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| Eli |
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In reading the many stories on this web site I have come to understand the amount of luck that exists in my life. In the past 2 years I have experienced many things that have changed it forever. Medically speaking, I have ventured from a college athlete to what I today consider a man with many things to build. In my life I have broken my bones 5 times, experienced several unique illnesses and recently of course have experienced encephalitis. When I was about 10 years old when I broke my arm for the second time, it was crushed into dozens of pieces and according to my doctor surgery was required and with no guarantee of full recovery. Because of the naturalistic background of my dear mother, the surgery was rejected and after many months the arm luckily recovered 99%. A few years ago I also experience shingles which apparently is quite common. Little did I know this was nothing compared to what I would eventually be faced with.
About a month ago I was beginning to feel a bit sick and nauseous and in response I began taking a few days off from work. My girlfriend was staying home to take care of me and on the third day of staying home as I had been feeling a bit better the day before she was dressed and ready to drive into work. As she was walking out of the bedroom I stopped her for a going away kiss and in the midst of this she accidentally felt my forehead and was immediately alarmed. Instead of what was expected, my temperature had risen to 103.9 overnight. She immediately decided to stay to my ultimate luck and within the next hour I had began to react very severely to the unknown illness. On top of what is expected, the uncontrolled shaking, heat exhaustion, head splitting pain, disorientation…I had actually begun to mentally shut down. I could not speak to anyone, understand what was being said or react to anything other than my current situation. Assuming my girl had left for work, this could easily mean that I woul have sat there in my bed with no ability to call for help until my later death as I have learned that assuming no treatment, Encephalitis survival can be as low as 30%.
As I was rushed to a treatment center, it was fairly easy for the center to admit there was little that could be done by them and so they sent me on my way to a major hospital in the area. My condition was stabilized there although it took some time tracking down my family as they would not accept any consent from me, not to mention I couldn’t exactly consent to anything that I did not understand. For a few days in the hospital I was still very unstable as they had to rig my breathing and assist my body in many everyday common abilities. I had visitors including my girlfriend although at the time I could not speak. Luckily this was the case as it may have revealed that I did not remember their names anyways as this disease attacked my memory immediately.
Amazingly a few days later I was beginning to recover at light speed. The doctors agreed that I had meningitis and as they thought that I was doing well they were actually ready to release me the next day. As the doctors that monitored me tried to speak to me about my condition they immediately took note that I could very rarely make full sense and also that every time they asked me what I was in there for I would say, “sorry, cant remember.” More testing was done as the original CT and spinal tap did not reveal anything other than the Meningitis. The MRI the next day revealed that I had Encephalitis and from there it was obvious to the team that I would need to stay for a good amount of time longer. Over the next week, the doctors monitored my condition, my body and of course my ability to remember. They were amazed at how quickly I was recovering as with this condition they had experienced much more severe things.
After only 8 days in the hospital I was released under the supervision of a “daily” nurse who would give me acyclovir and dilantin. After a few days she understood that I could handle the medicine myself and allowed my girlfriend and I to monitor myself on a daily basis as she would check up about once a week for safety. I have recently stopped taking the acyclovir and I feel that I have recovered a large percentage. I still have condition issues as when the brain is attempted to be use too much I begin to shake and I lose concentration. In the past few days I have actually been able to go in public as before my body would shut down and I could barely walk. I have been told by my doctors that I have recovered faster than they have ever experienced or even heard of with this condition and that I should eventually recover 100%. I look forward to that day and hopefully soon I will be able to head back to the Kennedy Space Center where I work.
As I read these stories I realize immediately that I have one of the least severe cases of encephalitis in history and for that fact I am forever grateful. I wish that I could be apart of the recover of others as I feel that with my experience I know how they must feel. In this time I have begun to think about what is really important in my life and I have been given the opportunity to evaluate my life in a perspective that I owe completely to my recent experience. I hope to one day be able to look back and say that this experience is why I am who I am, and am where I am today because of this experience. I appreciate the stories that I have read and I hope that you can appreciate my story as well.
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Eli
Florida, U.S.A.
Posted: Jan. 25, 2006 |
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