A Bell's Palsy Postscript

I had really planned on being done with writing about Bell's palsy since it was over a year ago for me.  But there was a recent search that landed someone on my blog that requires a postscript.  Here is that search:

noise in my ear when i close my eye afte

I have writen about all the symptoms in a previous post, but I never mentioned this one because I didn't know how to describe it.  I realize that my bells' palsy post is helpful to people and very popular, so I want to make it thorough and comforting to people who are freaking out and just share with them my experience.

There is one symptom I didn't write about when I described my symptoms before and it still persists.  Whenever I touch my right eye, I hear a noise in my right ear.  It is difficult to describe but I'll try.  It sounds like a rumbling or maybe very light drumming on my ear.  In reality I think it is a spasm in the muscles that move my ear.  It is not a loud noise, but it can be distracting.

Even in the last 2 months it has improved.  Although it is still an active symptom, it doesn't last as long (I mean it doesn't rumble for as long as I am touching my eye) and less of my eye is sensitive.  Also, my eye is less sensitive than it used to be.

I hope that is helpful to someone, and the rest of you feel free to think I am a freak.

A Blast From My Past

So I'm reading through my RSS feeds this morning and I see a headline about the Christian heritage of Groundhog Day.  It seemed like an interesting topic to me, so I clicked on it. You can read it here - Groundhog Day's Christian roots

Lo and behold, what should I see but the smiling face of my former history professor, Dr. Stephen Wilson. Dr. Wilson was my favorite professor during my college career.   He is energetic, passionate for his students, and wacky.  Please read his article, it's interesting, and I'll pretty much guarantee you learn something.

Collaborative Story Ends: The World Rejoices

Mercifully, the collaborative story has ended.  It was fun, but nothing really happened.    We may try it again next year, maybe I'll have a larger readership and folks won't be afraid to comment. Here it is in its final form: William woke up on a train.  It seemed like he was in a rut, but today was different.  Leaving his hometown for the first time in months, he was excited about what the future had in store for him.  He got ready for his day in the tiny train lavatory and opened his luggage.

Inside his luggage was a surprise, a note in handwriting he didn't recognize.  He opened it and it read simply,

"Meet me in the diner car at 10."

“Crap,” he thought. “It’s already 11:30.” He crammed the note back into his bag and hurried to the diner car.

The car was empty save for a very old man who appeared to be leaning against the window in a deep sleep. William walked over to him and, after staring for a few seconds in confusion, pounded the table as hard as he could. The old man quickly sat up with a terrified gasp. “What’s your deal, sonny?!” he asked, catching his breath.

William pulled out the note and asked, “Did you write this?”

The old man said, “No, son. I never learnt to read or write.”

William, having already missed his mysterious meeting and nothing to do, offered to teach the old man.

The old man replied defiantly, “No sir, I ain’t never had the notion to learn to read, and I ain’t never gonna. Now, if ya ’scuse me, I was in the middle of a dream where my missus was bakin’ me an apple pie!”

William decided it was best to just let the old man be.  He exited the diner car and made his way back to his room. When he arrived another note was awaiting him.

It read, "I was going to warn you.  GET OFF THE TRAIN AS SOON AS POSSIBLE."

Before he finished reading the note, the door to his very small room opened, and a giant man in an unfamiliar uniform tackled him, put him in handcuffs with a gag in his mouth and made it very clear that if he tried to escape he would be sorry.

"That was much easier than I expected," said the man in the uniform in a thick accent that was unrecognizable to William as well.  "When we arrive I expect you will be just as cooperative."

The man in the uniform was former New York Giants’ defensive end Michael Strahan. The “accent” was caused by a piece of peanut stuck in the giant gap between his front teeth.

The peanut’s having been lodged in there for years, the smell was unimaginable.

“Geez,” William said. “You should get that taken care of.” Of course, with the gag in his mouth, it came out, “Gov, yo shih gid da ta’engaruv.”

“What’s that, boy? Some kinda foreigner talk? Just keep your mouth shut ’til we arrive.”

It was dark by the time the train pulled into the station. William was tired and hungry, but he cooperated with Strahan and was guided into an old, dusty building. A Cambodian child who smelt of mothballs followed the two men, carrying William’s luggage.

Strahan, William, and the Cambodian kid began down a dark hallway. At the end of the hallway, Strahan led William into a room. Once inside, William realized that he had been taken to an illegal gambling facility. Strahan forced William to sit down. The Cambodian child left William’s bags behind him and headed over to a table in the corner for some Beenie Weenies and Big K cola.

