Viral fever and Bell's palsy

Bell's palsy. I never knew it existed until I fell victim to the illness recently.

Bell's palsy is characterised by a paralysis in one side of the face. Some people might mistake it for a stroke.

There's no readily available explanation as to what causes Bell's palsy.

But it has something to do with the nerves and some kind of trigger.

In my case, it started with a viral fever that lasted about 3 weeks, one of the worst viral fevers I had ever had in my life.

My body was aching all over. I slept with ice wrapped in towel on my forehead at night and during the day, sometimes I felt so cold that I wore a jacket during mid-day. Outdoors.

My blood pressure dipped to 100/60.

I still went on that Mount Kinabalu trip, hoping to get whatever I could from the assignment. I was supposed to climb the mountain with a group of breast cancer survivors.

But, no go. I had to cut short my trip because my condition worsened.

It was a very long journey that day from Mesilau Nature Park to KK and finally to KL.

Then last week, the fever subsided. I was happy. I thought I was on the road to recovery.

I was wrong. One morning, I woke up, brushed my teeth and discovered I could not gargle properly. I just could not hold the water in my mouth.

I looked in the mirror and saw that my face was a little droopy on the right.

I also discovered I couldn't close my right eyelid or purse or pucker my lips. The muscles in the right side of my face had gone 'lazy'.

I panicked! I thought I had a minor stroke!

Got my friend Nurris to send me to hospital.

An extra challenge came in the form of my kids: I was taking care of them all by myself. Their mother had gone to Mecca while my entire family were away in Kota Bharu for a wedding.

I packed my stuff and the kids' stuff in anticipation of getting hospitalized.

Fortunately, a specialist determined that it wasn't stroke and need not be hospitalized. He performed a series of simple tests on the muscles of my body and decided only the right side of my face was affected.

He said the virus from the fever was still in my body and had begun attacking my nervous system.

He gave me some steroids and I was to see him again in a week's time.

I went home having to deal with not having the use of half of my face.

There was no pain but it's amazing how, when God takes away the use of just half of your face, certain things you take for granted like eating, drinking and talking become such a chore.

Tears welled up in my eyes when I ate, partly because of the amount of effort I actually expended and partly because I felt so pathetic (the 'why me?' question).

When drinking, my drink dripped right through my lips.

When facing people, I was embarrassed by my impaired speech. I couldn't pronounce anything with B, P or M in it.

I was overcome by depression.

Through friends on Facebook, I learnt that my condition is called Bell's palsy.

Most people recover from it, some as early as 10 days after the onset.

But others, like former Canadian prime minister Jean Cheretien, never did. Cheretien acquired Bell's palsy in his youth and his face has stayed that way since.

It's tough having to deal with two major illnesses back-to-back: viral fever and Bell's palsy.

Mom said God wanted to tell me something.

She also said I should count myself lucky that it wasn't anything heavier, like a stroke or a major accident.

She, too, suffered from a debilitating illness once. Between 1979 to 1981, when I was too young to remember, Mom suffered from TB.

Back to my Bell's palsy. Apart from taking the medication, I rested and did several other things.

I applied eye ointment and covered my right eye when I sleep at night to protect the cornea.

I heated the affected side of my face with some beach sand wrapped in cloth.

I practiced my smile every day in the mirror. Lifting my right cheek proved to be one of the heaviest liftings I had done in a while.

When performing the solat, I put in extra effort in pronouncing every word instead of just going through the motion like before.

Lastly, I kept my spirits up by thinking happy thoughts, singing along to favourite songs and watching movies that made me laugh.

It helped a little. After a week, I could move my right facial muscles a little. A few milimetres actually. But it was progress.

At the moment, I'm still treating both the viral fever and Bell's palsy. Hope to recover soon enough. The swimming pool and the sea beckon.