Encephalitis Cases
Ashley
Ashley had gotten severely dehydrated from a Tonsillectomy just two months before and I thought that was the problem. By the next day Ashley looked even worse and couldn't stand on her own. She walked like she was drunk. I took her to the doctor on call and he said to take her the Emergency Room right away because her blood pressure dropped to nothing when she stood up. At the hospital they did a lung x-ray and told me she was just dehydrated and may have pneumonia.
Early the next morning (Wednesday) the Doctor called and said Ashley wasn't any better and had called for an ambulance to take her to a larger hospital 50 miles away. My husband rode with her, and I follow in the car. Once there, they couldn't decide if it was just pneumonia (from the x-ray) or something else and they started her on Antibiotics. They decided to admit her and began the slow process of elimination. A CT scan and a spinal tap were done that night. Ashley was so weak she fell asleep during the spinal tap. All this time Ashley was still throwing up even though she hadn't eaten since Sunday. She was just skin and bones and could barely move. I noticed that the right side of her body would shake when she was asleep. By Thursday they had narrowed it down to Encephalitis and began to give her antiviral medications and did an MRI, which confirmed the diagnosis. On Saturday they finally agreed to give Ashley something to keep her from throwing up and started her on steroids. Within an hour she perked up and was able to talk with my family, who had come to visit. Ashley spent 4 more days in the hospital and received physical therapy so she could walk. On the last day test results showed that Ashley had Mycoplasma pneumonia and that getting encephalitis from that is very rare. The doctors at the hospital told me she would be fine.
Unfortunately she wasn't. Ashley seemed short tempered and easily upset. When she returned to school in January we began noticing problem with her not understanding directions. I talked to her teacher and we decided it could be just because she missed so much school and we waited until the next grading period. By then I had done a lot of research and mentioned to the teacher that I thought Ashley needed to be tested. This was never done. I was eventually told to have it done myself. Ashley was tested in November 1999 by a Neuropsycologist who discovered a number of problems.
I made an appointment with her neurologist to have an EEG done. Meanwhile I presented the tests results to the school and was told she wasn't doing bad enough in school and she must just had ADHD. I knew that wasn't right but I couldn't make them understand. The EEG showed that Ashley has epilepsy, petite mal seizures, and she was put on valproic acid. Since the school wouldn't test Ashley we had it done on our own. Ashley had problems with, memory, processing speed, word retrieval, problem with comprehension in reading, she does poorly on math and spelling. She also has problems controlling her emotions and gets angered very easily. She is often times inconsolable and belligerent. That is very hard to deal with. She also has a tremor in her right foot and weakness on that side. Ashley was just turned down for Special Services again. The accommodations they'd put in writing were things we are already doing. They want her to fail before they will help. It is hard to tell if her seizures are under contro and I wonder if they will get worse. It is very difficult to find any information on encephalitis and I am grateful to the Encephalitis Stories for their site.
Dianne and Ashley
Virginia, U.S.A.
Posted: January 31, 2001
