- Nov 16, 2003
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Here is a letter my stepmom wrote me about my brother, Abe. I'm feeling really horrible now and we really need prayer...
The letter:
Hi this is a quick update as Ive been up for almost 40 hrs straight and need to get some quick sleep before driving back to the hospital in the morning.
First our youngest son Elijah had same day surgery this past early Monday. He had a difficult time coming out of the anesthesia and ended up having a heart-wrenching episode with me holding him for an hour and a half to get him calm in the recovery room. We ended up not even getting home until well into the evening. It was an emotionally exhausting experience. Hes had to recover afterward and needless to say there wasnt much sleep to be had on Monday night. Tuesday Elijah seemed better .
Wednesday morning I was awakened at 6:30am, after having stayed up kinda late orchestrating some Xmas vacation activities with the kids. I was awakened by the sounds of moans coming from upstairs. I was surprised that Elijah would be hurting that badly two days after and out of the blue since his surgery had been minor and he was healing so well the night before. It wasnt Elijah.
I found my way to the sound, coming from 10 yr old Abrahams room. I found him on the floor crumpled on his knees n front of the door. I had to push the door open to squeeze past to enter the room. Hed gotten out of bed to go to the bathroom and said his legs did not work. He was confused and tried to get to the door and ended up crawling with his arms dragging his lower body. He couldnt manage to make out real words to call for help so in fear and confusion he wailed and cried. I had great difficulty getting him to the bed. He wet all over himself and I was trying to talk to him and change his clothes. There was no way I could drag him to clean up in the bathroom at that time. He was able to tell me clumsily that he felt weird and that he couldnt move. His words ere mostly incoherent and his actions were flustered and disoriented. I asked him to look into my eyes. He couldnt look straight at me and he seemed disconnected. I then asked him to repeat several words. He could kinda get a few but had to exert great effort. The realization that he couldnt talk made him frightened and he cried more. I laid him down and encouraged him to rest as I went to the phone and called our familys practitioner. I was advised to take him to the emergency room immediately. On the way to the hospital in my van, he seemed to have very slight convulsions .I at first thought he was about to throw up but foamy mucous and spit came out of his mouth, not from his stomach but just involuntarily. I knew this was more than vomiting so I rushed to the hospital at extreme speeds.
Upon arriving in Woodstock, the nurses sorted him out into a gown and stuck him and plugged him into monitors. By now his condition had degrading and continued to do so. He seemed delusional, calling out strange and/or intelligible things and thrashing about. He tried to remove anything he could reach from his body and cried and moaned A LOT. He did manage to cry out continually I want my mama, tho I was actually holding his head and talking into his ear that Mama was right there. He didnt seem to connect to his environment at all but on occasion would go in and out of lucidity. At all times he felt fear. After a while drugged him with Valium to calm and control him and were none too easily starting to prepare him for x-rays, CAT scans and a Tox screen. He appeared to be having an extreme drug reaction. I knew it wasnt a possibility. Abe had never in his life actually willingly taken any medication. He wont even use Chap Stick or sunscreen without a fight about it. No pills, no cough syrup. Nothing. Elijahs ADD meds were all accounted for by number of pills, but wouldnt do that to him anyway.
The cat scan, x-rays and Tox screen all can out negative. The manual exam tests that checked his reflexes/responses were WAY bizarre. He had 4 different doses of Valium, two of Halodol and was still waking up between periods of 1 to 2 minutes of calm. These waking times were easily predicted if you watched his vital monitor. His heart rate went from 45 at rest to 119 in less than two seconds. That always preceded the waking bout of kicking, wailing, and heart-breaking crying and delusional outbursts. I was terrified. His body was not handling the episodes well. All his vitals were bizarre and unexplainable. The family physician came in and was non-plussed. Said hed never seen it before. He referred Abe to a pediatric neurologist at Rockford Memorial.
By 2pm the same day, I found Abe and myself being rushed to Rockford in and ambulance, sirens blaring, lights flashing. They finally gave him a valium dose so potent that he actually slept and looked somewhat peaceful. The doctors in the Rockford pediatric critical care did some nerve screening exams on him. They checked his responses to pain and to light, verbal commands. After taking the incident history, they both came to the conclusion that Abe was likely suffering from incephalitis (spell?) a very dangerous, sometimes fatal viral infection of the brain. It could be one of many viral strains that usually affect other things like cold sores or respiratory illness, but once in the brain it is far more serious. Many people develop it and get better once the untreatable virus infection runs its course. It depends on many factors, some known and some unknown. They talked about the possibility of brain damage and learning disabilities if he recovered. It was the worst day of Abes life and no doubt of my own as well. Its one thing to go thru fearful or stressful or painful things yourself, but to fear for your child is unbearable, esp when you feel so helpless. They did however have an anti-viral treatment that addressed the worse virus it could be, so without any tests they started that medication, which hell get for several consecutive day every eight hours thru his IV.
