Mark's Story
Imagine being eleven years old and waking up one morning with half of your face out of action. Looking in the mirror and seeing one eye blinking and the other one staring back at you. What has happened? Is this a stroke am I too young? He goes to get a drink of water which dribbles out of his mouth before he swallows. This is just the beginning of the nightmare for Mark.
His parents rush him to accident and emergency where he describes the pain which is still present behind the ear and the strange feelings he'd had the day before. The face felt odd but he had no real experience of illness or hospitals, he had always been so fit and well.
He has an appointment to see the Paediatrician, a doctor who specialises in children, and he has an MRI scan booked (scarey ground). The scan went well and was clear no tumours and therefore it is probably just a virus as easy as catching a cold, but seems to have a longer life. Apart from a slight improvement in the first day nothing has changed over a seven week period. This means that his face isn't going to recover by itself.
The pressure at home really starts to increase. Mark is due to go to Australia for six months with his parents. All the plans are made but if England is the best place for the treatment the plans will have to be cancelled.
A visit to the paediatrician proves bad news. His face should have been better by now. He may need surgery when they get back from Australia. His dad asks is there anywhere they can take him and follows this up with an internet search.
This is when Mark arrived at the Lindens Clinic. We cannot promise complete recovery but the next six months will be the time for nerve regrowth.
On the graphs taken on the first attendance all the branches of the facial nerve were showing activity patterns. The minimum recorded was 14%.
Mark was delighted with the Neuro 4 Stimulator and was able to use it himself before he left the clinic. He was a happy boy. They were going to Australia and he was getting treatment. He promised to use the machine every day and send photographs of his recovery. He felt some tingling in his cheeks and within days he was seeing flickers.
In Australia his face slowly recovered. He phoned his nannie in England, as he reached each milestone, with moments like "I can whistle again".
After a couple of months his cheek became tight instead of floppy and his eye closed now when he smiled or yawned. A new treatment programme arrived from England. This stage in the recovery is called Synkinesis. He had been told that it would happen so he wasn't unduly concerned. The new treatment was even easier just thirty minutes per day.
Recovery continued and as he was waiting at the airport for his return flight to England he noticed that he was able to screw his nose up. So it was a good time to practice rabbit noses.
Now he looks perfect there are a few new exercises for him to do for his final recovery, but he is determined to succeed.
Life is back on track and Mark has asked us to publish his photographs . He wants other children to know that there is treatment and it works.
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June 06 I can smile