Encephalitis Cases
Isabelle
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My grandmother, Isabelle, was an extremely active 85 year-old. In fact, Thanksgiving Day 2009, two days before entering the hospital, she prepared the entire meal for about 15 guests. The next day, she said she didn’t feel well and was suffering from flu-like symptoms. She barely ate anything that day and slept most of the day on the couch, which was very rare for her to do. The next day, Saturday, when she woke up she was using the walls for support to walk to the kitchen and was very unsteady. She could barely lift her coffee cup and was speaking in slurred words. She kept saying, “It feels better now” and would touch her face and neck as if that area was numb or hurting. She was given some baby aspirins and we took her to the ER at our local hospital. There they thought she had suffered a stroke or mini-strokes and moved her into a room. Isabelle lay in the bed and seemed to be talking more clearly and even ate a tiny bit of the meal they brought her, but soon her condition became worse. She was saying crazy things and mumbling her words. The hospital only gave her aspirin and insisted she had strokes. Isabelle did not sleep at all that night and the next day she stayed awake but was not talking. She would nod her head and smile at the family. At some point between Saturday and Sunday she lost her ability to swallow food and my aunt believes she aspirated on the food they tried to feed her. Finally, she fell asleep Sunday night and Monday her condition was near comatose so was moved to the ICU. She was given a tracheotomy and put on a ventilator. Because this hospital was still unsure of what happened and what Isabelle was suffering from, she was moved to a larger hospital that night (Sunday night). At the Altoona Regional Hospital she opened her eyes for the family slightly that night. That was the last time she opened her eyes for weeks as she entered a coma shortly after. She was put on Acyclovir as a precautionary measure and the next day (Monday) underwent a lumbar puncture which allowed the doctors to come to her diagnosis: Herpes Simplex Encephalitis. In the comatose state, Isabelle would make slight movements of her arms and feet in response to the family talking to her. Later during her stay at this hospital, doctors and nurses said that her eyes would follow them around the room although she never opened them there. As her vitals improved with the continuation of the Acyclovir, she began to start breathing on her own some and was given a feeding tube. After a week or two she was moved to an acute care facility in Harrisburg. She continued to improve, although still asleep, until she was fully taken off the ventilator. Shortly after she finally opened her eyes and would make silent gestures like nodding her head and shrugging her shoulders. We saw her make great improvements at this location where she had outstanding care. However, due to insurance reasons she had to be moved to a nursing home. At first Isabelle continued to improve; she even began talking, sometimes very clearly, other times difficult to understand. She would smile and laugh and one day even completed a connect-the-dots puzzle. She ended up with pneumonia and a urinary tract infection at this nursing home, which she recovered from, but also contracted a bedsore which confined her to a bed (she had been spending some time in a chair prior). Just recently, her improvement seemed to come to a plateau and even take a slight step backwards. Isabelle began to speak less and spend a great deal of time sleeping. When she is awake she seems very tired. After researching encephalitis recovery, we understand that progress will not always be steady and that these plateaus can be very common. My family decided to move Isabelle to another nursing home which is closer to us and has more therapists. We are prepared for a long and tedious recovery but still hoping that someday Isabelle can come home. If anyone else has a loved one suffering from Herpes Simplex Encephalitis, my family would love to hear about their experience and progress. Isabelle PA, USA  Posted: November 20, 2010 |
