Could my life get any worse?

We made it safely back from England (barely). I was never so happy to feel that plane touch down at home. I will try to post some pictures from England just as soon as I can.

You're probably wondering about the title of this post...well, here's the story...

The second week we were in England William came down with a fever. Nothing I was too concerned about-we just kept checking his temp, giving him tylenol and fluids. By Friday he seemed much better (Jan. 2nd). We woke up early on Saturday (travel day), and he still seemed ok. I did notice though that he had broken out in a rash. I thought it was something to do with the fever, and I knew I'd be staying home on Monday with him and bringing him to the doctor. At this point I just wanted to GET. HOME.

His fever flared up again on the flight from London to Cincinnatti. I made the mistake of asking the flight attendant if she had a cloth I could dampen and wipe William off with. I then had to explain his fever and she alerted the captain who then radioed the ground and explained William's fever. I had to take his temp every 30 minutes to see if it changed. Anyway, it was pretty much up and down for the rest of the flight. About an hour before we landed his temp. returned to normal and he got a sudden burst of energy. Then the captain came back and spoke to us. He told me that unfortunately they couldn't allow us to catch our connecting flight home due to his fever and rash. He would need to be checked out by a medical doctor and given the ok to fly.

When we landed in Cincinnatti, the customs and immigration met us on the plane and okayed us to enter the country. The airport ambulance met us on the plane and took us by ambulance to the nearest hospital where we spent 5 hours in the ER! William was checked over, given a shot of an antibiotic, and said he was fine to fly home. Thankfully we were able to catch the later flight home. I have never been so happy to see my own home and my own bed! That was a long 24 hours of traveling!

That brings us to Sunday (Jan. 4th). I started to not feel well (William is absolutely fine now-just tired). I assumed it was just a headache and tiredness from the flight so I went to bed really early. I woke up in the middle of the night with the worst headache of my entire life. I was also sick to my stomach, sweating, chilled, etc. Finally around 4 a.m. I woke Olly up and asked him to go to my mom's for some medication for my migraine. He brought it back, I took it, and was waiting for relief. NOTHING. I decided to call the clinic first thing in the morning and go it. Monday morning (William was sent to daycare because I couldn't take care of him) I went to the clinic and they gave me a shot for my migraine and checked me over. She also gave me a prescription for my migraine. I still wasn't feeling much better, but I was able to pick William up from daycare. That night I didn't feel much better but the vomiting had subsided.

On Tuesday morning I woke up and still didn't feel well. I was actually feeling worse. I called my mom (who is a nurse) and asked her what she thought I should do. She recommended that I go to the ER. I knew there was something more wrong with me than just a migraine because I hadn't responded to any medications and my head hurt so incredibly bad. I have never felt pain in my head like that even though I have suffered from migraines.

Olly took me to the ER and they got me in right away. My temp was 103 which is unusual for an adult, and that told them that there was something more wrong with me than just a migraine. It took forever for the doctor to see me (you know how those ERs are), but luckily the nurse was able to give me an IV and anti-nausea medications, so at least my tummy was feeling a little better. My head hurt so bad that all I could do was lay there and cry off and on. The doctor came in and they drew blood and did several tests on me. He also started running me on antibiotics for fear that it could be some kind of infection. He then recommended that I have a spinal tap done to check for meningitis. It was NOT FUN. He compared it to an epidural which I've had with William, so I thought it would be no big deal. OH. MY. GOD. When he put the needle in he kept moving it around to an area of my back that I'm sure was not numb from novicane. Finally he took the needle out and numbed me up in a different spot and tried again. Now, between the nausea, head pains, and now back pains, I wanted to shoot through the roof! He finally stopped and sent me to radiology where they could perform a spinal tap with a camera to know exactly where in my back to place the needle (instead of feeling around). That was pretty painless.

I was then sent back to the ER room to wait for more test results. The doctor came back awhile later and said I tested positive for meningitis. At this point they weren't sure which one, so they were treating it like bacterial and running me on a lot of antibiotics. Bacterial meningitis can be very life threatening if left untreated. The other meningitis is called viral meningitis. Because it's viral it doesn't have a cure-a person's body just has to fight it off, but it can be very debilitating during that time.

Thankfully I was diagnosed with viral meningitis which typically isn't life threatening, but let me tell you, it's very debilitating. The only things I can really do are go to the bathroom and lay in bed.

I spent a few nights in the hospital. Even though there is no cure for VM, they still needed to get my pain and nausea under control before sending me home. I came home on Friday after feeling pretty comfortable in the hospital. The car ride was horrible! I felt sick to my stomach again and my head was pounding. As soon as I got home I went to bed and haven't left my bed. Olly was close to turning around and taking me back to the hospital.

Yesterday (Saturday) was my first full day home. I felt really lousy yesterday. I couldn't sit up without getting head pains or nausea. I did manage to go downstairs when my co-worker came over with some food, but I got sick while I was downstairs and had to come back upstairs. The nausea was really bad yesterday.

Today I am feeling better than yesterday. I stood up without getting a headache and was actually able to walk to the bathroom and sit down on the toilet before my head pains started in. I feel nausea off and on, but nothing compared to yesterday. My lovely co-worker remembered me saying one day at school that when I was sick and pregnant with William I loved mashed potatoes and gravy from the local grocery store, so that's what she brought for me! I've been eating those off and on today. I'm half sitting up in bed typing this and haven't gotten a headache so that's great news!

I'm staying home from work tomorrow and most likely Tuesday. The doctor recommended that I don't go back until possibly Friday depending on how I'm feeling. My first masters class starts tomorrow night, so my mom is going to drop me off. I'm going to tell my professor in case I have to leave early. I can't imagine I'll be able to sit up in a chair for 4 hours since I haven't been able to sit up for more than 1 minute for the past week.

Anyway, I'll post again when I'm feeling better. Hopefully that will be soon! The healing time is different for everyone. I've heard 10 days, 2 weeks, and months. Let's hope I'm the 10 days or 2 weeks kind of person!