I was working on Friday 9th 2002 and while sitting in my chair in my home based office, I felt a sharp pain rush through the right side of my head and all of a sudden I had lost complete balance and wanted to fall to the right. My mother was just getting home from work and I told her, to please call for help. The paramedics arrived and rushed me to the hospital. When the ER doctor examined me, he stated that I might of poked my eye hard and that is the cause for the loss of balance (what a joke)...but since I wear contacts and there should be a sort of trust towards doctors we took his prognosis and I went home that night with a little help from my father to walk to the car, I had regained some of my balance back. Next day I awoke and had tremendous dizziness and nausea. However, as I tried to get out of my bed to get to the bathroom, I realized my entire right side was paralyzed and my left side had no feeling. I fell to the grown and dragged myself on the ground with my left hand to get to the toilette were I began throwing up. My mother heard the noises and came to see what was wrong.

Once again, the ambulance showed up, however this time I could not walk at all to get into the back and was carried into the ambulance. This time the ER doctors remembering me from the day before decided to leave me for observation in the hospital so they placed me in a regular room. About 2:00 a.m. on Sunday my father and younger brother were spending the night with me at the hospital, I had the most excruciating pain on the right side of my head, to the point that I was screaming louder than a lady giving birth....to tell you the truth I don’t remember too much of that night because of the pain.

My father says they stuck a huge needle in my left leg and it knocked me out. When I came back Sunday afternoon, I was hooked up with all sorts of devices in the I.C.U. I think that is the first time I realized how sick I really was. My first week in the Intensive care unit, I had more puncture wounds than a pin cushion due to all the exams they were performing, from H.I.V. to god knows what. Anyways, after an M.R.I. several cat scans etc....they determined I had encephalitis. However, they would not know for sure what type of “E” unless they would do a spinal tap ....which I refused.

My treatment went as such: they pumped me with Dilantin which I am still taking and Decadrin a type of steroid that they use to help with inflammation of the brain and finally Zovarex as the antibiotics of champions for the infection. As the week went by I realized I had no coordination with the right side of my body, even though I had regained movement again. I had to stay in I.C.U. for about 9 days, I did not suffer from any seizures .and I never had to use my bed pan. Anyway, on the 10th day I was transferred to a nicer room and started to receive speech and physical therapy.

I know most people who have acquired encephalitis have had to learn how to swallow again, is that the worse or what? Well, after about 3 weeks of hospitalization I went home. My grandmother from Honduras flew down in order to feed me and help me get pretty much anything I needed especially the little portable urinal, while my parents were away to work.

The physical therapist would show up to my house about 2-3 days out of the week to do strength and balance exercises. I cannot believe how hard the simple exercises where at the time, however, they do work. The biggest difference in my life from encephalitis was weight which I gained, 110lbs in the one month I was in the hospital due to the steroids. I went from 6'1 200 lbs of muscle to 310 lbs of jelly.