November 15,2013 ~ Thankful Part 1.

About 6 years ago this December as I was planning a trip down to the U.S. to visit family, I started having some pain in my right ear and realized it was infected.

Now, I've had ear infections and what-not in that ear since I was 14 and after being in pain so often,you kind of get used to it.

BUT, during this particular infection I was almost three months pregnant with my third daughter so there was little that the doctor could prescribe for me other than Tylenol 3's with Codeine for the pain.

I figured that this would be like all the other ear infections of the past and would eventually run its course and be over with,so I proceeded with my plans of heading down south for two weeks. (Little did I know,but there was something seriously wrong with me)

As I and my twin daughters made our way to my cousin's house that night, (yes,I go on several road trips alone with my beautifuls) I drove from about 7am until 2:30am the next morning.
Because I was driving,I saved my T-3's for sleeping at night so it wouldn't affect my driving at all....But the pain was still there.

I started to notice that what I thought was just a scalded tongue,wasn't healing/working right....I drank a lot of hot chocolate while I was pregnant,so I didn't think anything of it at first.

Towards the end of our two weeks holidays, the girls and I visited with my grandparents in Louisiana.
While there, I started to feel odd.
A bit later as I went to sip some decaf from a mug,I realized that I couldn't get my lips to curve properly so that I could drink.
Later that night as I was brushing my teeth, when I tried to swish water,a bunch of it just dribbled out the right side of my mouth....I wasn't able to fully close my lips together.

Now I KNEW something was wrong.

At that point,I did NOT do the smartest thing...I didn't tell my grandparents what was going on.
I just packed the girls and I up,said our goodbyes and headed north to home.
I drove straight thru the day/night,only stopping to sleep for a couple hours. I just knew I had to get back home to Canada.

We arrived home exactly 14 days after starting our trip,and two days later I went in for my regular pre-natal appointment.
When the doc did a couple little tests to see where the paralysis was,he made a call immediately to an ENT (Ear/Nose/Throat) specialist,setting up an appointment the next morning.

When I went to the ENT's office,he informed me that he thought I had what is called a cholesteatoma,or a cyst growing within my sinus cavity and that it was putting pressure on my facial nerve therefore causing the paralysis. He then decided that he would lance it,suction whatever he could to relieve the pressure,then wait until I had the baby to perform surgery.
However, because I was pregnant we were unable to get a CAT scan done to see just exactly where/how big this thing really was.

To Be Continued.......

Sent from my BlackBerry®