Debilitating Itch, Lesions and Bell’s Palsy After Pfizer Doses¶
Day 2 · 2:57:09 · Kelly Shorkey · Shawn Buckley · Jasmeet Grewal
- 💉 Two Pfizer doses produced neck itching within 48 hours, three back lesions and year-long whole-body itch so severe she could not wear clothes.
- 😷 After a third Pfizer shot she developed right-leg weakness, then overnight facial collapse diagnosed as Bell’s palsy; prednisone was obtained just inside the 72-hour window.
- 📸 Photos show pre-injury symmetry versus inability to close an eye or smile on the affected side, plus later synkinesis.
Shorkey recounts progressive dermatologic and cranial-nerve injury after successive Pfizer shots.
← Kelly Shorkey Sworn: Multiple Agencies Confirm Injury, VISP Does Not | Polycranial Nerve Damage, Vision Loss and One-Activity Days →
Transcript¶
Kelly Shorkey · 2:57:09
Okay. So I was actually in Australia when Trudeau said, "Canadians, come home," March 2020. And, you know, back to work I came because I didn't want to get stuck somewhere else. And so the vaccines were due, and, you know, with being a community nurse, we were getting our shots quite quickly. So I had my first vaccine, and then within 6 weeks I had the second dose, both Pfizer's. And right within 48 hours of having the second shot, I noticed that there was some itching at the base of my neck that I had never felt before. And I just was monitoring that. And then on the right side, I just kept watching it. And I had actually gone to the doctor to say, you know, that something's wrong here. And I developed 3 different lesions or plaque on my back that looked like rays. They all had different characteristics.
Kelly Shorkey · 2:58:11
And, and then I just became systemically itchy all over my body that I don't have any— I never had allergies before and walked around with an itch stick for a year. And then these 3 lesions stayed. They were always there again, like with the different characteristics. And I was having the doctor— we were waiting for the allergist I suspected that it—.
Shawn Buckley · 2:58:35
And can I just slow you down? Because, you know, when you used to say, well, you were itchy for a year and I don't think people are really appreciating what you're talking about. You are talking about constantly, 24 hours a day, feeling itchy. I mean, to the point where if you were at home, you couldn't wear clothes because that would be uncomfortable. It literally was debilitating. So it's just the word itchy. Can sound minimal, but what you were experiencing was something very different.
Kelly Shorkey · 2:59:05
It was.
Kelly Shorkey · 2:59:06
Yeah.
Speaker I · 2:59:06
Okay.
Kelly Shorkey · 2:59:07
And, and we were looking into that and I was, you know, the doctor was— had put me on with an allergist, but it was a 1-year waitlist and a dermatologist, a year waitlist. But we did do a biopsy on one of the lesions on my back. And so, you know, then, you know, but of course we were waiting and I'm just— I'm still— I'm still at work. I'm having to take time off because of the condition that I had. And then the booster was coming along and I had had Pfizer and Pfizer and Moderna was being pushed to for the booster because I think it was the Delta virus that was out and that was the big thing. Moderna was going to be the better of the two vaccines. But having spoken with a doctor and I say a doctor, it was a clinic doctor because I've been on a 15-year waitlist to get a GP in B.C., then Sorry, the time to get the booster. And I said, you know, they were like, well, don't you want the Moderna? And I said, no, we need to stick with the Pfizer vaccine because it's the devil, you know, because we knew I was already having a reaction to it.
Kelly Shorkey · 3:00:13
And then so that would have been in November and I ended up off work for a few weeks. See, I didn't— I hadn't made the connection yet, and I was like, there's something wrong, something wrong with my right leg. And I thought because I was so active, I'd done something. Maybe I slipped, I didn't pay attention to a hiking trip that I'd done or, or anything like that. And then I was, you know, talk to the doctor, he's like, yeah, just stay home until you feel better. I went back to work in January, and I'd been back at work for about 2 weeks And COVID was flying around the office. Different nurses were all dropping. So I ended up at the end of the day, something was wrong with the right side of my throat and I thought, well, this is different. And I'm like, I wonder if I have COVID because it was such an unusual sore throat. I went to my manager and I said, I'm going to— I need to take the day off. I'm not well and I need to go get COVID tested. And I went and got tested for COVID.
