I’d like to say that I wrote about my experience with Ramsay Hunt Syndrome for humanitarian reasons, maybe to share my story with other people suffering from the early phases, but those of you who know me would see right through that lie. I wrote that post to close out a chapter of my life and put the disease behind me. Unfortunately, those of you who have suffered through the disease know how unlikely that is.

When I wrote it I certainly never expected that post to become one of my most read posts. I’ve watched the people coming to my site to share their experiences and felt bad for every person reading that post. Whether they are reading it because of a relative, loved one or for themselves,  I know Ramsay Hunt Syndrome is about to make a lasting impression on their lives.

I’m not a social person. I was the proverbial president of the chess club and that might be all the explanation you need to know about my social life, I don’t willingly interact with groups. When I’m sick I want to be left alone and when I’m well I want to forget about being sick. That might explain why I’ve never been to the Ramsay Hunt Facebook site and why I’ve never been to the RamsayHunt.org sites. I offer those sites because several people have suggested them as providing support and social interaction but I won’t be showing up at either site.

Three years later most of my symptoms are gone. I still have a slight amount of facial scarring and an ear that functions almost as well as it used to but always feels like it has a slight pressure differential. The facial itching has stopped. It’s the memories that haunt me. Whenever I have an earache lasting more than thirty seconds, memories of intense pain come flooding back to me like a never ending nightmare.

When my wife came down with an earache unaffected by antibiotics, I was terrified at the thought of her having to go through the same experience. She has no idea how relieved I was when my EMT specialist told her it was caused by a very bad allergy and was able to start treatment that day.

Sadly, I understand the fear and concern being expressed by the people leaving their own experiences with Ramsay Hunt. I consider them comrades in this experience and sincerely hope that they will all have full recoveries. Reading some of the comments and realizing that my experience was only a pale shadow of what they have suffered, I feel grateful that, despite their pain, they stopped here to share their experiences.

Unlike my typical post, I’m writing this post to address a very few of my Ramsay Hunt visitors. I’ve had several of these visitors subscribe to my blog after reading only that single post. I certainly don’t mind people subscribing. I spend a significant amount of time writing and illustrating my posts, I want people reading my posts. The problem is that my only connection with these people is our Ramsay Hunt experience.

I won’t be writing another post on Ramsay Hunt Syndrome, that chapter of my life is behind me. I hope that people gain comfort by reading my experiences and realize that the pain doesn’t last forever, but I don’t intend to let Ramsay Hunt define my Internet presence or my website. I have too many other subjects just waiting to be written about.

I’m grateful to the people who take the time to post their own experiences, despite the suffering they are experiencing. I’m grateful to the people who subscribe to my blog. Your subscription suggests you enjoy what I write. For those of you who have done both, I appreciate your comments and your subscription but as of this post, Ramsay Hunt Syndrome represents less than one percent of the content on this website and that percentage will only get smaller.

Here’s hoping that all of you have full recoveries and will one day regard Ramsay Hunt as nothing more than a roadbump in life. That’s certainly my intent.

 

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