OPINION: Bell's palsy distorted Tammy Leal's face, but her recovery has created artwork that's touching viewers' hearts

May 17—On Feb. 10, Tammy Leal immediately knew something was wrong with her face when she woke up and felt both eyes releasing an unusual amount of tears.

After explaining it to her oldest daughter, they dismissed it as allergy symptoms. Two days later, she felt dehydrated with unusually dry lips and an odd pain sensation around her tongue. Again, she dismissed it with logical reasoning.

The next day, the 55-year-old mother of three from Schererville went to work at her part-time job at a Lowes home improvement store. She didn't make it through her shift. She lost her balance, felt anxiety, began sweating, and experienced blurred vision.

"At that moment I knew something was wrong," Leal recalled.

She left work early and stopped at a store to pick up a couple of things. A cashier told her, "Happy Super Bowl Sunday!" Leal tried saying it back to her. All that came out was, "Hap... Su... Bo..." Panic hit her. She left embarrassed.

When Leal told her daughter what happened later that evening, she insisted that her mother visit an emergency room. They Googled her symptoms and feared a stroke.

At the ER, a staff member suggested her symptoms revealed Bell's palsy, an often unexplained episode of facial muscle weakness or paralysis. The condition typically begins suddenly, then worsens over the next 48 hours. Sometimes triggered by a viral infection or immune system reaction, Bell's palsy can afflict anyone at any age.

Two other ER doctors were brought in to confirm Leal's diagnosis. She was sent home with a prescription for steroids and a warning that her condition could last for two to four weeks.

"That's when Bell's palsy decided to make a new home in my facial structure," Leal said.

Her condition worsened. The left side of her face drooped dramatically. Leal's trademark megawatt smile struggled to brighten her distorted face.

"My life completely changed from that day on," she said.

For many people, Bell's palsy fades away after a few weeks. For others, it lingers for months. Some patients never fully recover. It's been three months for Leal, who figures she's only at 20% recovery and return to normalcy.

"I expect a full recovery. However, I do have days that set me back and I think I'm not going to recover like I would like," Leal said.

She has had to stop working both of her jobs, at Lowes and also for Chicago Heights School District #170, where she's worked for the past 30 years, most recently as an assistant food director. Leal proudly worked seven days a week until Bell's palsy struck.

She has more time on her hands than ever before, so a relative surprised her with drawing supplies to ease her mind while recovering. Leal, who has an artistic background, began sketching her feelings and fears through artistic self-portraits at different stages of her recovery.

"There is so much meaning behind each drawing," Leal said. "I touched a lot of people with them and they are not even pretty."

The drawings may not be pretty, but they are beautiful. Each one captures a female face affected by Bell's palsy, as well as internal emotions affected by this mysterious condition. Leal has created a powerful visual gallery of her ordeal to complement her daily journaling. (View more of her artwork on my Facebook page, www.facebook.com/JerDavich.)

For example, "Week One: My thoughts were very confusing and frustrating. My right eye would not shut and was very dry. I had to constantly put ointment and tape my eye shut. My hearing was so off that I would scare myself with certain pitches from others (or myself) speaking. I was having issues with saying words with the letters B, F, M, O, P, U, V."

By the fifth week, a neurologist confirmed that Leal has a severe case of Bell's palsy. The next week, she began speech therapy, learning how to manually move her facial features with her fingers. It's been a frustrating return to normalcy and she's nowhere close to it yet.

"I look at Bell's palsy in an entire different way now that I have it," said Leal, who's divorced with one grandchild.

Many people may have heard about this condition but they don't know its details. This is why Leal chose to publicly share her painful story and her graphic artwork.

"I am so amazed with the amount of hearts that I've touched with people who were unaware of what you get with Bell's palsy," she said. "I'm preparing for the worst and hoping for the best."

Her face continues to droop. Her jaw line continues to throb. Her nose feels twisted. Her eyes are irritated.

"I can't smile," she wrote in her journal.

Yet somehow her upbeat spirit shines through her defiant face.

"I still have good and bad days, I just can't pick the days," Leal joked.

jdavich@post-trib.com

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