Encephalitis Cases
Dylan
They ran a lot of tests then transferred him to another hospital. It took several cat scans and MRI's and spinal taps and nothing would show up. After five weeks in ICU a MRI showed that he did in fact have encephalitis. He was not responsive at all. He was on a breathing machine, feeding tube and would only stare to one side. We were all so scared and didn't know if he was going to make it. He kept having seizers.
It all happened so fast he didn't show any signs before this, he was walking and played like any other day. They ran several tests to find out how he contracted it but everything came back negative. We still do not know only that a virus caused it. It was very frustrating. After two months of being in the hospital, they were transferring him to a rehabilitation center in Orange County. He stayed in rehab for about six weeks and still was not making very much progress. He could not sit up, barely rolled over, and was still not really responsive. We later found out that the latest MRI showed that his brain had shrunk and that he had lost some brain cells but they didn't know which ones. We were discharged on Nov.27th, 2001 to bring him home. There was nothing else they could do for him. It was like a just wait and time will tell how far he is going to come back.
Since we have been home it has been amazing. Dylan is the strongest person that I know. At first he was progressing slowly. Rolling over was his mode of transportation. He sees physical therapy; occupational therapy and we take him to a special therapy called feldenkrais, which I would recommend to anyone, I give Elinor most of the credit for his progress.
It is now May 2002, and he recently started army crawling, sitting up and is attempting to pull himself up onto things. I have such tremendous hope that he is going to be just like he was but if not I am just happy to have him with me. He is a blessing and I will take him anyway I get him. There is so much that I left out but I tried to just sum it up as short as I can.
I just want to tell anyone out there who is going through this to never give up hope and to give as much love as possible to your child. If anyone wants to contact me, my e-mail address is below.
Thank you, Sheri
Huntington Beach, California, U.S.A.
Posted: May 1, 2002
