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| Kathleen |
Hello, my name is Kathleen. I am 43 years old and contracted Encephalitis April 29, 1999. I had been taking all type of anti-inflammatory medications for my back, hip, arthritis and bursitis. A doctor prescribed the miracle drug they had just put on the market for arthritis patients. Unfortunately my doctor was very busy moving his practice from one location to another and didn't read the fine print on the medication. It stated if you were allergic to sulfa, or an asthmatic patient this medication wasn't for you. Up until this point I had trusted him with my life. After taking it for a short period of time I noticed that I felt different. The room felt funny. Then I started to have severe headaches. It took all of two days for me to forget the simplest tasks. I slurred my words, couldn't stay awake and I slept all the time.
No one would help me but this doctor. He freaked when he saw the X-ray and gave me medication to help drain the fluid in my brain, but by the time I was finally treated the damage done to my brain was catastrophic. It wasn't until a few months later that they came out and told me I had Post-Encephalitis, that it was not something that they could pin point to being the doctor's fault. Yet, one day I was a billing manager making 32 thousand a year, to a woman that had to fight for SSI for 2 years and makes under 8 thousand a year now.
I lost a lot of my functioning for the first 9 months and slept most of the time. My processing was off. I couldn't drive for it was too much movement. I couldn't type for I forgot how. I couldn't talk on the phone because it hurt to think. I cried all the time and watched my children then 17, 15 & 8, live in horror of what I had become. I was the one that took care of everything, my children didn't have to want for anything. Then, I couldn't even take care of myself. They were just so devastated.
I fought to regain my life back. They told me I wouldn't heal to the person I am today, but I just never gave up. I still am unable to work. My processing is very slow, and I get tired too easily. But, I haven't given up hope there either. I do odd things such as help dying patients find peace in this world so they can go on into the next. I feel I have found my calling here. Yes, it has been a very hard road, but so many good things have come out of this that I can only be grateful I am a live. That is my story. I was around 40 years old when this happened to me, I am now 43.
Thank you for allowing me to share.
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Kathleen
Nebraska, U.S.A.
Posted: Sept. 15, 2002 |
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