Good Morning, everyone,
I hope I find you well and looking forward to the day.
It’s a Monday morning here in Edinburgh, the back of 8am, as I write this, and the start of a new week after the first Sunday night spent in my own bed for the best part of 14 days, thanks to an unexpected hospital stay.
Long story short, after bloods, a CT scan, x-rays, an MRI, a lumber puncture, swabs and even a visit from the tropical medicine consultant along with Neurology, ENT and Medical, I have been diagnosed with Ramsey Hunt Syndrome, a nasty little virus of the chickenpox pox strain. It’s akin to shingles, only it chooses to attack the nerves on the inside of the body.
In my case, that was the right hand side of my face, which I can’t move. A severe attack it has left me with pain (some of my 33 tablets a day keep that at bay), an eye I can not close, and a mouth that can not smile – my face droops.
In time, fingers crossed, a lot of time, nine months to a year, some of that will return to normal. Meanwhile, I have a small surgery and some exploratory work still to undergo as an out patient.
Hopefully this explains my absence over the last fortnight. Now, thanks to the brilliant, passionate, caring and stupidly hardworking consultants, doctors, nurses and auxiliaries of NHS Scotland, I’m back, sense of humour still intact – the frozen side of my face looks like the best Botox job ever, not a single wrinkle or from line and about 15 years younger than the normal side.
Humour was a huge part of getting me through this and I have so many ward stories, which at the times played out like a modern Carry On… The Yoghurt Thief, Lord Godiva in his Toilet Chariot and sleeping on a bag of ice, just some of the tales I’ll be sharing soon.
Just now though, I’d like to ask a little favour. With work opportunities restricted for the time being, I need your help.
Clicks are the life blood of keeping MustSeeTheatre.com alive. They cost but a second of your time and mean so much more to me. Recently, I launched Theatre Pod, my new podcast; you’ll find it here and on my new Youtube channel here.
The first, filmed live on the stage of the Edinburgh Playhouse features the amazing Les Dennis talking about his love of theatre, favourite shows and sharing some very personal stories from his life on stage.
You can watch or just listen, it works both ways, and is just under 25 minutes long. If you could click and watch, it would be of huge value to me – even if you click and don’t watch, just letting it play away in the background would help, however, I’m confident you’ll find it entertaining.
Of course, you can also help MustSeeTheatre.com through Buy Me A Coffee – every little helps although I know that in these financially difficult times not everyone is in a position to do that. Likewise, every click on a story helps MustSeeTheatre.com reach a larger audience.
By doing any of these things, you support my work and allow me to keep doing it. If you enjoy reading my reviews and listening to/watching the podcast then please do share it with your friends and on your own socials, organically, like word of mouth is the best way to share anything and has the most value because it is a personal recommendation, a vote of confidence I fully appreciate and never take for granted.
So, thank you in advance and for all your support so far. If you have any questions about any of this or my experience of Ramsay Hunt Syndrome (it’s the one that Justin Bieber had – wonder if it will leave me able to have a Top 10 hit too) just drop me a line.
Thanks again, and have a good week,
With my best regards, Liam x
