2019 was an interesting year for my face.

Actually, the whole thing started on New Year's Eve, 2018.

I was in Utah, celebrating the end of 2018 with my family. We were sitting around my brother's table, playing games. I noticed my upper lip was feeling pretty weird. It felt like pins and needles under my nose. Finally, my sister asked what happened to my face?

I got up and ran to the bathroom. AAHHHHH!!! What the? My upper lip didn't just feel weird, it was swollen. I looked like a Who from Whoville, to be sure. Had I eaten something different? The answer was no. I ate the same New Year's Eve spread I have eaten my entire life. Nothing had changed, except for my face. I was a Who.We rang in 2019, me with my new snout, and we drove back home to my in-laws' home. We did make a quick stop at Walmart so I could pick up some Benadryl. I was determined to have this new look gone by morning.

It wasn't.

I remained in my Who-state the next day, although it was SLOWLY getting better. Two days later, I was back to normal.

We returned to Texas. I stopped worrying about my swollen face. I didn't have allergies. It certainly wouldn't happen again. The months went by, and time proved me correct. Whatever caused my face to swell up had been a fluke, a one-time thing.

Brian and I had planned a trip to Boston and New York City in April. It was an amazing trip. The food, the shows, the everything! We absolutely loved it all. On Friday night we had tickets to see The Lion King on Broadway. We ate dinner before the show at a little Italian restaurant that was divine. As soon as I finished my dinner, I could feel it happening.

Oh no. Please. PLEASE. Don't swell. Not here

.Oh yes. My face was swelling again. At first, the tingling was inside my upper lip, similar to the time before. Then it started to spread. My nose was numb, as was part of my cheek. Even the inside of my throat felt a little tight.

We went to the show anyway. I could endure looking like a Who again. Unfortunately, I could feel that this was going beyond Who status. I took a picture at intermission. Oh boy. I was so grateful it was dark. The Lion King ended. The lights came on.Brian turned to me and asked if I still wanted to go to Serendipity for dessert?

I wanted to throat-punch him. He could NOT be serious! My face had morphed into...I don't even know. Maybe Will Smith's face in Hitch? It was bad, and I wanted to run to the hotel as quickly as I could. I took another picture when we got to our room.

This time, I didn't have any Benadryl, and I didn't think about buying some. I should have. The swelling went down ever so slowly, and it was still looking pretty funky two days later. We came home Sunday morning.

On Monday, I made an appointment with an ENT. I had diagnosed myself (thank you google!) with a clogged parotid duct, and I just needed confirmation. I waltzed into that doctor's office knowing what was up...and left a little crushed. It wasn't a parotid duct. He ordered blood tests and talked about possibilities, but everything came back normal. He sent me to an allergist.

I went to the allergist, and we talked and I showed her the pictures. She ordered an allergy test for all kinds of things, including shellfish and other more common allergens. Nothing. Well, that's not exactly true. I'm allergic to all grass and trees in Texas, and to cats. But nothing came back that would explain what was happening to my face.

So what did I do? I started taking Zyrtec every day, and I do feel better. I didn't realize I was allergic to Texas.

Nothing significant happened the rest of the year...until December. My girls were busy with their dance studio's performance of The Nutcracker, and my mom came into town. I woke up the morning she arrived, and my nose looked big. Swollen! Like someone had punched me right in the nose. I didn't have a cold. Just a big ol' nose, even bigger than normal.

I still have no idea why it looked like that. We thought maybe I had some kind of infection? So we tried one antibiotic, and it did nothing. We tried a different one, and my nose finally shrunk back to its normal size.

2019 was a rough year. Who likes to run around with a distorted face? I certainly don't. I'm no beauty queen, but having my face swollen in weird ways for a few weeks out of the year has made me really appreciate how I look in everyday life. I'm grateful for that lesson.

These pictures are tough to share. They are completely laughable, but only because they were temporary. Hopefully you can learn the same valuable lesson I did by reading my story and looking at my pictures. Don't be a hater of your un-swollen face. It's beautiful.

#noswelling2020

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