William was forced to play poker for three and a half hours. Then he got drunk on cheap vodka and passed out.

When he woke up, he was back on a train. But he was wearing lady clothes.

“Whaaa?” he mumbled. Catching a whiff of his vodka/morning breath, he decided to brush his teeth. On his way to the bathroom, he noticed that several other men were waking up to find themselves in dresses and fancy pantsuits.

He turned to one of the men and said, "I thought all that Michael Strahan stuff was a dream.  What happened to us?"

"Idunno." Said the man, "I just woke up, and I didn't even know they made dresses in this size."  The man was way over 400 pounds.

Baffled by the mystery, William set out to find anything that he could make sense of.  No one had any luggage, (only a small bag of toiletries) no one had any wallet or identifiables, and no one knew what was going on.  He sat down  and looked out at the passing scenery.  As the train rolled through a small village he noticed that all the signs were in some foreign language.  He didn't even recognize the characters in the alphabet.

"Where are we?" said a very timid voice from a seat behind him.

It appeared that the question was not to be answered for the scenery of the village faded behind them and what laid ahead only reflected the desolation of the situation. There was nothing beyond the window but snow and ice. Not a glimmer of mountain peaks on the horizon, nor a bird in the clear blue sky.

For some time, William stared out the window, reviewing the recent events in his mind…looking for clues to answer the questions running through his mind. It was absurd. Things like this simply did not happen.

William, now lost within himself, was shaken alert again by the change in speed. The train was now slowing to a stop. Curious as to the destination, William raced to the front of the car to see what he could.

On his way to the front of the car, he fell through a hole in the floor. Unable to call out for help because of the debilitating cold, he was terrified when the train started back up and rolled on without him. After a couple of minutes, he froze to death.

And that’s why you don’t leave your hometown.

Webhick, Roland, Geneva, Ryan, Caroline, Jeremy

Yours

Last night after I got home I went to the grocery store.  That is a necessary task after being away from home for 9 days.  I left there feeling very sad about the lostness of my community.  It was very crowded, and so many people there were looking forward to a night of drunkenness as if it would bring them some happiness.  Folks were rude and unfriendly, and I was depressed about the situation. When I got into my car this song was on the radio.  I had never heard it before, but I thought I'd post it here because it ministered to me.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-ERm0_tuKM]

What I learned in 2008

Here's some stuff I learned in 2008.  I started this list in December so It is not that thorough, but it should be at least a little bit fun.

• I cannot write lessons for my youth group that involve them working on their own.  They just goof off and I get angry
• Carolina Bible college requires at least 5 students to hold a class.
• Panko Breadcrumbs are way better than regular ones
• If you write a blog post about Proposition 8, atheism, or the Southern Baptist Convention your stats go way up.
• The baby is using 25
• Blogging 3 times a week is a lot of work

It's a short list I know, but at least I learned something.

What did you learn this year?

Reading List 2008

I accomplished a goal of mine and read an average of 2 books per month in 08.

Here is the list and a few brief words about each.  This list is in the order of the books in the photo.  The books that are not pictured are at the end.  There's some good ones there that you should not ignore.

1. Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations - Alex & Brett Harris.  This was the best book I read this year.  I reviewed it here.
2. Reason in the Balance - Phillip Johnson.  Excellent book.  It is slightly outdated and it isn't as good as Darwin on Trial.  But it is definitely worth your time.
3. Chasing Daylight: Seize the Power of Every Moment - Erwin Raphael McManus.  I reviewed this book here.
4. Done. - Cary Schmidt.  This is really a long-form religious tract.  But it is really great.  I may give it out in the future.
5. Truth Decay: Defending Christianity Against the Challenges of Postmodernism- Douglas Groothuis.  A good book offering context to the gospel.
6. Baptists and the Bible - Russ Bush.  I read this because Dr. Bush died this year, and it is clearly a classic.  Easily the most important book of the conservative resurgence in the SBC, it is very academic and not for the weak.
7. The Problem of Evil - Chuck Colson.  Nothing special here.  But not bad
8. The Case for a Creator - Lee Strobel.  Exactly like all the other "Case For" books.  If you liked them, you'd like this.
9. Rumors of Another World: What on Earth Are We Missing? - Philip Yancey.  Yancey wrote one of my top 10 books ever so I find myself reading him regularly.  But I honestly cannot even remember what this book was about.  Though it was better than the next book on this list, it was nothing special.
10. Reaching for the Invisible God - Philip Yancey.  See above.
11. Wild Goose Chase: Reclaim the Adventure of Pursuing God - Mark Batterson.  I reviewed this book here.
12. Orthodoxy: The Annotated Edition - G.K. Chesterton.  Nobody in the history of literature has been more clever than Chesterton.  This is a good book but a bit inaccessible.
13. Brothers! Calling Men into Vital Relationships- Jeff Gorsuch.  We read this for a small group Bible study at my church.  It's pretty good for that purpose.
14. Right Thinking - Bill Hull.  My official review...meh
15. Radically Unchurched: Who They Are-How to Reach Them - Alvin Reid.  This book was good, but not as good as Raising the Bar.
16. Sinful Silence: When Christians Neglect Their Civic Duty - Ken Connor.  I got this book free at the SBC.  It was interesting but I did not buy into its thesis.  If you want to know more, ask me in the comments.
17. A Christian Manifesto - Francis Schaeffer.  Usually Schaeffer ages well, but this book felt oddly dated.
18. Night - Elie Wiesel.  I read this in high school.  It is haunting, fascinating and great.  Read it in one afternoon.
19. The Princess Bride - William Goldman.  Another reread, this book is laugh-out-loud hilarious.  better than the movie which is also great.
20. Brave New World (P.S.) - Aldous Huxley.  I read this because it is a cliché.  It is similar to 1984, but not as good.
21. Prince Caspian (Narnia) - C.S. Lewis.  I read this when I heard the movie was coming out.  it took 2 hours 15 minutes to read, the movie was 2:36 or something.--->Here through 27 are freebies I read to get through my bookcase<---
22. Building Your Spiritual Resume (Developing A Testimony That Will Outlast You) - Johnny Hunt.  this is a free book I got during my seminary days.  I read a bunch of those this year.  Hunt's testimony is entertaining.  Otherwise the book was pretty dull.
23. Lasting Investments - Kent Humphreys.  Another free book contains a great ministry idea.  I probably would recommend this book to my pastor friends.
24. How to Get Promoted - Michael Fletcher.  This book appeared on my door as a gift from a local charismatic church.  It was okay but I would not buy it.  If you are interested in workplace success, I'd recommend virtually anything by John Maxwell over this book.
25. Drawing the Net: 30 Practical Principles for Leading Others to Christ Publicly and Personally - OS Hawkins
26. Good News For Great days 2 - OS Hawkins
27. The Pastor’s Primer - O.S. Hawkins----->These are not in the picture<---
28. unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity… and Why It Matters - David Kinnaman.  This is the second best book I read this year.  It should be at the left of the photo above but I loaned it out.  For a further review ask me in the comments.  Seriously an excellent book.
29. The Final Quest - Rick Joyner.  I borrowed and read this book because every charismatic person I know thinks this book is excellent.  I did not really like it, but it wasn't terrible.  The problem is that it was sort of boring, but it was meant as a devotional.
30. 3:16: The Numbers of Hope - Max Lucado.  Like every other Lucado book...fluffy, devotional, and interesting.
31. Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card.  I actually listened to this as an audiobook.  (Checked out from the Cumberland County library)  It was utterly fascinating from start to finish.  I absolutely loved this book.  Maybe it was just well-done on audio, but I would put it third from the left if I had a physical book.

Feel free to share your list in the comments.

Knowing people I don't really know

I read probably 35 blogs regularly.  (Or at least I subscribe to the feeds of probably that many, though I may not actually read them.) Some of them are my friend's blogs.  I read Adam, Tim, John, and Scott & Briana, because they are my friends.  They are friends from college, seminary and various other place.

Many of the blogs I read are because they are educational, or because I like to think and be challenged.

Then there is this entire other category of blog that I read.  It is well known in Southern Baptist circles as the "SBC Blog".  There are varieties of these blogs written for a variety of reasons.  There are some that I generally agree with and others that I believe are written by those just want to keep trouble stirred up.

In this category there is no one who I have ever met in person.  I only know these people from their blogs.  (Except for some of my former professors.)

Now, here is why I really wrote this post

The other day I read as Bart barber posted this link on his blog, and I thought how horrible that must be.  Of course I prayed to the God of all comfort to comfort those involved.  In the Barber family as well as the Scroggs family.

