They believe that because I was sick and throwing up, it may have enflamed the spinal cord. The next day I started with a fever and bad headache by late afternoon. We went to the mini ER and due to my symptoms they sent me straight to the Hospital. That was a long wait, trying to find an immediate baby sitter for the kids in the evening, getting to the hospital as quick as we could and then actually sitting and waiting in the ER waiting room for about 2 hours, all that time not knowing if it was bacterial or viral meningitis. One obviously worse than the other, it was torture- the possibility of death for those few hours was overwhelming for us both.
After finally getting to see a doctor in the ER, they too believed it was meningitis but wanted to do a lumbar puncture to get fluid to see if it was bacterial or viral. I refused, I just couldn't let them do that to my back, and if it was negative they would still have proceeded and treated me with the same meds. They did a blood draw, a brain CT scan and an Xray of my lungs to make sure I didn't aspirate vomit the night before that was causing infection and fever. So with an IV finally in, because I was so dehydrated they couldn't find a vein, they gave me morphine, antibiotics, anti nausea and a few other things and started working on getting me to a room.
They put me in a room and it was well after midnight. My fever was still high, I had terrible chills and my eyes were so sensitive that I wore sunglasses in the dark. I didn't leave my room for 3 days, only getting up to use the bathroom. Finally on the 3rd day, I was able to regulate my body temperature and Tylenol was keeping away the fever and aches. One of the meds they gave me must have been very strong because it was burning my arm as it went into my IV, but I don't think the nurses knew that was the cause so they took out the IV. I had to have a pic line put in, take a look on Google at what that entails!
The infectious disease doctor was ready to send me home by the 4th day. He was going to treat me as if it was bacterial and give me very strong meds. They were going to keep me on the antiviral IV medication (3 times a day) and IV antibiotic (2 times a day) and very, very strong antibiotic pill (2 times a day) for 10 days while at home. We had to administer IV meds 5 times a day for 10 days. And for nearly 10 days at home I was in bed. On the way home from leaving the hospital we had to stop at a special clinic to learn how to administer the IV drugs into my pic line OURSELVES. That was overwhelming and terrifying. My husband and I are both freakishly terrified of needles and blood, I am sure we were quite a sight for the nurse trying to show us how to do it all. But we managed, trying to forget those wires were connected into my arm, and by the 10th day we were actually pretty good and doing it all.
Having my pic line removed wasn't too back, having all the tape removed was more painful and aggravating than the split second deep breath removal of the line. I was left with a lovely blood clotted hole in my arm and a huge bruise around it. Going to the doctors to have it removed was actually one of the first days out of the house for me.
It's been a little over three weeks since all this started and I am still recovering. I am getting my strength back each day and able to do more. It's been a slow process, but I am blessed to finally start feeling better.
This is the IV med we took home to administer by ourselves. The outside material of the ball is very tight and once it is turned on and the IV is started it tightens and pushes the meds out until it is gone. Thankfully, not monitors, or IV machines to take home.
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