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We are so blessed! Ian has recovered virtually 100%. It was so scary to know what might have happened, but now you would never know anything like Encephalitis had ever happened to him. He does have some minor gross motor delays, but his cognitive, language and fine motor skills are all way ahead of where he is supposed to be developmentally. Of course, we will keep an eye out for the after effects, but when I think about how Ian was in late January and early February of 2002, I am so thankful that my sweet little boy is back. He has very little memory of the whole thing. He even thinks doctors are cool after all that he went through so I am happy that he probably was not as traumatized as I was by the whole thing.
When Ian was sick and I read the stories of families with really difficult outcomes, I was so worried. We were fortunate that Ian's case was mild, but I was still so scared. I must credit the power of prayer and I consider it a miracle that he went back to preschool slowly in mid-February and by mid-March he was pretty much back to normal. We went through a phase of irritability and it seemed that when he was hungry or tired, things really got bad behaviorally. But now, he is saying his ABC's and counting to twenty and says, "I love you, Mommy." I was so scared he would never say that again.
I hope God blesses your child/friend/family member, as he blessed my son. Feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions. Thanks saoooo much, his site was such a help to me as we were dealing with this illness. Thanks for posting this!
Update Jan. 2007: Ian is now seven and half and is coming on five years since he had encephalitis. I still worry about him, especially
when he says he has a headache or something like that, but he is average or above in everything. He is in the gifted program at school and is reading
and doing math three grade levels higher than his actual grade. It was a rough experience to have a child with encephalitis, but we made it through,
and he is doing great. I still resent the doctors that failed to diagnose him. They actually sent him home saying he was "crazy from the fever".
I am now much more likely to question and push doctors, and I encourage everyone to be critical consumers of health care. If anyone has any questions
about Ian's story, please e-mail me.
Andrea
Oklahoma City, OK U.S.A.
Posted: September July 10, 2002
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