Then Saturday, Bart posted this.  I've never met Bart.  He's commented on this blog 4 or 5 times, I've commented on his a couple.  After reading this, I truly felt like I knew him, and I felt empathy.  I guess I'm writing this post to say you should read it as well.  Maybe just trying to express my sorrow as well.  I'm not really sure why I'm writing this.

The Story of My Christmas Tree

When Jarred and I were little kids, we had a 3 foot Christmas tree in our room.

As an alleged adult, approximately age 21, I got custody of that tree. Back then I lived with Jason Roland in an apartment that we now refer to as Forest Dump. (btw - Check out that link and read some of the reviews, they are hilarious) I put up the tree and its strand of 50 lights but there were no ornaments for it. Not sure whose idea it was, but we decided to put a tin-foil ball (see 1 in the picture below) on top of the tree in place of a star. After a couple of weeks we were at a UK BSU family group Christmas party, which was at the home of Kristi and April. They felt pity on my little tree and gave me a single ornament from theirs. It was a blue ball, (11) and that year it was the only ornament on the tree.

I decided that having only one ornament was funny so I was going to leave it that way. But then Kristi gave me a present that year which was an ornament, (8) so the next year it had two ornaments. My blog readers are smart…I think you can see where this is going. Each year I added one ornament. Although I don't remember it, apparently I skipped a year or two in there, because I only have 10 ornaments now and the one from Kristi is dated 1996. In 2005, since I was living in a full-size house like an adult, I went out and got me a 6.5 foot pre-lit tree like an adult would have. But I held strong to my one ornament per year rule. What you see below is a picture of my tree now (2008) in all of its 10 ornament glory. Below the picture is a key telling where I got each of the ornaments. Enjoy, and if you gave me one of them…Thanks :)

1 Is the famous tin-foil ball. I added a couple of layers to it when I moved up to the full sized tree.  Also I stuck a nail with a red ribbon in it.  We got the nail/ribbon at church a few years back to remind us about Christ's sacrifice.

2 A little wooden snowman with my name on it. A Couple of my former students, Kristen and Melissa, gave this to me I'm guessing it was '01.

3 This is a snowman with a jingle bell built in.  Holding a sign that says, "Jesus loves you snow much."  I got it at the Cumberland Beatitude house on our work day last December.

4 A University of Kentucky Wildcats ornament. I bought this at wal-mart, can't remember when, but probably like '03 since I was new to North Carolina and felt an extra need to represent my team in hostile territory

5 This is the tassel from my college graduation in '01. I was really proud of this since it took me 13 semesters to actually graduate from college.

6 This is a glittery snowflake.  I'm not sure who, but somebody at Mexico Baptist Church gave me this. I lean towards thinking it is from Sandra Belt and it came in a card or something.

7 This is a slightly used fishing bobber, complete with weights and an actual hook to hang it. It says 80¢ on the side.  I added this one myself in '04.

8 This is ornament number 2 from above.  The one Kristi gave me in Christmas 1996 but it made the tree the next year, so we'll call it '97

9 This is the tassel from my seminary graduation cap. I got this in December '06 when I graduated seminary. This is all that remains from my regalia rental fee of $80, so I'm definitely going to hang on to it.

10 This is a ball from the LaGrange Park RAs. It was part of a Lottie Moon fundraiser in '05. The RAs were placing these in honor or memory of someone for $4. Mine says "In honor of Jesus," I thought it fitting since it was Christmas

11 The original blue ball. (made of actual glass) This would have been 1996.

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My Missionary Summer pt. 2

This is missions week on my blog.  This is part two of the story of my missionary summer.  Part one can be found here: It was a hot day and already in the mid-70s when I left from Nashville early in the morning.  And it was 45° when I landed in Portland in the mid-afternoon.  As you can imagine, I was immediately wondering how I was going to survive this "summer".  I was certainly thinking that I did not pack enough clothes.  (Before you worry, the first 10 days were cold and rainy, and the last 10 days were cold and rainy.  The rest of the summer I may not have seen a cloud.  It was cool and wonderful, the most beautiful weather you can imagine.)

Someone was at the airport with a cardboard sign with my name when I got off the plane.  (This was back when non-passengers were allowed in the terminals.)  As soon as I got my luggage I got out a jacket and prepared for an afternoon in the airport.

