I stopped writing last year, but basically my condition improved slowly and steadily. I went back to work in mid-August 2004, with still visible signs of facial paralysis. The vertigo went after about 2 weeks. I took things slowly for a while. I had to continue taping my eye nightly to stop it drying out until about November. A strange thing happened then – I got the okay to fly again and went on a business trip to Germany. While my face seemed to freeze up a couple of times in the cold in Berlin, it seemed to improved markedly after that, after hours aboard planes.

I’m getting a bit more energy back with each day. No change in the facial paralysis, but none expected yet. If I can just get rid of the vertigo, life will improve immensely.

Not much to report. I called up work to let them know about my illness as I’m due back on Monday. I was due to take a work trip to Italy in September, but that won’t be possible. Well, I might recover in time, but not too keen to put any more pressure on ears than absolutely necessary right now. Somehow the 18 hour flight to Rome might not be the best for me.

Back to see the ENT specialists at the hospital. I’m feeling a bit better today. The Anti-virals are having an effect. The blisters in my ear have started drying out and aren’t anywhere near as painful. The ENT specialist adds little that is new, just advises me to complete my course of Aciclovir and ear drops, and to start tapering off the steroids (prednisolone) in the second week. Otherwise she reiterates that I should be taking care to protect my eye, and says the paralysis may take weeks or months to correct – says it’s about a 50% chance of full recovery.

Not much to report on any front. Still feeling unwell – just tired and dizzy, but not nauseous. A friend drops around for dinner, and frankly I struggle to keep up a brave face to talk. All I feel like doing is being alone in silence. I’m too tired to think about much.

I read more about Ramsay Hunt on the web. A few years back I studied Korean. They have a saying that too much knowledge is like an illness, ignorance a medicine. I’m inclined to agree now that I’ve found out that my chances of full recovery are not as good as those I would have had, had this illness been Bell’s Palsy. Frankly the shock is leaving me and the depression is setting in as I absorb the implications of what this all means. I feel terrible – dizzy, exhausted, worried and overwhelmed.

The ENT specialist diagnoses Ramsay Hunt Syndrome. By this time my ear is really red, blistered and swollen – very tender to touch. The specialist tells me to keep going with the Prednisolone and eardrops, but also prescribes Acyclovir – 5x400mg tablets/day to attack the virus. I get one dose in that night before I go to bed. I’m feeling really exhausted and dizzy from being in the hospital all afternoon.

Still feel tired, and dizzy but no nausea. Notice that my hearing is bad in my right ear. My face has deteriorated. Right eye is really wide open, mouth drooping at right. I can’t raise my right eyebrow or close my right eye. The condition of my ear is worse – it’s almost too sore to touch, and my girlfriend notices lots of small blisters inside. It’s getting more difficult to talk without sounding slurred. My sense of taste is not affected – my cooking still tastes terrible.

Wake up feeling really nauseous. I have to throw up twice. I notice that the right side of my mouth feels numb and that I can’t wink with my right eye. Now I’m worried. I book in to see another local doctor and beg for a quick appointment.

Evening – feeling a bit nauseous and I have a headache. Wonder if the antibiotics aren’t agreeing with me. Feel really sick overnight, my tongue gets so dry it’s like a piece of cardboard. My right ear is really red and hurting – coincidentally I scratched it earlier in the week, so I assume the scratch must have become infected.