Off to Wisconsin

Well, it hardly seems possible, but my appointment with Jackie Diels is finally almost here! Willie and I are flying out to Wisconsin on Sunday and will be spending time with Jackie Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

For those who don't know, she is a preeminent neuro muscular facial therapist here in the US. I started to develop synkinesis (abnormal facial movement) about six months ago and we made the decision in early December to make a trip to see Jackie. This was the earliest we could get on her calendar, and wouldn't be my first choice of times to travel to Wisconsin, but ... what can you do? A lot of people have asked what is going to happen over the three days that I am there - well, I don't really know! How's that?

What I do know is that she will be working with me to develop exercises that will help me to retrain the muscles that aren't moving right. Basically what happens is that when the nerves heal, they mis-connect, causing the wrong muscles to move. For example, when I smile, my right eye squints and tries to close. And, if I blink my right independently, that side of my mouth curls up. You get the idea. Left on its own, it would probably get worse. If treated, I can learn to control it. Synkinesis is not reversible, but it is controllable.

Several people have asked if my facial nerves have completely healed. The answer is no, but the parts that aren't working are not very noticeable. My right eyebrow/forehead still don't move (hey, no wrinkles!) and the corner of my mouth doesn't have a full range of motion, which is what causes me to slur sometimes, and to unexpectedly eject food at other times. Yep, I'm a party waiting for a place to happen.

I hope to have some good before and after pictures when I return - if so, I'll post some here so you can see what's been done. And, in the meantime, send some good thoughts my way - direct them towards Madison, WI, please!