My sister finally got in with a ENT doctor who diagnosed her with Ramsay Hunt Syndrome, which is caused by the chickenpox virus.Mrich wrote: ↑Tue Feb 06, 2024 7:36 pm I spent Friday afternoon and evening in an emergency room with my sister. She has been sick since MLK day - strep, ear infection, that cough/cold that's going around... you name it. (She's 64 and a special ed teacher, and is exposed to EVERYTHING.) Since she was experiencing vertigo, I drove her to see her primary care doctor, who said "you might be having a stroke" and sent us to the ER. I hadn't noticed because I had just picked her up and driven her to the appointment and hadn't taken a good look at her, but her right side of her mouth and right eye were drooping.
Luckily, it wasn't a stroke; she was diagnosed with Bell's Palsy. They gave her a script for steroids, eye drops, something for congestion, and told her to tape her eye closed at night so her eye wouldn't dry out and cause cornea damage. Inconvenient, but infinitely better than a stroke!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramsay_Hu ... ome_type_2
About a year ago my 92 year old mother developed shingles (which I have mentioned in this thread caused some dementia) which is also caused by the same virus. My mother had the old shingles vaccination; my sister had not had either.
I cannot recommend the Shingrix vaccination enough!
Oh, and short update: my dad - along with about 30% of the residents in his memory care facility - got COVID. Luckily he was fully vaxxed and they immediately gave him the antiviral stuff; he is more tired than normal but is otherwise doing fine.