Wise Family Happenings: April 17, 2009 Marlaine has Meningitis

Marlaine has been feeling sick for about a week. She had a constant headache and her eye had been bothering. We thought it might be from stress from school and working and maybe even from her new glasses prescription. Thursday, she went to see the doctor. Her doctor told her that what she had was a migraine and sometimes they go on for days so she gave her a prescription. She took her medication Thursday night. When she woke up Friday morning she told me that she was still hurting and the pain was getting worse. I decided it was time to take her to the hospital, I thought they could give her a pain killer injection and send her on her way feeling better.

Well that was not the case. The doctor was concerned that she could have an aneurysm, so he drew some blood and sent her to have a cat scan. The CT scan did not show any bleeds, but her blood work showed that she had a very high white blood cell count. He decided to do a spinal tap. The spinal tap showed that she had a white blood cell count of 615 in her spinal fluid. The doctor said this was not good news, the norm is 0 and anything over 5 is concerning. He diagnosed her with Aseptic/Viral meningitis. He started her on an antibiotic and admitted her into the hospital.

Marlaine has been such a trooper, she is deathly afraid of needles, but since she was in so much pain she let them do everything they had to without a fight. They had her so drugged up with pain medicine that the spinal tap didn't even bother her, but the pain in her head and neck continued to be intense with no relief.

Family and friends have been very supportive with prayer for a quick recovery. Robert has been taking care of Lucas by himself, while I have stayed by Marlaine's side and Bobby has been at work. I am proud of Marlaine for being such a trooper, proud of Robert for being responsible for his little brother, and proud of Lucas for being a good boy for his big brother.

We hope Marlaine will be able to go home soon.

Marlaine waiting for the doctor to see her.