So, I was minding my own business this weekend when (on Friday) I developed an odd ear ache. It was a twitching sharp pain that would occur periodically. So, I chalked it up to another ache/pain of being a member of AARP.
But, when I woke up Sunday the left side of my face was basically paralyzed. So, I gave myself the stroke tests in a pamphlet I have because I’m a member of AARP and we need to know these things. I passed all the stroke tests, so I diagnosed myself with what the pamphlet called Bell’s Palsy. On Monday I went to an urgent care that will see you for a flat fee of $125. (Since I’m a struggling sole proprietorship making little (read “no”) money, I do not have any health care coverage, thus my reluctance to go to the emergency room; BUT, I don’t think I’d gone to emergency even if I did… IMO, that is really just a place for gun wounds, car accidents and heart attacks.)
The nurse practitioner chastised me for self diagnosing BUT concurred that I “presented” as text book Bell’s Palsy. He said that it might be have been caused by the virus that causes shingles (chickenpox) and that it attacked my cranial nerve seven. So he put me on an antiviral to combat the possible underlying cause (that cost $80) and a steroid to deal with the inflammation that was continuing to irritate nerve seven (that cost $17).
Now, I just have to wait and hope nerve seven returns to normal giving me the left side of my face back sometime in the next few weeks.