Over the next few hours, almost every missionary from the Northwest Baptist Convention arrived.  We had a 2 day orientation at a lodge in the mountains.  Day 2 included a sight seeing trip at the Columbia gorge.

At the end of day two we split up and the groups went their separate ways all over Washington, Oregon, and the Idaho panhandle.  My association had four missionaries.  Two girls, whose names I cannot remember (actually now that I think about it, their names might be Michelle and Karen) were in one group.  They spent nearly the entire summer in the same ministry location.  The other group was David Joiner and myself.  We spent the vast majority of the summer in Longview and Kelso WA.

So what did a typical week consist of?  On Sunday we would go to our host church.  Most were in Longview/Kelso, but we spent a week in Scappoose OR and a week in Castle Rock.  On Sunday the host church would usually want to hear from the missionaries.  So I would give my testimony, and David would sing.  By the end of the summer, David could easily have given my testimony for me, and I certainly had his songs memorized.  Then, throughout the week we would hold some sort of Bible study for community children.  I believe in 8 weeks we did 13 backyard Bible clubs, 2 Vacation Bible Schools, and a youth Bible study.  Most weeks there were morning and afternoon Bible clubs/VBS, sometimes there was an evening event.  Some weeks we worked with two or more churches.

Saturdays were typically travel days.  The Pacific Northwest is a beautiful place, however, and many times rather than rest and do laundry, we would go with host families on sight-seeing trips.  We took a few trips to the Columbia gorge, Castle Rock, and Mt. Saint Helens.  We went to Seattle, where, as a kid from small-town KY, I saw things I'll never forget.  We also went to Mt. Rainier on a very cloudy day, where we had a snowball fight in July.

Two weeks were exceptions.  The week of the 4^th of July no church wanted to have Bible clubs or a VBS, so we mostly had the week off.  Our host pastor, Mike Neal, took care of us that week, we floated down the Coweeman River, (It even had a few rapids) and did typical Independence Day activities.  It was a good time, mid-summer, for a restful week.  We even had a cookout and saw fireworks on Lake Sacajawea.

The final week was the other exception.  The convention had a week of children's camp at a place called the Dunes Bible Camp.  It was on the beach, but the water was about 50° so there was no swimming.  The four missionaries from our association plus a mission team from Mississippi, were the staff for this week.  We served as basically the teachers for the entire camp.

So what did I learn from my experience as a Summer missionary?

Before leaving for this trip I had never taught a Bible study lesson.  (Except on youth Sunday as a teenager.)  I had only once spoken in front of a church.  By the end of the summer, I was a veteran.  I will never forget how nervous I was teaching the first Bible study to a group of Children, how great it felt as they paid attention, and some kind words of encouragement from one of the parents after I finished.

I can remember having a conversation with David during our last assignment.  I was looking back and wondering if I accomplished anything.  Over a 10 week summer, we saw no professions of faith, and no one was called to the ministry or to missions.  We didn't build anything or accomplish some great task.  Really I was rather depressed thinking that the summer had been wasted in some way.  Although I knew I had been faithful to God.

However 2 summers later, as I was serving as the interim Minister of Youth at my home church, God called me into the ministry, and I could look back and see how much of what I now knew I could do, I learned in that summer.  I definitely learned to rely on God.  When you go 2500 miles from home, for a salary of $60 a week, to a place where they don't sell Mello Yello, without knowing a single person, before cell phones were common, you must depend on God for your support.  You learn that you actually can depend on God.  In fact, the main thing I learned that summer was that I can depend on God.  He is always faithful.

Looking back, there are few experiences in my life that played as large a part in shaping who I am, as that summer.  There is nothing like a mission trip to teach you things about God that you simply cannot learn at home.  I would recommend summer missions to every college student, especially if you are struggling with God's will for your life.

You can learn about summer missions in North America at this link, and international summer missions at this link.

My Missionary Summer pt. 1

This is missions week on my blog in honor of the week of prayer for international missions.  So I am telling the story of my summer as a student missionary.  I realize that my experience is not with international missions, but it was significant for me and was way out of the Southeast.  Enjoy part 1. I typically refer to the summer of 1995 as my missionary summer.  I was 20 years old in my sophomore year of college and in October of 1994 I had dedicated my life to God in a new way.  It was the first time I ever told God that I would allow Him to be the most important thing in my life.  It was not the beginning of my Christian walk, but it was an extremely important time, and an anniversary I always remember.  It was also my first year away from home.  (I took my first year of classes at Hopkinsville Community College)

After giving God priority, I began to feel His call to spend that first summer as a missionary.  However, at that time I didn't know how to hear His voice and I didn't know what He really wanted.  I can look back now and say He was clearly calling me to give that summer to Him in missions, but at the time I was genuinely torn.

