Smiling improves

9:52 am

Taylor continues to exercise the transplanted muscle and the smile is getting a little bigger. Most probably wouldn't consider what he's able to do as a "real" smile, but for us it's the best we've seen in over 2 years so we'll take it.

As far as we know now, that was the last surgery. He's opted to skip the eye surgery for now, since he's developed nearsightedness so even if the double vision was corrected surgically, he'd still have to wear glasses unless he did the lasik procedure.

In a few months, he'll return to Johns Hopkins for a follow up with the Doctor but after that he should be all finished with Doctors that treated him for accident related injuries.

The Official Smile

6:30am

Yesterday we saw what can be described as the first "official" smile. Before the muscle made the corner of Taylor's mouth quiver just a little bit. You had to stand close and really pay attention, but you could see movement.

He's been flexing the muscle daily in order to strengthen it and to help train his brain to clench his teeth when he wants to smile so it will become automatic.

Yesterday his mother, sister and I were in his room shortly after he woke up. I asked him to try to smile, and when he did it was MUCH better than before. It wasn't a full, regular smile but maybe about 1/4 of what he had before on the left side, but it was enough to make everyone cry.

It's apparent that this procedure creates resistance so the strong side doesn't pull the paralyzed side toward the center of the mouth. And the flexing of the muscle helps tighten the paralyzed side to help create the smile.

Hopefully, in another month or two he'll have a full smile similar to some of the other patients who have had this procedure. You can see their before and after pictures here. Taylor's paralysis is most like the woman on the top left and the man beneath her.