Meningococcal Meningitis-Elijah Hospitalized

I just wanted to let everyone know that Elijah (14) is doing better after our recent scare with a VERY SERIOUS bacteria-Meningococcal Meningitis.

We have no idea how he got it. He returned from staying the weekend at his friends house and was perfectly fine. He went to bed and then woke up at 4:30 a.m. with a severe headache on the crown portion of his head. He took three Advil and came back into my room at 5:15 asking if he could lay down with me because his head was killing him.

I thought it was really strange because he never asks to lay down with me (that stopped when he turned into a teenager). The headache continued to get worse with the pain continuing throughout his whole head, behind his eyes and then his neck and upper back. He began to get nausea's and his hands started to twitch. He never had a fever though.

I kept waiting for the Advil to work but finally called his Pediatrician and rushed him to the ER. By this time he had to have his head completely covered because the light was bothering him. They got him back, did a CT Scan which showed up negative. They decided to do a Lumbar Tap (spinal tap) to see if there was anything else going on. They found a bacteria and immediately rushed him into isolation and called to have the ambulance take him to Children's Hospital because time was of the essence!

I wanted to cry...but kept a strong face for Elijah. He was really upset and realized how severe it was when everyone was coming in with masks, gloves and protective garments. He was highly contagious and the bacteria was not only his spinal fluid but also surrounding the outer covering of his brain. He could have died within two hours.

We have been at the hospital since Monday (I have been with him the whole time) and he will finally be released on Saturday. The Orange County Infectious Disease doctor has been checking him daily. It seems his case is somewhat of a mystery. The initial bacteria did not grow out on the culture as expected and tests were negative for a viral infection. They treated him for the original bacteria findings with antibiotics all day and night for the past 5 days. They hope that this worked. But if he shows any of the same symptoms after coming home, he will need to go immediately back to the hospital for a two week treatment for a different type of bacterial meningitis. We are praying that this will work!!

Thank you all for your prayers!!! It has been a very scary time and I'm just so grateful to have so many caring and wonderful people in our lives!