Here's how my decision making process went.  I thought God may be calling me, but I didn't know.  So I decided to simply fill out the application to be a summer missionary, and if I was accepted I would take that as a "yes."  I filled out the form.  It was the pre digital camera days, so I took a picture in a photo booth.  (It was easily a bad enough picture to get a no from the application committee.)  I mailed it in.  I knew I didn't want to do foreign missions at that time, but my thought was if I'm going to go somewhere away from home I might as well go as far as I can.  So I checked Pacific Northwest on the "where would you like to go" box in my application, and left it in God's hands.  (I really struggled with whether or not to put Alaska)

I got an acceptance letter telling me I was headed to the Southwest Washington Baptist association, (DOM Ted Cotton) which is part of the Northwest Baptist Convention.

Then I had to figure out a way to tell my parents what I as planning.  This was 13 years ago so I don't remember exactly, but I do remember my mom being all for it, although nervous.  Dad told me, "I kinda figured you would do something like that."  I wondered why, but he suspected it because of my involvement with the BSU, and the experience of an extended family member.

That went much better than expected.  And so, with no objections from anyone, I made preparations to spend my summer in Washington and Oregon.  I obviously had no idea what to expect.  I got instructions on how to book my flight to Portland and was ready to leave at the first of June.

The flight to Portland was my second ever flight, and it was by myself.  I was obviously nervous about many things, flying, how to pack enough clothes for 10 weeks, what am I getting myself into, what if I'm miserable?  10 weeks seemed like a long time.

Tomorrow, in part 2, I will write about how I actually spent the summer, some of the adventures, what my thoughts were then, and how it changed me.

Bell's Palsy - 1 Year later

Immediately after I developed Bell's palsy I made a video so my family could see what I looked like. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxl4KoiBTEc]

that video has been viewed some 1300 times, and I still occasionally get messages that people send to me from youtube.  So I thought I'd update everyone on my condition.

I basically have no trace of Bell's Palsy.

I'll briefly go through the symptoms and give an update

The 2 symptoms that remain:

Watery eye – My right eye still waters a lot.  It is intermittent, but when allergies get bad or when I eat spicy food, tears fill my right eye.  My optometrist wasn't concerned.  In fact she said she would never know I had it if I hadn't told her.

Facial soreness – At first, my face was quite sore to the touch.  That has mostly gone, but it still has moments when it is sore.  Of course all on the right side.  Not a daily occurrence, but weekly.

The symptoms that are no more:

Headache - By far the worst part of Bell's palsy for me was the headache.  Most of the time it wasn't severe, though it was occasionally.  What it was, was neverending.  No matter what I took it stayed.  When I woke up I had a headache, when I went to bed I had a headache.  It was the same exact headache for 24 days.  (I think I had a few hours without it one day toward the end, but it came back for a few more days.)  A year later, I occasionally feel just a twinge of that headache, and I have flashbacks.  I have this fear that it will come back and it is a terrible feeling.  But it's gone

Dizziness / Lightheadedness – For the first 2 weeks or so I was very lightheaded.  (By that I mean that when I get up or turn around quickly I would feel sort of dizzy.)  And a couple of days, I was completely dizzy.  (By that I mean that even when I close my eyes and lay down the world was spinning.)  Totally gone.

Muted sense of Taste – You know how your tongue feels after you burn it?  It has that dead spot right where the burn is.  My whole tongue felt like that…kinda fuzzy and with a very muted sense of taste.  This worked out well for me, because I lost at least 7 pounds during this period of my bizarre illness.  My sense of taste, as well as any weight I may have lost, has fully returned.

Loud noises are extremely loud – For at least three weeks, when there was a loud noise, like my dog barking or if I would yell at someone, it was extremely loud.  My ear would ring.  Gone

Heartburn – In addition to all the above I had heartburn regularly during this period.  I blame that on taking 3200 mgs of Motrin every day.  I just added a Pepcid to the mix of pills I was taking and it went away.  Gone

Facial paralysis -My face works completely.  I can even whistle as well as I could before the palsy.  I do notice that when I laaugh my right eye often closes, and I have one eye open further in pictures.  But It's pretty well gone