My sleep wasn't very restful last night, because our new roommate was having weird reactions to her meds. She was hallucinating, and thought she saw a man outside the window walking past. We were on the fifth floor! They drew the curtains around her bed and that helped for couple of hours. Then she was convinced she had to get up and use the bathroom. When she swung her legs over the edge of the bed, her bed alarm would go off and wake us all up! They tried to tell her she had a Foley catheter and didn't need to get up. A short while later, she'd get up again. Eventually, she became paranoid about not being allowed to go to the bathroom. Sigh... ! I finally gave up and pulled out my crossword puzzle book. Finally they got her up and walked her over to the john and let her sit, then brought her back to bed. By then it was about 12:30 A.M. This time she stayed asleep! This morning, she was much better, lucid and funny, as though nothing had happened. Her daughter said she always has that kind of reaction to certain meds!

Hey, I've got chickenpox! Hurrah, a diagnosis at last! The ENT came in about 7:30 A.M. and was thrilled to see a few vesicles on my outer ear and in the ear canal. I'm not so thrilled; they itch! The nurse brought me some ointment, Hydrocortisone Cream 1%. It really helped. I finally know what I have, Ramsay Hunt Syndrome, whatever the heck that is. They're starting me right away on Acyclovir, 400 mg 5 times a day, and Prednisone, 30 mg twice a day. I'm still getting the Keflin by IV and the drops in my ear and eye.

All day there's been a parade of doctors trooping through, two hospitalists and my ENT and neurologist. At one point, after he had examined me, the neuro, a man in his 40s, said in a cheery voice, "You know, you're my first Ramsay Hunt case!!" You'd have thought he was a hungry cat and I'd just brought him a juicy mouse for a present. That really made me feel as though I was in safe hands, you betcha!

The ENT told me my ear canal was full of pus, blood, and who knows what else. He flushed it out, which hurt like h***!! It really was ugly looking stuff. My hearing seems a teensy bit better after that, but still not normal. What I do hear sounds distorted, muffled and tinny like a cheap walkie-talkie. The flushing did relieve some of the pressure and "full" feeling I had had in that ear.

The pain in my ear seems a bit worse than yesterday. My fever appears to be down again, this time below 100F. By dinnertime, my temp was normal. Hurrah!! The ENT said that, since they were never sure of the cause of my temp, he would like to see it stay down for 48 hours before he would take me off the IV antibiotic and release me. My eye is still dry and sore, even though I'm patching it most of the day and all night. The balance problem seems no better, no worse.

Hubby: "Almost sounds like a soap opera! Well, this morning she broke out with some lesions, which confirms she has Ramsay Hunt Syndrome. While I was visiting this morning the ENT was there to suck out the junk in her outer ear canal which is quite swollen and small. He commented she is a strange case. Normally, Ramsay Hunt does not cause much fever. He thinks the mild mastoiditis seen in the MRI is secondary to the Ramsay Hunt. So she is taking IV antibiotics and anti-herpes medication. She will be there at least until tomorrow. The fever thing is what is keeping her there."