I took a week off from unicycling from being sick and got Bell's Palsy. My 30 days of unicycling will just have to be spread out.
My ear filled with fluid from a cold. I'm on steroids. There's no infection, and it's not numb. I can feel everything, I just can't MOVE it.
I can't close my eye.
If you thought unicycling got people staring out in the neighborhood, you should see what it's like with a patch. "Hey you can do that really well! And with one eye, too!"
Day 1 - I went to the doctor for ear pain and my face paralyzed after I got home, then I went to urgent care. My eye and lip had been twitching for 3 days already and I hadn't thought anything of it. It was sinus trouble from a cold that blocked my eustachian tubes and got the left one inflamed, and then it activated my face nerve and shut it down.
Weight - 146.0
Stamina - N/A
Strength - I feel tired because of the pain. The steroids kind of jack me up, though.
Muscle Tension - My neck is completely sore! I would need neck and head rubs every day if I could get them.
Family Climate - 8. My face not moving doesn't affect much now that I got control of my eye. As long as nothing hurts, I'm fine!
Emotional Well-Being - Kind of stressed. Both boys have been on antibiotics for ear infections and I didn't expect to be that sick.
Conclusion: What the heck???
Day 2 - Struggled getting a way to keep my left eye shut with tape because even under the tape my eye would open and get dry and hurt. Got Genteal drops and an eye patch, then wrapped a bunch of gauze up in a wad and taped it together, then taped that to the inside of the eye patch. Finally it was keeping my eyelid shut and not rubbing on my eyeball anymore!
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| Attempt #1 |
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| Attempt #2 |
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| Attempt #3 |
Day 3 - Went and taught German at school and played guitar on stage and sang all the German Fasching songs I could with Rosi helping me! Everyone felt like my pirate costume was appropriate and I told them it wasn't a costume. Completely changed my diet. No sugar, no dairy, no wheat. Lots of kale and spinach smoothies with apple, ginger, lemon & banana, and lots of carrot juice with ginger.
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| Attempt #4 finally works |
Day 4 - (Continued with Day 22 of unicycling)
Day 5 - Stayed cooped up at home.
Day 6 - Went sled riding with the kiddos because you can't just stay cooped up at home.
Days 7 - Today is the 5th day of the high dosage of steroid, and now for 5 more days the dosage tapers off. Still experiencing ear pain at night and sounds are still super loud; I simply can't tolerate high pitched screams from the kids or pots and pans clattering when Nico gets them out. The sounds reverberate in my head SO loudly, and it is just SO painful. My ear tissue also hurts in my left ear, like a bruise. Some gland is really swollen under my left ear.
Day 8 - Same.
Day 9 - Same.
Day 10 - Same. Went and taught again today.
Day 12 - Last day of steroids. Gland not so swollen anymore, but still experiencing pain.
Day 13 - Snow!
Day 15 - Last day of 7 days of ant-viral medicine.
Day 16 - Kept working up a sweat all day long because I noticed the pain went away as long as my heart rate was up. Wore me completely out.
Days 17-21 - Pain came and went. I tried to stop taking ibuprofen but had to go back on it sometimes when my ear hurt so bad I couldn't sleep or take care of the boys. By day 17 I stopped and just kept doing Sudafed. STILL CAN'T MOVE MY FACE.
By Day 21:
Weight - 136.6. I dropped 10 pounds from changing my diet. I did it before I was planning on changing it, because I need to boost my immune system NOW. Steroids makes it weak, and I have to be as healthy as possible to get over this, I think.
Stamina - N/A
Strength - I feel tired now because I'm getting such terrible sleep at night since the pain wakes me up around 5 and the eyepatch doesn't always stay on.
Muscle Tension - Neck still completely sore, and head too.
Family Climate - 4. This makes family life extremely hard at home. I've had to call Gray in the middle of the day to come home twice because I couldn't handle something with one eye and one hand, and then the pain was too great and I couldn't get Christopher from school once. I asked my dad to come from 6-8 one evening just so I could get some supper on the table, because I couldn't carry Nico around when he cried. I crave the moments when I can rest in some calm silence, or if I'm in pain to get on the unicycle and get my heart rate up till it doesn't hurt anymore. When the boys scream it hurts my ears so badly I feel afterwards like I've just been through some torture and I feel my stress level rising significantly. When it doesn't hurt all of a sudden I just sit there and revel in how awesome the feeling is of it simply not hurting like crazy.
Emotional Well-Being - SO stressed. So worried that I am not able to take care of the boys well enough, and that I run out of patience too fast because of pain.
Conclusion: Pain is bad.
