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| Bob |
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I am home from a three-week stay at Sequoia Hospital. I am a 55-year-old ALIVE male, living in the Bay Area in California. Here's what
happened. It started out as a sore back in November 2007, MRI's showed a blown out disk, etc.. Well, the doc's and I did the normal thing,
follow the pain. So I ate a bunch of Vicoden and scheduled a steroid injection for around the tenth of December. My back was killing me.
How little did I know about the truth of that statement?
Worse pain, stronger drugs. I began to lose it in terms of functioning. Finally on the day of the steroid injection, I went in to the
clinic, though by now I was no longer coherent. Mike and my girlfriend, Cathy, who took me in were clearly worried. They found me to have
a raging fever of 105 degrees and immediately sent me to the hospital Emergency room. I began to slip away fast. I had a strong fever
at the same time my white blood cells were going almost to zero in count. What was going on? They put me on everything from anti bacterial
IVs to Anti Viral IVs, as no one had any idea of what I had. I was thrown into an ice tub to try and lower the fever. The doc told my
family and friends that I had a pretty poor chance of living. Things were moving fast, not for the better.
I didn't die. Somehow after a few days of clinging to the edge of this world, my grip tightened a little and so I'm still here. But what's
going on here? A sore back to almost dying in only a few days? I got tested for everything. MRI's, spinal taps, CAT scans, you name it.
Finally they found something to work with. I had come in with a wicked case of Herpes Simplex (type 1) encephalitis. Never even had a
cold sore once in my life. And there all in my spinal fluid and in my brain, it somehow got into my system and nearly put me down. Had
I had the steroid injection, I'd have been dead that evening. I spent two weeks in the ICU before being released to the regular hospital.
On January 10, 2008 I got my IV line taken out at my first doctor's appointment. How lovely to be free. He told me that he still does
not know how the E originated, either primary or secondary, as in whatever happened to me is the first and original version of this "disease".
He went on to say they didn't know how to treat it and of course, he's going to follow something a little bit more known in my follow
ups, basically nothing. The good news is that with regular Herpes Simplex encephalitis, you usually get a bunch of lesions on your brain.
I had none in my MRI's. My little peanut brain is like an old piece of leather, but I'm happy about that.
Well anyhow, I got to spend a couple of weeks in ICU at the hospital and then Christmas and up to New Years on the recovery floor. I got
home and was still doing IV's from home, until January 10, 2008. I'm recovering quickly and can do those cool things that we take so much
for granted like walking and typing and all the other fun things. There are lots of tests and appointments and weird medicines I'll be
taking in the near future, but "So What?" What a wonderful time for all of us to take pleasure in the good health we have, and to remember
what a fragile gift our lives actually are.
It's now the 22nd of February 2008, and through some miracle, I'm about 85 to 90% back to normal. Everything works normal; I only have
a little endurance problem and some numbness in my feet, though that is probably from my herniated disk. No medications, no follow-ups.
Is that normal? I'm exercising everyday and even rode a 20-mile bike ride two weekends ago. Still, I sleep plenty and am trying to be
moderate in my lifestyle, which annoys me quite a bit. Best of health to all who read this. We (survivors) are blessed.
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Bob Hilton
California, U.S.A.
Posted: March 11, 2008 |
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