ENCEPHALITIS CASES

Encephalitis Cases

Tammy Jo

My name is Tammy Jo Wampler. I contracted Herpes Simplex Encephalitis in October of 1992. This is a very difficult story for me to write, I was a very active 30 yr. old mother of 2 small daughters, ages 7, and 9. I had been in gymnastics for a lot of years of my life, and was still very coordinated, and I thought, graceful. I had also just completed a quarter of Business Management, and received a perfect 4.0.

I started having extremely severe headaches, to the point of throwing up. I finally went to the hospital, but they told me I had a sinus infection, and sent me home. My behavior started becoming more and more erratic, so I went back to the hospital. I couldn't explain my symptoms, or even tell them my name, so my mother tried to tell them for me. They called in a neurologist, who didn't know what it was, but he knew that it was serious. So of course, I had a spinal tap, an M.R.I. and a Lumbar puncture. So, by ruling everything else out, they came up with the diagnosis of Herpes Simplex Encephalitis. The Doctor told my mother that if she hadn't brought me in that day, she would be planning a funeral. Of course, that scared her to death.

The doctor wanted to drill a hole in my head, to relieve the pressure, but Mom wouldn't let them, (brain surgery also scared her to death). So they started me on an I.V. of Acyclovir. I spent a week in the hospital, being very combative, and disoriented. I would rip out my I.V. They tied me to a chair, but I managed to get out of it, and I also had very vivid dreams while in the hospital. I did things while in there that I still can't believe, the steroids made me extremely hungry, and I would eat everything put in front of me, regardless of whether I liked it or not. The first time my daughters came to see me, I did not know who they were. When I was released from the hospital a week later, I went to my mother's house, because I was still on medication, and couldn't really get around too well.

I had a relapse. Back to the hospital I went. Another round of the I.V. steroids, and this time, when I was released, I couldn't walk, couldn't hear, and had to wear a diaper. I still don't hear very well out of my right ear, and I still have a limp. But the worst thing I have to deal with is the fact that my husband, whom I was separated from, decided that now was the time to divorce me, and get custody of my daughters. He had taken my daughters while I was hospitalized, but assured me that when I was well, I would be getting the children back. So while I was busy learning how to tie my shoes again, I also had a custody battle to go through.

When I tried to go back to school, was when the depression really began to set in. I couldn't remember anything, and math was impossible for me. I had no balance, and felt like the person I had always been, was no more. My daughters were taken from me, and I had no reason to live.

My son was born on January 29, 1996, 3 days after my oldest daughter turned 13. Both my daughters were present at the birth of their brother, and I married his father when he was about 8 months old. He has been the one that I took all my anger out on, and he has been the one to keep pushing me when I didn't feel I could go on. I must have given him his engagement ring back 7-8 times, until he started wearing it on his pinky finger, and lost the diamond out of it.

I was so mad at God for so long, I thought there had to be a reason WHY I survived. And WHY I lost what I did.

It's been 9 years since I had the illness, and I've come a long way from that woman in the hospital, brushing her teeth with lotion, ripping out her IV's for amusement, but I am alive, and I thank God as well as many others in my life.

Tammy Jo
Georgia, U.S.A.

Posted: Jan. 15, 2002

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