The call for prayer went out. We had the most supportive and loving responses. We found notes on the car and got other verbal messages from strangers around us that they felt for us and would pray. That night Abe actually came out of it some smiling and joking, tho pale and weak. He asked for a drink. He remembered going to the Woodstock Hospital in the van, the ambulance ride (sorta) and the last hour or so before the doctor came to talk to him again. He had no memory of the Hell in the ER in Woodstock. I guess thats just as well. His eyes were still moving weird and his responses to pain werent quite intact, his coordination was still off, but he was awake and coherent talking much better, too. Today he was chatting more, and even got up to potty, and took a shower. He had his cousin Timmy for a visit and obviously pushed himself too far. He ate a good breakfast but was not so hungry for the other two meals. After my sis left with her family, Abe was mostly zonked out for the rest of the day/night. I arrived home just now around 11pm and am waiting for clothes to finish n the washer so I can put them into the dryer and go to bed. I need clean clothes to take back with me, as Im to get there by 7am (after driving for over an hour) and plan to stay the weekend. (Of course all this happened while I had no after X-Mas laundry performed and no real grocery shopping done.) Abe will be having a spinal tap and MRI tomorrow anytime after 7am under full sedation. The term still not outta the woods was used, but were quite encouraged with his progress. The doctors are baffled at such a quick turnaround. Were not. We had folks pray for a reason but truly were not done yet.
Im sending this email to alert friends and family to pray and help encourage us. Abes father, my ex-husband, Steve, is there for Abe too and were sort of tag teaming overnights and days. I regret having to leave my youngest son so soon after his surgery. My heart broke tonight to see him cry when he asked if Mama was going to be home tomorrow and I had to tell him I was leaving again while it was still dark. Jacob my 14 yr old has been outstanding in relaying phone messages and keeping Elijahs spirits high. Hes really come thru in a rough situation, calling and canceling my voice lessons, contacting people we wanted involved, and relaying messages to me in the ER. My husband, Jim, the boys stepfather has been with us at the hospital yesterday and has been taking care of the two other boys last night and today. He and I have barely seen each other and are feeling the strain. Were all tired and emotionally spent. Please pray for us all, and feel free to call our house (815) 568-7697 or the hospital (Rockford Memorial Hospital room C318) to inquire and/or encourage us. Were drawing our strength from outside us right now. We thank those who have already been involved and supportive. Please dont stop yet. They said Abe will at least be in the hospital a week and possibly 3 or more. Were hoping for him to come home this Monday or Tuesday but thatll depend on his progress and negative readings on the two major tests tomorrow.
Thanks for taking the time to read this . Blessings to you all.
Betsy Stemple
~~~~~
Thank you for reading this and please please pray for us!!!
The letter:
Hi this is a quick update as Ive been up for almost 40 hrs straight and need to get some quick sleep before driving back to the hospital in the morning.
First our youngest son Elijah had same day surgery this past early Monday. He had a difficult time coming out of the anesthesia and ended up having a heart-wrenching episode with me holding him for an hour and a half to get him calm in the recovery room. We ended up not even getting home until well into the evening. It was an emotionally exhausting experience. Hes had to recover afterward and needless to say there wasnt much sleep to be had on Monday night. Tuesday Elijah seemed better .
Wednesday morning I was awakened at 6:30am, after having stayed up kinda late orchestrating some Xmas vacation activities with the kids. I was awakened by the sounds of moans coming from upstairs. I was surprised that Elijah would be hurting that badly two days after and out of the blue since his surgery had been minor and he was healing so well the night before. It wasnt Elijah.
I found my way to the sound, coming from 10 yr old Abrahams room. I found him on the floor crumpled on his knees n front of the door. I had to push the door open to squeeze past to enter the room. Hed gotten out of bed to go to the bathroom and said his legs did not work. He was confused and tried to get to the door and ended up crawling with his arms dragging his lower body. He couldnt manage to make out real words to call for help so in fear and confusion he wailed and cried. I had great difficulty getting him to the bed. He wet all over himself and I was trying to talk to him and change his clothes. There was no way I could drag him to clean up in the bathroom at that time. He was able to tell me clumsily that he felt weird and that he couldnt move. His words ere mostly incoherent and his actions were flustered and disoriented. I asked him to look into my eyes. He couldnt look straight at me and he seemed disconnected. I then asked him to repeat several words. He could kinda get a few but had to exert great effort. The realization that he couldnt talk made him frightened and he cried more. I laid him down and encouraged him to rest as I went to the phone and called our familys practitioner. I was advised to take him to the emergency room immediately. On the way to the hospital in my van, he seemed to have very slight convulsions .I at first thought he was about to throw up but foamy mucous and spit came out of his mouth, not from his stomach but just involuntarily. I knew this was more than vomiting so I rushed to the hospital at extreme speeds.
