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The positioning of the parotid gland was important as it was preventing the tumour from damaging facial tissue or harming important nearby structures, including the facial nerve.

"Some people chose not to have surgery because it's really scary to have surgery on your facial nerve because there is a lot of risk to it."

Doctors determined the symptoms were a result of swelling of a facial nerve, “most likely caused by a post-viral infection,” she said.

One side of her face was drooping, apparently from Ramsay Hunt syndrome, which can occur when the shingles virus reaches a facial nerve near the ears.

RHS is when a shingles outbreak affects the facial nerve near someone's ears, resulting in paralysis of parts of the face as well as blisters in the ears and on the roof of the mouth.