Encephalitis Cases
Rebecca
Our daughter Rebecca was diagnosed with viral Encephalitis in July 2009.
She was 4 years & 4 months at the time. Rebecca had been gripey all day
and presented with a high temperature before bed. She had a fairly good
night but the whole of the next day, did not wake up. We left her as we
thought she was just sleeping off a 'bug'. Towards that evening, after showing
no signs of improvement we took her to ER.
She was extremely lethargic and incoherent. The doctor suspected advanced
dehydration and hospitalized her. She had a quiet night but the following
day began having a number of seizures (lost count) and making strange noises
(a cry/moan I'll never forget and can't quite describe!). She was completely
'out of it' but still able to follow simple instructions. She had a raging
temperature and diarrhea which was treated with anti-biotic's as well as
given treatment for suspected meningitis as a precautionary measure.
A neurologist paid a visit that evening and Rebecca had a number of seizures in his presence.
He immediately did a CT and a Lumber Puncture. The LP came back clear but
the CT (confirmed by MRI) showed a build up of hydrocephalus. The next couple
of weeks were indescribable. All night rituals at her hospital bedside as
she lay motionless in a coma. Fortunately anti-epileptic medication stopped
the seizures and the antibiotics took away the diarrhea and temperature.
A full MRI a couple of days later revealed
significant hydrocephalus but thankfully not at the stage where a brain
tap was necessary. Days went by with no improvement. Finally the doctor
decided to give Rebecca a blood product with antibodies as a last resort.
This together with the antibiotics slowly but surely brought her back,
firstly her eyes opened and after many more days she smiled and could
swallow.
After 20 days I carried her out of hospital
- she could not talk, walk or even smile - it was the hardest day of my
life! Two days at home she picked up a further virus and was vomiting
and didn't’t eat for five days! She eventually got through that. Rebecca's
6 monthly follow up MRI showed no hydrocephalus (no swelling) but slight
damage to the cerebellum.
Rebecca makes steady progress each day. She is able to walk, run, eat and sleep normally. Her speech is affected
- she talks very slowly (but no problem with vocabulary). Our biggest
difficulty now is dealing with severe learning disabilities particularly
around balance, visual-motor integration, writing and general fine motor
tasks. She is easily two years behind where she was before taking ill
and has lost a lot of confidence particularly when playing with friends.
She has OT and Speech Therapy weekly and continues to improve. Her final
diagnosis was viral encephalitis with symptomatic seizures. Although insignificant
traces of the Cochsacci (sp) virus were found in her blood, no one is
quite sure what virus caused this state. This was clearly the most devastating
time of our lives but we thank God for his healing hand on Rebecca, her
courage and determination and the important lesson this has taught us
as a family - value and make the most of each day with our loved ones.
Myles RitchieEast London, South Africa  Posted: February 25, 2010 |
