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| Trafton |
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My son Trafton contracted viral encephalitis in August 1998. It presented itself with
low grade fever and feeling extremely tired. One week later he had a grand mal seizure while
alone. Three days after that he had another grand mal seizure and was taken to Summit
Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee. He had a CT scan, MRI and a lumbar puncture. The
CT scan and MRI were normal. The spinal fluid showed white cells and other unusual cells.
The hospital neurologist said he either had leukemia or encephalitis and told us to go
home and see his family practice doctor on Monday. We then went to Vanderbilt Medical
Center to rule out leukemia. Dr. Thomas Elasy took more spinal fluid and ruled out
leukemia. He told us that it looked like encephalitis and that Trafton might be one of
the lucky ones not to exhibit any symptoms of encephalitis. He said that if things got
worse, to admit him to Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville. We went home and later that
evening, Trafton started hallucinating and acting very strange. We returned to the
hospital and he was admitted. He immediately began having tremors, which lasted for
4 months. He continued to have seizures. He was given Dilantin, Valium, and Ativan
for seizures and tremors. He was totally out of his mind. For the first two months,
he did not make eye contact at all. He would not respond to anything. He eventually
had a trach and stomach-feeding tube added to all the other body invasions.
It was never determined by Vanderbilt what kind of encephalitis he had. It definitely
was not Herpes Encephalitis. He was given massive doses of steroids after 2 months as a
last desperate attempt to bring him back mentally. It did not help. After 3 months
in Vanderbilt, we transferred him to a Healthsouth facility in Tallahassee, Florida.
He could not walk, had no feeling on his skin, still had the trach and stomach tube.
He still hallucinated at this point and could not speak a word. We were told by the
doctors at Vanderbilt that he would never walk, talk, or take care of himself and that
the best thing for all was to put him in a long term care facility. We decided
against this and on December 31, 1998, we brought him home. He was like a newborn baby.
Since that time, he has learned to walk, talk, and is a stage 7 on the Rancho scale.
He is improving rapidly now. His short term memory has gone from minutes to hours.
We started electrical stimulation on him in December and he is improving more rapidly
now. He can carry on a conversation with us. He is driving on country roads and doing
very well. We feel that he will continue to progress. He was a songwriter for BMG
in Nashville before his illness. Prior to that, he was branch manager of Southtrust
Bank in Nashville. If interested in talking, please e-mail me.
Trafton continues to improve. As is usual with encephalitis
victims, his fiancee left him, most of his lifelong friends
have abandoned him but he is making new friends and
has a new fiancee. He is singing locally and writing
songs with wonderful songwriters like Joe Doyle, Don
Goodman and Linda Hargrove. He is in process
of making a new CD and has a song on hold with
Alan Jackson. There are still moments of memory loss
but he has literally progressed from knowing nothing
to having a normal life. He is living proof that doctors give
up on the human will and should never tell a family of
a brain injured person that they will not improve.
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Rhonda
Tennesse, U.S.A.
Posted: July 3, 2000 |
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