Encephalitis Cases
Steve
N.Y., U.S.A.
Posted: Jan 6, 2009
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Encephalitis Cases
Steve
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My husband, Steve had been suffering from flu like symptoms for about a
week. He owns a landscaping business and generally works 7 days a week.
On Tuesday he took a day off, he had a very high fever. By Wednesday he
was back to work. Sunday morning May, 18th 2008 he woke up and took a shower
and got dressed and then decided he was too ill to go to work. About 4 hours
later I found him staring out into space, unable to communicate. As we drove
to the doctors he was getting worse and worse. We got to the emergency room
, they ran a battery of tests MRI's, spinal taps they started him on Anti-viral
and Anti-biotics (they were stopped after a week or so since there was not
a medicine for his type of encephalitis).
A few days into E he seemed to be improving, then he had his first seizure and he went downhill quickly. He couldn't speak, eat, walk or follow directions. For weeks he was hallucinating badly, hearing screaming and
thrashing all over the place. After about 3 weeks he went
to a rehabilitation hospital where they taught him to walk
and talk. He was doing amazing.
While in rehabilitation he
had developed a rash. The doctors didn't think much about
it. They thought it was a Dilantin (seizure drug) rash, so
they lowered his medication. It got worse, his temperature
jumped to 106. He had Stevens Johnson Syndrome, a rare and
deadly drug reaction which caused 3rd degree burns from the
inside out. We were sent to a burn center for another 3 weeks.
He was in such pain, but, he healed from that too and finally
we made it home. Over the past 7 months we have had struggles,
mostly with seizures. But, everything is improving it has
been 2 months since his last seizure.
Miraculously his eye site is good, his balance and short term memory are
not as good as they were, but not much worse than mine. Steve is about 90%
of where he was before. E was the worst experience of our lives. During
the acute faise test came back that he had California Encephalitis, caused
by a mosquito (in NY). The Doctors didn't know what would happen, in rehab
I was told I should be prepared to look into nursing home facilities. I
believed in the strength of my husband. Dealing with struggles but, happy.
Steve laughs very easy now, it's awsome. We have been given a gift and we
are truly thankful.
Steve N.Y., U.S.A. Posted: Jan 6, 2009 |
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