Hemifacial Spasm :: After Stent Implant - Face Twitch, Droopy And Painful

A little over twelve years , directly after I had a stent implant in one of the main arteries to my heart, the left side of my face developed a twitch.  I mentioned the twitch to my cardiologist, and he said, "We all get little twitches. it will go away.  It didn't.  It progressively became worse and effected my trigeminal nerve.  The first neurologist that I was referred to recommended botox.  All that I got out of that was the left side of my face being, numb, droopy, twitchy and painful.  I went to several doctors and dentists in Spokane.  The dentists told me that my teeth were not causing the pain and the neurologists kept prescribing me the same prescriptions.  I also tried physical therapy and acupuncture.  I had two teeth extracted with the hope that it would relieve the pain.  I decided to get proactive and read about microvascular decompression (MVD) surgery.  I found that they performed MVD in Seattle at the University of Washington.  I e-mailed a detailed description of my symptoms, and they made an appointment to see me.  The surgeon (Dr. Rostomily) that I met with asked me, "How long I have you lived with that condition."  I told him, "A little over seven years," he said, "I don't know how you have done it."  Fourteen days later I had the surgery and when I woke up I was free of the twitch.  That was in 2010.  I still have the nerve pain on the left side of my face.  I am positive that if the neurologists in Spokane had referred me to the U of W Medical Center once that I was diagnosed, that I would also be free of the pain.  Last week I started seeing a Physical Therapist (PT) and after the session there was improvement.  Hopefully the sessions with the PT will eventually lead to a pain free life.  My advice:  If you develop HFS and it gets worse, don't delay ... get MVD surgery.