, when the exterminator came, he told us that the rat would eat the poison and then just crawl away to where it lived to die - apparently, that was the "garden" plot of land!  Needless to say, I received LOTS of ribbing about the rat and calling Dave HYSTERICAL but wouldn't you have been a little freaked if you had chopped a rat in half???  A couple of weeks later, I was at the home of a student that his mom & I had gotten to be really good friends - she brought us meals and helped take care of me after my surgery.  They were/are REALLY into juicing and eating VERY healthy and had gotten us started "juicing" as she thought that this would really aid in my recovery.  We were making juice and just visiting and she was going to juice a beet - she wacked the end off and then she looked at me and smiled.  It had a LONG root on it...she gave it to me and told me to put it in one of the cabinets in the kitchen with the "tail" hanging out so it looked like there was a rat in the cabinet!!  I did it and when Dave got home, I walked into the kitchen and then started screaming - that is where the paralyzed face came in handy!!  He got a broom and was ready to do some business - I think his blood was really pumping!!  He opened that cabinet and was ready to wack the snot out of that rat and it was only a beet root!!!  I DEFINITELY got the last laugh on that one!!!  I just don't think that there could have been anything that looked more realistic!  You know, I haven't heard anything about the rat incident in years...

K
Translab 12/95@Houston Methodist(Baylor College of Medicine)for "HUGE" tumor-no size specified
25 yrs then-14 hour surgery-stroke
12/7 Graft 1/97
Gold Weight x 5
SSD
Facial Paralysis-R(no movement or feelings in face,mouth,eye)
T3-3/08
Great life!

Debbi

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Re: The Upside of Facial Paralysis
« Reply #18 on: August 04, 2008, 09:12:18 am »
LOL! ;D

Yet another positve (sorta) spin on facial paralysis. For anyone wanting to play a rat joke on their spouse...

Debbi
Debbi - diagnosed March 4, 2008 
2.4 cm Right Side AN
Translab April 30, 2008 at NYU with Drs. Golfinos and Roland
SSD Right ear, Mild synkinesis and facial nerve damage
BAHA "installed" Feb 2011 by Dr. Cosetti @ NYU

http://debsanadventure.blogspot.com

yardtick

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Re: The Upside of Facial Paralysis
« Reply #19 on: August 04, 2008, 09:21:03 am »
Kay,

You are "EVIL" as our friend John says....."Diavolo!"

I'm still laughing,
Anne Marie
Sept 8/06 Translab
Post surgical headaches, hemifacial spasms and a scar neuroma. 
Our we having fun YET!!! 
Watch & Wait for more fun & games

Jim Scott

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Re: The Upside of Facial Paralysis
« Reply #20 on: August 04, 2008, 03:07:17 pm »
K:

Thanks for a funny personal story that demonstrates how having little-to-no facial movement can help you trick another into believing almost anything, because your expression doesn't give the joke away. I don't believe in gambling (it's always a losing proposition) but when looking for 'the upside of facial paralysis' the thought crossed my mind that someone who cannot show much facial expression would be tough to 'read' when playing cards.  :)

Jim
4.5 cm AN diagnosed 5/06.  Retrosigmoid surgery 6/06.  Follow-up FSR completed 10/06.  Tumor shrinkage & necrosis noted on last MRI.  Life is good. 

Life is not the way it's supposed to be. It's the way it is.  The way we cope with it is what makes the difference.

LADavid

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Re: The Upside of Facial Paralysis
« Reply #21 on: August 04, 2008, 03:37:53 pm »
Kay
That is hillarious.  I'll have to keep that trick in my hip pocket if a straight face is ever called for.
David
Right ear tinnitus w/80% hearing loss 1985.
Left ear 40% hearing loss 8/07.
1.5 CM Translab Rt ear.
Sort of quiet around here.
http://my.calendars.net/AN_Treatments

leapyrtwins

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Re: The Upside of Facial Paralysis
« Reply #22 on: August 04, 2008, 11:41:28 pm »
Highly amusing story, K  ;D   ;D   ;D   ;D

Thanks!

Jan
Retrosig 5/31/07 Drs. Battista & Kazan (Hinsdale, Illinois)
Left AN 3.0 cm (1.5 cm @ diagnosis 6 wks prior) SSD. BAHA implant 3/4/08 (Dr. Battista) Divino 6/4/08  BP100 4/2010 BAHA 5 8/2015

I don't actually "make" trouble..just kind of attract it, fine tune it, and apply it in new and exciting ways

mrgarlic

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Re: The Upside of Facial Paralysis
« Reply #23 on: August 16, 2008, 11:05:20 am »
Shortly after my AN surgery,(  right eye won't blink )  Mt wife and I attended my grand daughters ballat recitle? My wife noticed her winking at me. Later when asked why?? Her reply,,,, Papa was winking at me.
I am not the person I used to be,
 I am becoming the pereson I am.

AN surgery 2004- Trigeminal Neuroma  surgery scheduled    Nov 2oth 2008

Jill Marie

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Re: The Upside of Facial Paralysis
« Reply #24 on: August 16, 2008, 08:26:08 pm »
I just got a new pair of glasses and while they were adjusting them for me before I left the store they tightened them up a bit so they wouldn't fall off when looking down.  The last couple of days I noticed that the right side catches when I pull them off to put ointment in my eye again.  I then decided to try and adjust the glasses a bit by figuring out why they caught on the right side and not the left.  I have a pretty good size dent in my head on the left side from the facial nerve sugery so that's why the glasses come off easier!  Thank goodness for the dent!
Facial Nerve Neuroma removed 6/15/92 by Dr. Charles Mangham, Seattle Ear Clinic. Deaf/left ear, left eye doesn't water.