Hey Hrissy. I'll take a stab at some of your questions. Bear in mind that I did not have an AN, I had a microvascular decompression for hemifacial spasm, but the facial paralysis outcome is exactly the same. My facial nerve didn't like being manipulated during the decompression surgery. It was probably stretched farther than it could handle.
First, the eye issue. Arm yourself with plenty of drops and ointment. My favorites are Refresh Liquigel drops and Refresh PM ointment. At first, I just slathered on the ointment and put on a pirate patch from the pharmacy. That keeps the cornea well-lubricated. Later on I still used the Refresh PM ointment but left the patch off during the day. My good eye compensated for the blurry vision and I found my overall vision was good enough even to drive. At night it is still important to wear the patch to protect the cornea from being bumped or scratched while you sleep.
I suggest going back for an eyelid weight implant as soon as you can after your AN surgery. It just makes life so much easier. I have a thin profile platinum weight. My ophthalmologist doesn't even use gold weights because of the risk of allergic reaction. He does not think the platinum chains are worth the added expense and thinks that tissue may grow up into the links making removal harder down the road.
When you take a shower you can put a layer of ointment in first and keep your back to the spray as much as possible. Once you get an eyelid weight that helps a lot. For walks, either wear a patch or get a pair of moisture chamber goggles. For sunglasses you can try
www.7eye.com (check their clearance section). For clear lenses try Onion Goggles. You can order them from
www.amazon.com. I understand you can also get motorcycle goggles from a Harley shop that serve the same purpose. They will have foam liners to keep the wind out.
Since you know you are going to have the facial nerve severed, you can have a 12-7 jump performed at the same time. That would give you the fastest recovery. As I understand it, you can expect movement to begin six to nine months after surgery, and can expect final results in the House Brackmann 2 - 3 range.
My speech was pretty bad immediately after surgery, but at three months post-op is at a level where nobody but me can tell a difference. Even my son's speech therapist says I am doing great. It feels funny to make the sounds "F" "B" and "P" but otherwise I'm getting along fine.
Eating was more difficult at first mostly because I could not open my mouth far enough to take a bite, but my mouth has relaxed enough to eat most things without a problem. If I need to, I just cut things into little bitty bites. I find drinking to be more of a problem than eating. I still use a straw most of the time, but I can drink out of a cup with a lot of concentration. Bottles are very difficult as I can't pucker right. At the gym I have to pour water into my mouth instead of drinking from the bottle.
I was completely unprepared to come out of surgery with facial paralysis and I was devastated. Now that I have lived with it for three months, I still don't like it but I've come to terms with it and accept the fact that I can do nothing but wait for the next year or so.
I guess my major recommendations are to find out if you can do a simultaneous nerve jump and schedule an eyelid implant as soon as possible.
Best wishes.
Sara
