I still get the tightening on the side of my face that was affected by Ramsy Hunt when I am under pressure, focus of attention or meeting new people. It is deffinately when I an nervous that the left side tightens up. I do get some pain in the left ear when it is very cold or windy.

I have accepted that this is how I will be for the rest of my life and I don't get upset about it although I must confess, its taken along time to accept that I may look a bit strange when smiling at new people sometimes. The more I think about it when I am meeting new people, the tighter the nerves become.

Since February 1994 I have made gradual improvements. At first the nerve repair was painful Each time I would feel that the RHS was returning - very scary.But after a few days of twitching and stiffness, for which i found 2 aspirin to work wonders, I would notice an improvement in movement. I could wink again and I could whistle again.

When the weather was cold and windy I found my face ached, I still felt so tired I couldn't stay awake beyond 10pm.

I had another appointment at the hospital a month later. I made progress with the facial movement and within 2 weeks the spots etc had gone.

Went back to the hospital. Had allot more movement in the face and could now close my eye. I was glad to ditch the eye patch.

The consultant told me that I would make an almost 100% recovery but that there would be slight permanent nerve damage that people would not necessarily notice but I would feel it. He also said that I may get an attack of the spots now and then.

By the time the ENT appointment came around I had blisters and scabs all around the ears. The Ent consultant explained more about RHS. He told me that the infection is caused by the same virus as Chicken Pox and Shingles. That I may have permanent damage to the hearing in my left ear. He was quite pleased with the progress i had made with the facial exercises.

I went for hearing tests which showed thankfully no damage to my hearing.

The pain lasted for another 3/4 days and the thankfully subsided and went all together. Then the spots came out all around my left ear firstly and then my right came out in sympathy. The swelling in the left ear started to go down.

The next day I was horrified to see myself in the mirror. The left side of my face looked like I'd had a stroke. I went to the GP again. This time he admitted he wasn't sure what it was. Then he had a flash of inspiration and phoned the registrar at the local ENT dept. He described the symptoms and promptly wrote a letter for me to take to the ENT dept. He told me I had facial paralysis and should go to the Hospital asap. I was in no state to drive so I called a friend who drove me there.

After 4/5 days I stared to be aware that i could not blink properly and as the day went on I could not close my left eye.

On 31 Dec I went back to the GP and said I felt no better in fact i felt awful. He said I should let the anti biotics take effect.

I cancelled all my arrangements and went to bed. The pains started that night. The awful shooting pains from my jaw to the top of my head on the left side. I took Solphadine and tried to sleep. At the time I was living on my own and I was very scared.

For the next 3 days I tried to tackle the pain with Solphidine. They gave max 3 hrs relief.

On 28th December, I felt a strange heavy feeling in my left ear. When I looked in the mirror. I noticed the ear was very red and a bit swollen. I went to the GP that day as I was supposed to be going out allot over the New year period. The GP said I had an abscess on the inner part of the ear and gave me some anti biotics.

The ear did not get any better, in fact the swelling got more pronounced and I started having the "heavy feeling" down the left side of my face.