One Great Day!
Probably one of the best days of my life would have to be May 7th 2005......it was Brock’s 1st birthday. The reason it was one of the best days of my life was that Brock was still around to celebrate it! Just a few weeks before his birthday Brock ended up in the hospital with bacterial meningitis. Talk about a shock! Just so you all know … here are the facts per the internet… because frankly, it wasn’t until after it was all over that even I knew really what it was all about.
Bacterial meningitis is an infection of the covering of the brain and spinal cord, called the meninges, and is caused by bacteria. Bacterial meningitis is life-threatening and requires immediate medical attention.
Today, Neisseria meningitidis and Streptococcus pneumoniae are the leading causes of bacterial meningitis. Meningitis caused by Neisseria meningitidis is also called MENINGOCOCCAL MENINGITIS. Meningitis caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae is called PNEUMOCOCCAL MENINGITIS.
Brocky had Pneumococcal Meningitis. Which, is the most common cause of meningitis in adults, and the second most common cause in children under 6. There are about 15,000 cases that occur in the United States each year.
Symptoms:
High Fever
Severe headache
Nausea and vomiting
Stiff neck
Sensitivity to light
Mental status changes
Physical exam will reveal a fast heart rate, high temperature, stiff neck and cloudy mental status.
The following tests may be performed:
Spinal tap
CT scan
Treatment:
Antibiotic therapy should be started as soon as possible. Ceftrixone is one of the most commonly used antibiotics. If antibiotic resistance is suspected, vancomycin or rifampin are used. (which is what Brocky received… he received both vancomycin and rifampin per IV for two weeks)
Outlook (prognosis):
With early treatment, the outcome is better. However, 20% of people who contract this disease will die of it and 50% will have serious long-term complications.
Possible Complications:
Hydrocephalus … or “water on the brain”
Subdural accumulation of fluid
Paralysis of various muscles
Mental retardation
When to Contact a Medical Professional
Call 911 or go to the ER if a young child has persistent unexplained fever, irritability, feeding difficulties or high-pitched cry and you suspect meningitis.
Call 911 if you develop any of the serious symptoms listed above. Meningitis can quickly become a life-threatening illness.
Prevention
Early treatment of pneumonia and ear infections.
Make sure your child has received their vaccines. Also, the current recommendations are for people at high risk for pneumonia, children, and everyone over the age of 55 to be vaccinated.
Also recommended that kids between 11-18 be vaccinated… that would be for meningococcal meningitis…. So make sure they get it before they head off to college… However, unfortunately, none of the vaccines cover ALL strains.
Okay… so those are the details… but here is Brocky’s story!
Our story started long before Brock ended up in the hospital. He had had a cold, cough… runny nose…all that stuff for awhile. In fact, the week before he had some strange stuff in one of his ears. Therefore, the next day I was busy at work but Brent took him to the doctor… long story short… she looked in his ears… and said… “no ear infection”. So they headed home… and life went on as normal… Brock still with the cold. Anyway, it happened again… this time there was stuff running out his ear. Ear infections were new to me since neither of my children had ever had one before (even with Raegan being 3 years old). So I called the doctors office … they didn’t seem concerned… plus the doctor was out… and I said that I would see how he does and maybe bring him into Prompt Care Friday morning. Well… Friday morning about 5:00am I woke up…went in to check on Brock and he was burning up (which was the first time he had had a fever through all of this)… I got up… dressed and just held him until it was time to leave to be able to get to Prompt Care when they opened. We got there at 8:00am… saw a doctor… sure enough…. ear infection…so he gave us an antibiotic and eye drops because he saw infection there too. I went and got the prescription… gave him his first dose and we went home. I sat him in his highchair and put him in front of cartoons… just to give him something to watch. He definitely wasn’t himself!!!!! I was really worried about him but just thought the antibiotic needed to kick in and he would be fine. Brent headed to Springfield to take something back and I said “we will be fine.. unless Brock has a seizure or something”… really I was just joking… I had a friend at work who son had just had a seizure because of a fever so that was on my mind… but really didn’t think it would happen!!! Well… about an hour later… I walk into the living room and sure enough… Brock is having a seizure. Not your typical seizure. It was only on one side of his body… half of him was completely still.. the other…. .just kind of ticking!! So the first thing I did was call my sister and all I could say was “Brock…Brock” so she said “I’ll be right there” and she was there in one minute…. But she does just live around the corner. Anyway, by this time I was holding him … and standing in front of the open door (it was cold out that day) hoping to get him cooled off and the seizure to stop. When I saw her… I called 911… and they were there in minutes. By this time… he is still having the seizure…they took him in the ambulance and there got it to stop. So Terri kept Raegan with her and I went in the ambulance with Brock. On the way there I wasn’t really worried… just thinking this seizure was from the fever that he had…. It was over 105… don’t really remember for sure what it was. Well… to shorten the story some… we went to the hospital (the little rinky dink one down the road) … they did a blood test… showed his white blood cell count was something crazy… and next thing you know we were on our way to Springfield. When we got there I will have to say…. I was impressed!!! His room was all ready to go… his size diapers and the whole bit… we walked in the ER and they took us right up to his room! By this time… I was worried…the ride over was not fun. He began to vomit and really just become so out