Stuff

[sunrisescholar]

So I got a call from my dad's wife telling me that he had his spinal tap and they found an infection. Now he's in the hospital. They believe that he has either meningitis or encephalitis. They're also testing him for West Nile. I did some research on the conditions and he seems to be in the cateogry of 'severe symptoms,' including confusion, etc.

If he's not contagious, I'll drive down and see him. My immune system couldn't handle it if he was contagious.

He's such a dumbass about illnes -- never believes he can get sick, refuses to see doctors, looks down on people who need medical treatment. I suspect this has changed his opinion on illness and he was clearly panicked on the telephone.

As angry as I get about his attitude (this is the man who told me to use my mind to heal my body while I was in the hospital hooked up to IVs), I'd never have wished this on him. It's going to be a LONG recovery and he may have permanent damage (brain, physical).

Comments

[stephani673.livejournal.com]

Me too. He did finally go to the doctor and have tests done. Now that they're treating him the fatality rate is down to 30% or so.

I'm nervous for him about the latent effects. He's so confused right now and I worry that it will be a permanent thing. He also has terrible tremors and can't walk by himself, so he'll probably need physical therapy.

[stephani673.livejournal.com]

Until I talked to Sheila last night, I had no idea how serious it actually was. We had only been talking to him and he wasn't there mentally. He also wasn't admitting how bad it was, at least not to us. So I was *shocked* when I heard how sick he is. My mom, sister, and I all thought he probably had a respiratory infection or pneumonia from what he was describing.

Sheila tells a completely different story. He's having problems with confusion, but he also shakes so badly that he can't stand up or walk on his own.

So it's bad. Really bad.