Life Changing

The day of my illness was an ordinary day. Work, grocery store, cooked supper and was texting with a friend when I had a sudden earache. I took a couple Tylenol and within thirty minutes had the worst headache I’ve ever experienced. I went to bed thinking that would help only to wake my husband a couple hours later to take me to the ER as I could no longer stand the pain. I awoke 6 days later in the Neuro ICU of a different hospital to find out I had Pneumococcal Meningitis and had been intubated 3 of those days. I remained in the hospital for two weeks relearning how to walk using a walker and regain strength. Was able to leave the hospital with a PICC line antibiotics that remained for three months followed by several weeks of oral antibiotics. Had a mastoidectomy and eardrum reconstruction three months later followed by 7 months of NeuroRehab PT and Speech. I lost vision in my left eye and diminished vision in my right. My balance is bad but I am able to walk independently using a quad cane. I have extensive nerve damage that effects my arms, legs, face and heart (arrhythmia). I have trouble concentrating and have what I call ‘stimulation overload’ when I am in noisy, busy areas. I simply cannot function in these environments and my husband tells me I talk ‘jibberish’. One of the strangest problems I have is I’ve lost the ability to do simple math. Numbers in general do not stick with me but that also may be due to my short term memory loss. Overall, I’m lucky to be alive and consider myself a survivor.