Where did I stash that clone? I'm ready for a new body.

So, if you read the gruesome health problems I faced at the end of last post, here's an update. By Sunday I was doing better, the pain let up, I could survive without pain killers and everything. Then Monday morning it started hurting again. By Monday evening I was nearly as miserable as I was Friday night. In addition to the ear, I had wicked headaches, and the whole right side of my face hurt - at the time I thought it was because I had spent so much time lieing on my right side trying to get my ear to drain.

Tuesday morning I called the doctor's office to set up an appointment. I noticed I was having trouble being understood, but I got the appointment set up for 4pm. At work I noticed it was becoming a real effort to talk (keep your smartass remarks to yourself, thank you). I looked in the mirror in the bathroom and saw that when I opened my mouth, the left side opened all the way, but the right side only moved as far as the left side could drag it. This could not be good.

I tried poking my cheeks, and found that the right one was a bit numb. I kind of...panicked. I made some comments to Jen about "It might be a tumor," which I always say and to which she always replies in her best Governator, "It's not a tumor." But I was starting to worry that this time...maybe it was something serious.

4pm came, not nearly soon enough. Diagnosis: in addition to the fluid in my inner ear (which was not infected) the middle and outer ear have become infected. Two types of antibiotics for that. And the face thing? Bell's Palsy, a temporary and partial paralysis of the face. Apparently can be caused by viral infections of the facial nerves. Yay. Don't worry, I should recover fully in a few days. But I have two more meds for that (an anti-inflammatory/steroid and an anti-viral) and I have to go see a neurologist tomorrow to make sure there won't be any permanent damage.
For right now I look kind of Sly Stallone-ish when I talk (Sly's facial paralysis is from a birth complication). My boss jokingly called me his "little stroke victim" today.

Anyway, another update on my health soap-opera will come tomorrow after I visit Bellevue Neurology. Mattbear out.