of it! I can’t really remember the details or order things happened after that…. I know for 2 ½ hours they had him laid out on the bed trying to get blood from him poking him with needles… over and over… his eyes wide open… he didn’t even make a sound… didn’t cry… didn’t move… nothing…. he just wasn’t there. The doctor even coming in to the room becoming very upset with the tech because he “had to have that blood”…. He even said to the tech “I don’t think you understand… I have to have that NOW”. Somewhere in there was the spinal tap… then somewhere else in there was them coming to give us the results…. The doctor and his “many” residents. Then after that were the questions…. over and over…. I felt like we were on trial… like I had done something wrong…. Like I had somehow done this to my child. They just asked so many questions…. So many I couldn’t answer them…. I couldn’t exactly remember what the seizure was like… what his eyes were doing…. Details… things I couldn’t recall. They were just trying to get all the information that they needed to help them understand what was going on… but it was all a blur to me. That’s why… always right down on a calendar or something… if your child is sick and how they were and when… just in case you ever need to know. So from there… we were quarantined until they could determine what type of meningitis he had…. Which is a terrible thought… all the people you know who might potentially be affected by this!! The next day (I believe it was the next day) we had a visit from our pastor….just a nice guy … and we were amazed at how fast he had heard about all this… and came to visit. But honestly…. The strangest thing happened to me that day. He was there… saying a prayer…. It was a completely appropriate prayer… nothing out of line, etc. But during it … I became so emotional … I wasn’t suddenly leaning on God…. I was angry… and not just a little angry… I was furious… and I just held on to Brock so tightly that if he had had any mind to him at all he probably would have cried I was holding on so tight. And in my own mind I just thought “NO ONE IS TAKING THIS CHILD FROM ME…. NOT GOD… NOT ANYONE” and I cried… and I cried. I just couldn’t stop holding him so tightly… it was like… if I could just hold on to him tight enough… nothing bad would happen to him…. He wouldn’t die… I wouldn’t allow it… I didn’t really care at that point what God had in store for him.
Well… there were a lot of things that happened between then and the day we left. I never would have guessed when I got in that ambulance that it would be two weeks before I would be home again. I had many sleepless nights…. And I unfortunately saw my little man poked with more needles than I care to mention…. I counted more than 30 spots on him when we got home. At one point I remember one nurse who was trying to once again put his IV back in having to call someone and me overhearing her say…. “there is no where else to stick him… he looks like a human pincushion”. Then of course, there was the ordeal of them trying to insert a pic line (which plugged up the very next day). Of course they have to put him under for that one… and a nurse that we knew in recovery looked at his chart and just laughed and said that they had to use the same amount of drugs to put him under as some adults get…. Guess the doctor wasn’t joking when she said “he’s a fighter… I couldn’t hardly get him under… he just kept fighting me”.
Anyway…. After a long two weeks…. Many needles later… two spinal taps…. Two CT scans…. And a hearing exam…. We made it through it all. And looking at him now… no one would ever guess that he once laid on that hospital bed looking as if he might never make it out of there alive. There are more stories involved… more trips to the ER out of fear after he got home… me calling my sister and having her go with me to the hospital because he had a fever again…. But it’s already been a long story. Fortunately, for all of us… it has a happy ending. He is perfect…. especially to his mother! I’m still not sure how I got so lucky. That seizure saved his life. If he had not had the seizure… I might have just given him some Tylenol and put him to bed…. Never knowing that something was really wrong with him. The thought of that haunts me...because the outcome would not have been the same!
Well… here are some photos of Brock in the hospital after he started feeling like his old self again…. You can’t even imagine how happy I was to see him smile again. I’ve always been one of those people who gets very upset when I hear about the tragedies that face other people… I will cry if I hear about a child or parent or anyone having cancer.. or any other terrible situation.. I’ve always known I don’t ever want to have to face that… and I know how lucky I am. Now it’s even more so… I can’t imagine what some people have to face… watching their children go through such terrible things… how exhausting it would be both physically and emotionally! Everyday we have to count our blessings and realize just how lucky we are because you just never know when life can make a change for the worse. It took me about 9 months after all this to finally actually quit my job… but it was a huge reason why I made that choice. Now when my kids are sick or need me I never have to give a second thought as to who is going to take care of them.. what do I have to rearrange to make sure they are taken care of… I just know that I will be there!
Mommy and Brock playing with toys!
Brock in his "cage".
Visit from Raegan and daddy!
Also… some pics of Brock’s 1st birthday!
Brock with his little Elmo cake!
Man... this cake is GOOD!
Tiger Woods look out for me!
2 comments:
What a horrible time you all had. What a wonderful blessing that it all turned out so well though. Cherish everday - every single one. I wish I could have been there for you then. When did we grow so far apart? You couldn't seperate us in school. Well, I'm here now and if you ever need me...I'll be there.
Now I really understand why you were so worried about Ethan's fever. Thanks SO much for caring and making me more aware too. I did just what you almost did. Gave him Tylenol and put him to bed. We were very lucky.
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