|
|
| Nick |
I am writing about my Nephew, Nick. He is 18 years old and prior to this illness occurring to him, he was healthy.
On May 15, 2002 Nick drove himself home from school with an unbearable headache and numbness on his left side of his body. He had complained of headaches for about a week, but assumed that it was because of his glasses.
His mother took him to a local hospital in Indiana, where he was able to walk into the ER waiting room, but was not able to walk into the examination room. Once in the examination room, they gave him something for the headache. The ER Dr on call decided to admit him. Once in his room he was still able to moan the answer to questions that the nurse was asking. She was concerned, called the DR and the DR had him put in ICU. By this time Nick was in a coma. They did spinal taps, EEG, EKG, and MRI, but could not find what was wrong.
He was transferred to another hospital the next day in Chicago. Again they tested him all over again, but nothing. He was put on a ventilator with a trech and a feeding tube. He continued having a fever every day. Many antibiotics were given, but nothing helped. Finally a biopsy was done. A form of encephalitis was the diagnosis. There was another medical term before the encephalitis word that begins with the letter D, but I am not sure of the actual word. They had no cause for this illness.
They explained it to my sister-in-law that the lining of his brain was attacked which caused Nick to be in the state that he is in.
It's been 3 months, and now the DR had him transfer to a rehab hospital to work at getting him off the trech. I just found out that he has pneumonia now too. My sister-in-law refuses to give up on her son. The Department of Infectious Disease even had a trial medicine given to him hoping it would help.
Now the Dr. say it's a waiting game, and he may or may not come out of the coma. One DR. told her to give it a year. What is she supposed to do after a year? It's frustrating not to know the cause of the illness or if he will ever be the same Nick as he once one.
He never got to graduate High School. His mother went and got his diploma. If anyone has any advice for our family please Email me with it.
Sincerely,
|
A concerned Aunt-
Denise
Indiana, U.S.A.
Posted: August 10, 2002 |
|
|
