The Never-Ending Story: Part 1

Good evening everyone, thank you for whoever created the group. I’ve always wanted to find one that might understand where I’ve been, where I’m at, and maybe where I’m going.

Early symptoms

Currently, I’m 39 years old. My brain battle started 39 years ago. I’ve suffered from numerous brain injuries from sickness and trauma throughout the last 39 years. It all started at six months old when my parents picked me up from my babysitter's house and my head was said to have been four times its normal size -- if you’re in the medical field, you know that infants already have huge heads. So of course, my parents took me to the local children’s hospital, Scottish Rite. If you’re in or from Atlanta, GA you’ll know it as part of CHOA (Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta). I spent many, many of days and months in there including my first birthday.

A turn for the worse

I would later, as my medical records show, die just days after my first birthday from bacterial meningitis and encephalitis.

My pediatrician had walked into my pediatric ICU room to make her last rounds of the night to check on me. She told my mother that everything was looking “alright” and that my vitals were stable, besides my fever being in the high 104-105° range. They already had me on an ice bed attempting to get my fever down. The doctor said she would be back again during morning rounds and reached for the door to walk out.

Mom's instinct kicked in

Mom screamed, “Please check on him one last time!” The doctor reassured her that she had just checked on me, that I was stable and the nurses would check on me throughout the night. If anything changed, she’d be called right back in. But my mom persisted.

When the doctor checked me again, she quickly screamed to get the nurses and to call a code blue. I had completely quit breathing and my heart had stopped. But luckily my story did not end there. The Lord wasn’t done with me and my life yet! Doctors fully resuscitated me, but due to the time period (approximately 15 to 20 minutes of lack of oxygen), damage had been done to my developing brain which wouldn’t be discovered until later on in my life. I'm thankful that my parents didn’t give up on me, as doctors had told them that there was nothing more they could do.

Read Part 2 here.