Upon arriving in Woodstock, the nurses sorted him out into a gown and stuck him and plugged him into monitors. By now his condition had degrading and continued to do so. He seemed delusional, calling out strange and/or intelligible things and thrashing about. He tried to remove anything he could reach from his body and cried and moaned A LOT. He did manage to cry out continually I want my mama, tho I was actually holding his head and talking into his ear that Mama was right there. He didnt seem to connect to his environment at all but on occasion would go in and out of lucidity. At all times he felt fear. After a while drugged him with Valium to calm and control him and were none too easily starting to prepare him for x-rays, CAT scans and a Tox screen. He appeared to be having an extreme drug reaction. I knew it wasnt a possibility. Abe had never in his life actually willingly taken any medication. He wont even use Chap Stick or sunscreen without a fight about it. No pills, no cough syrup. Nothing. Elijahs ADD meds were all accounted for by number of pills, but wouldnt do that to him anyway.
The cat scan, x-rays and Tox screen all can out negative. The manual exam tests that checked his reflexes/responses were WAY bizarre. He had 4 different doses of Valium, two of Halodol and was still waking up between periods of 1 to 2 minutes of calm. These waking times were easily predicted if you watched his vital monitor. His heart rate went from 45 at rest to 119 in less than two seconds. That always preceded the waking bout of kicking, wailing, and heart-breaking crying and delusional outbursts. I was terrified. His body was not handling the episodes well. All his vitals were bizarre and unexplainable. The family physician came in and was non-plussed. Said hed never seen it before. He referred Abe to a pediatric neurologist at Rockford Memorial.
By 2pm the same day, I found Abe and myself being rushed to Rockford in and ambulance, sirens blaring, lights flashing. They finally gave him a valium dose so potent that he actually slept and looked somewhat peaceful. The doctors in the Rockford pediatric critical care did some nerve screening exams on him. They checked his responses to pain and to light, verbal commands. After taking the incident history, they both came to the conclusion that Abe was likely suffering from incephalitis (spell?) a very dangerous, sometimes fatal viral infection of the brain. It could be one of many viral strains that usually affect other things like cold sores or respiratory illness, but once in the brain it is far more serious. Many people develop it and get better once the untreatable virus infection runs its course. It depends on many factors, some known and some unknown. They talked about the possibility of brain damage and learning disabilities if he recovered. It was the worst day of Abes life and no doubt of my own as well. Its one thing to go thru fearful or stressful or painful things yourself, but to fear for your child is unbearable, esp when you feel so helpless. They did however have an anti-viral treatment that addressed the worse virus it could be, so without any tests they started that medication, which hell get for several consecutive day every eight hours thru his IV.
The call for prayer went out. We had the most supportive and loving responses. We found notes on the car and got other verbal messages from strangers around us that they felt for us and would pray. That night Abe actually came out of it some smiling and joking, tho pale and weak. He asked for a drink. He remembered going to the Woodstock Hospital in the van, the ambulance ride (sorta) and the last hour or so before the doctor came to talk to him again. He had no memory of the Hell in the ER in Woodstock. I guess thats just as well. His eyes were still moving weird and his responses to pain werent quite intact, his coordination was still off, but he was awake and coherent talking much better, too. Today he was chatting more, and even got up to potty, and took a shower. He had his cousin Timmy for a visit and obviously pushed himself too far. He ate a good breakfast but was not so hungry for the other two meals. After my sis left with her family, Abe was mostly zonked out for the rest of the day/night. I arrived home just now around 11pm and am waiting for clothes to finish n the washer so I can put them into the dryer and go to bed. I need clean clothes to take back with me, as Im to get there by 7am (after driving for over an hour) and plan to stay the weekend. (Of course all this happened while I had no after X-Mas laundry performed and no real grocery shopping done.) Abe will be having a spinal tap and MRI tomorrow anytime after 7am under full sedation. The term still not outta the woods was used, but were quite encouraged with his progress. The doctors are baffled at such a quick turnaround. Were not. We had folks pray for a reason but truly were not done yet.
Im sending this email to alert friends and family to pray and help encourage us. Abes father, my ex-husband, Steve, is there for Abe too and were sort of tag teaming overnights and days. I regret having to leave my youngest son so soon after his surgery. My heart broke tonight to see him cry when he asked if Mama was going to be home tomorrow and I had to tell him I was leaving again while it was still dark. Jacob my 14 yr old has been outstanding in relaying phone messages and keeping Elijahs spirits high. Hes really come thru in a rough situation, calling and canceling my voice lessons, contacting people we wanted involved, and relaying messages to me in the ER. My husband, Jim, the boys stepfather has been with us at the hospital yesterday and has been taking care of the two other boys last night and today. He and I have barely seen each other and are feeling the strain. Were all tired and emotionally spent. Please pray for us all, and feel free to call our house (815) 568-7697 or the hospital (Rockford Memorial Hospital room C318) to inquire and/or encourage us. Were drawing our strength from outside us right now. We thank those who have already been involved and supportive. Please dont stop yet. They said Abe will at least be in the hospital a week and possibly 3 or more. Were hoping for him to come home this Monday or Tuesday but thatll depend on his progress and negative readings on the two major tests tomorrow.
Thanks for taking the time to read this . Blessings to you all.
Betsy Stemple
~~~~~
Thank you for reading this and please please pray for us!!!
Praying for Abe, you and your family. 
< I feel a lot better that you are....God bless you!