Kelly Shorkey · 3:01:13
COVID-19 vaccine vaccine and it was negative. But I kept saying, there's something wrong here.
Kelly Shorkey · 3:01:16
I don't—.
Kelly Shorkey · 3:01:17
I'm not going back to work yet because I'm off. And I was at home and I remember going to bed after the news and went to go brush my teeth and I went to go spit and I'm like, oh, and I know it. And I look up and my whole face had collapsed and I thought, oh, you know, is this a stroke? And I did the stroke test and I'm like, okay, this is not a stroke. I realized and I was— I drove myself to the hospital and they took me in fairly quickly. And they, you know, they were like, it's Bell's palsy that you have. So I was in and out of emergency amazingly in 45 minutes, but only with the Valtrex, not with the prednisone. And I was lucky enough, you know, I had time on my phone. I'm like, oh, I should have had that prednisone. And you're supposed to get it within 72 hours. So I ended up getting into the urgent care clinic and I got the prednisone to go along with the Valtrex as a treatment within the 72 hours. And then with the Bell's palsy, they're like, come back in 2 weeks, it'll resolve. And I'm like, so I went back and they're like, oh, it's not resolved.
Kelly Shorkey · 3:02:19
And I'm like, yeah, you figure.
Shawn Buckley · 3:02:21
Can you describe what is Bell's palsy?
Kelly Shorkey · 3:02:23
So Bell's palsy is so you have 12 cranial nerves in your head and it's cranial nerve 7. And basically what happens with Bell's palsy, it's like you pull the plug and your whole face just stops. Working on whichever side the cranial nerve gets affected is the best way that I was explained to it. So I was a little bit different where my face went tight. Other people, they'll lose their droop, the face, you drool. My eye was like rolling to the back of my head. I couldn't close my eyelid and I couldn't lift my face. My mouth was closed. Difficulty eating, but that's pretty much it. You have the facial paralysis and it also goes into your platysma.
Jasmeet Grewal · 3:03:08
Okay.
Shawn Buckley · 3:03:09
We're just going to pull up some photos. So this is a photo of you before.
Speaker I · 3:03:15
Mm-hmm.
Kelly Shorkey · 3:03:17
Yeah.
Kelly Shorkey · 3:03:17
And that's interesting. I never take selfies and I thought I'm just going to take a selfie just a week before the injury.
Shawn Buckley · 3:03:24
Okay. And so this is you a week before the injury. Can we go to the next photo? So describe what's happening here.
Kelly Shorkey · 3:03:32
Well, that's in my physio because I had a facial physiotherapist come to my house and she was taking pictures and she's, you know, this is what was happening. So I was just trying to close my eye and that's what was happening. Just try to relax.
Shawn Buckley · 3:03:46
So you were physically unable to close your eye as part of the facial paralysis. And can we go to the next photo?
Kelly Shorkey · 3:03:55
Yeah, that's just lifting, trying to smile.
Shawn Buckley · 3:04:00
Right. So, so half of your face works and the other half doesn't.
Kelly Shorkey · 3:04:05
Yeah.
Kelly Shorkey · 3:04:05
Yeah.
Shawn Buckley · 3:04:07
Okay. So, yeah. So you went from being symmetrical using all of your face to basically now half of your face is different. Yeah. Now you also then get this synkinesis.
Kelly Shorkey · 3:04:19
Yeah. So the synkinesis is what happens is when the nerves grow back, they grow back a millimeter over time, little piece, and then just end up, um, growing back wrong. So when, you know, if I chew food, my eye will close, and, um, you know, it just makes my face behave differently than it did before because the nerve has gone off.
Shawn Buckley · 3:04:42
Okay. And you also have some nerve damage.