Woke up this morning and my left eye would not close. I brushed my teeth and when I spit, it only came out of the right side of my mouth. I began looking at myself in the mirror trying to figure out what was going on. I smiled and watched the left side of my mouth fall.

I called my doctor and left a message that something was definitely wrong. That the left side of my face was not working. I was told he would give me a call back. I had an orhto appointment so my son drove me. On the way, I called my doctor back because I had not heard from him and the nurse came back on the phone and told me to go to the ER.

I went by my ortho to pick up my retainer and they were all having a fit because I had not gone to the ER. By then, my speech was affected. I went to my husbands work and talked to him and showed him what was going on. He had talked to a guy he worked with whose wife was a Pediatric ICU nurse and she said it sounded like Bell’s palsy. Thought there was not a whole lot that could be done about it. Went home and was still having lots of pain.

I called my neurologist and they hooked me up with the doctor that was on call for him. We went in and he diagnosed Bell’s palsy and ordered X-rays of my skull, thinking that the mastoid bone behind my ear might be infected. He prescribed Levaquin for an ear infection, oral Acyclovir and Medrol dose pack for the BP/s. X-rays were done but we were told the results would not be in until Monday due to the holidays.

I spent Friday on the couch with a severe headache and sharp pains on the left side of my head. My neck hurt and I was miserable. My husband called the doctor and he prescribed me eardrops but they did not help. We then talked to the neurologist and he called in Vicodin for the pain. Extremely sensitive to sound.

I called Kelly, a parent of one of my first grade students. I knew she was a registered nurse and maybe she could help me.

Prayed and asked God to please help me. Told Him I would accept whatever was happening but to please give me strength.

Woke up this morning no better. Pain is still awful and not being relieved by the Vicodin. Kelly called me and I told her what all was going on. She was on her way to the ER and told me she would give me a call back. The first doctor she talked to gave her a long weird name. My husband looked it up on the computer and it was not really what I seemed to be experiencing. Later that afternoon, Kelly called us back. She had talked to the next doctor on call in the ER and the doctor told her I needed to come on to the hospital now.

The PA came in and looked at my ear and told me my ear was clear, I no longer had an ear infection. That scared me, due to the pain was still so extreme. The ER doctor came in and looked way down in my ear and told me I had vascules down in my ear and diagnosed me with Ramsay Hunt Syndrome. A CT scan was done to make sure there was not any thing else going on. I was then given fluids, Morphene and Acyclovir through an IV and admitted to the hospital. My husband brought me a milk shake and I could not suck through the straw without holding my lips together. Doctor supplied a patch for my eye for when I sleep to protect my eye since it would not close at all.

Again, prayed and told God I would accept whatever he had in store. Have a strange peace about what is going on.

They put an isolation box on my door. Concerns of the virus being contagious. I had to stay confined to my room.

Have slept on and off most of the day. Getting Acyclovir by IV every eight hours, morphine every four. Orally getting 30mg Prednisone in the morning and 30mg Prednisone at night. Neurologist came in to see me. Verified 100% facial paralysis and said all three branches of nerves had been affected. Prescribed me ointment for nighttime and ordered my eye to be taped closed at night. Explained to me about Ramsay Hunt. Later today, the Infectious Disease doctor came in to look at me. Just the words Infectious Disease made me uncomfortable. It sounded “dirty”. Anyways, he again went through the diagnosis of RHS and what was known about it. Said it was rare and at this point and time they could not give me a prognosis. Feeling terrible. Very weak. Don’t feel much like anything. Just blah.

Having trouble swallowing. Woke up in the night soaking wet from sweat. Running temperature. Awake all through the night. Can’t sleep. Pretty miserable. Prayed all through the night.

Still in isolation.

ID specialist came in. Said the difficulty swallowing was the virus trying to go down that nerve and due to the IV Acyclovir, we had stopped it before it had gone any further.

Neurologist says still full-blown paralysis. Says the steroid is making it difficult for me to sleep, prescribed a sleeping pill for nighttime.

Took a shower. Took most of my energy.

Tried to grade some papers, made me extremely nauseated.

ID specialist says I may be able to go home today. Says they are going to put in a PICC line so I can continue the Acyclovir through an IV at home. They go into the upper inside of the arm with a needle and a catheter and feed a line in through the vein right up to the heart. They gave me a local anesthetic around the area and fed it through. It was not too bad. Uncomfortable. Then they took X-Rays of my chest to make sure the line was not too close to my heart.

The specialist came in and talked to me about how people have had strokes and even died due to this syndrome. He said we were going to continue hitting this aggressively with Acyclovir IV and Prednisone (60 mg a day). He also told me that I should not expect any improvement for at least three months, and possibly six to nine. Permanency was not usually considered until one year. They could not give me any timeframe due to each individual case being different. He did check my hearing and said I had not seemed to loose any. Thank the Lord!

Decided I need to stay one more night in the hospital.

Got up and took a shower. Took a lot of energy. Had to have my PICC line covered to keep from getting it wet. Had a lot of bleeding from the incision. Called the nurse, she seemed very hesitant to mess with it. Have an appointment at 3:00 with the ID specialist for them to clean the incision and change the bandage.

Sat in the hospital bed and cried. Once I got started I couldn’t stop.

Went in to have the bandage changed and area cleaned. About a one inch whole. Very painful. I sat there and cried and even after the pain had mostly subsided, I couldn’t’ quit crying.

My husband and I were shown how to administer the saline, then Acyclovir, then saline again, and then heparin. The whole administration process takes about an hour from start to finish. They packed me up with bags of medication to last me through the 14th.

Cried on the way home. Felt like since I was leaving the hospital I should be well.

Tried to finish report cards. Husband had to help. Reading or focusing on numbers, etc. makes me very nauseated.