My son was diagnosed yesterday with a mild case of Bell’s palsy. He began exhibiting symptoms over the weekend and his pediatrician diagnosed him yesterday. It’s not serious (his doctor gave a “no big deal” shrug as he gave his diagnosis) and should resolve itself over time.
I’m writing about it today not to vent my anxiety but to express how impressed I am with my ten-year-old son for how he’s handling it.
Firstly, he did his own research at ten years old. My wife works in healthcare and has a medical coding book she lets our son read. When he was first exhibiting the symptoms he took it upon himself to look them up in that book. When we got to the doctor’s office yesterday and Bell’s palsy was mentioned, he said “That affects one of the cranial nerves, right?” Turns out it’s the seventh cranial nerve, and he was right. My jaw almost hit my lap.
The other thing he did was regarding his flute practice. Given that one side of his mouth isn’t working properly, I was worried that his recovery time would prevent him from practicing and lose the impressive amount of progress he’d made over the school year! I suggested he attempt to play notes on his flute every day in the name of doing “facial exercises” to possibly speed up his recovery, and so he wouldn’t forget how to form his embouchure. To my surprise, he was able to play notes! He discovered that if he pushed the flute along his lips so the working parts lined up in a certain way, he’d still be able to use his flute! The notes aren’t particularly clean but that’s not the point. He improvised a temporary solution to his problem instead of giving up in frustration.
I am so impressed with that kid.
I thought I would be more worried about him, and worried for him, but he’s taken his diagnosis with more curiosity than despair. We call him “our little scientist” but that’s becoming more literal than endearing with each passing day. I’m proud of this kid for facing his condition (no pun intended) with a desire to learn more about it, and to find ways around it.