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| Kristan |
When I was three months old (1986) I started sleeping all the time, at home and at daycare. After about two days of my sleeping all day my mom took me to the doctor not knowing what was wrong. Mom brought me in and the doctor noticed my extreme sensitivity to light and sound. My doctor immediately thought (unlike most doctors) of encephalitis. At that point the doctor told my mom to go to the hospital and she would meet us there for further tests.
When we got to the hospital the doctors took me into a room and explained to my mom that they were going to do a spinal tap on me. Of course the doctors would not let my mom go in the room fearing that I would not come out alive. Being only about ten pounds doing the spinal tap could very easily make my brain collapse. My mom listened outside the door to my cries while a team of doctors and nurses drew the spinal fluid. About an hour later the doctor came back with the tests confirming I did have viral encephalitis. I was immediately put into quarantine. Then the doctors prepared my family for the worst by telling them that if I survived I would be deaf an/or blind and physically and/or mentally retarded along with the chance of having seizures.
After five days in intensive care my symptoms of encephalitis were gone as well as the virus. It was a miracle! I am now 19 years old (2005), I am an honor student and an athlete and I have never experienced any problems from encephalitis besides having long-term memory loss. So for everyone out there, there is hope and miracles do happen. The doctors concluded the reason I did not experience seizures or anything to serious like that (all though I did have encephalitis) was because it was caught so early. So, if you suspect something is wrong and the doctor tells you to go home and come back in a week don't listen you may not have that long go to another doctor and get everything all checked out!
I thank you for reading my story and if you have a story similar to mine I would really like you to email me at the address below.
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Kristan
U.S.A.
Posted: July 4, 2000 |
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