This is a post I have been wanting to write for a long time now, but never really got the courage to rehash the experience that seems like it should have just been something I was watching on tv.
I share it today for a couple of reasons. 1. So, anyone who goes through a similar experience doesn't feel alone! 2. So we always have a place to look back and remember how things went down. 3. To share more of our real everyday life with you, our readers.
The Headache That Changed Our Lives As We Knew It
Back in April of 2016, we were less than a month away from a cruise we had been planning for 6 months, and Cliff was trying to get over a head cold that had been bothering him for a few days. He had been experiencing a small fever and a sore throat, but seemed like it was getting better. But, when he woke up on April 25th he seemed even worse!
Now, he had a headache that was relentless.
In the past few months, Cliff had gone to the ER with a migraine from his braces a couple of times, so I thought the same thing was happening again.
Throughout the day he kept saying that the headache was getting worse and worse and it was super painful. Me, the helpful wife I am, kept telling him to rest and it would get better!
Eventually it came time to go to bed, and instead of sleeping in the recliner (like he had been doing because of the cold) he slept in our bed. Because usually, if one of us is sick, we will sleep separately trying to stop the whole family from getting sick. I still thank God that he came to our bed that night, because looking back, I think this was the move that saved his life!
While we were laying down, Cliff told me “I am a really strong guy, and I can NOT take this pain! It's the worse thing I've experienced in my life! Maybe I should go to the emergency room?”
Because we had the migraine experiences so fresh, and me thinking that's all it was, I suggested waiting until morning to go to urgent care, instead of waiting for hours in the ER and probably ending up getting in a room the same time Urgent Care opened (less than 5 hours from then). With that plan, I gave Cliff some of my prescription Norco (from a past surgery) and we planned to go to Urgent Care if the headache was still there in the morning. But, at least the drugs would help him sleep! He told me right before taking it that he hoped it wasn't a sleep aid, because those made him sleep walk when he was a kid…this is a piece of information that kept me sane for the hours to come!
Waking Up To An Unresponsive Husband
A few hours later, I woke up and could feel that Cliff was shaking in his sleep, with a slight moan. My mind told me that he was still in pain and was dreaming about it (isn't it funny what our brains tell us is happening?).
Even now writing this all out, the whole thing just seems so surreal and like each small incident meant a lot. And now, I am so much more responsive when someone says “maybe I should go to the ER?”
I decided to try and calm him down, and when I reached over, realized the shaking was chills and he was BURNING UP! No need for a thermometer, there was no doubt he had a fever. I woke him up and said “You have a fever, would you like some tylenol?” He said “Yup” and I went to get it and some water.
When I came back to deliver the water and medicine, he wouldn't sit up. I kept asking him to sit up and he would just say “Yup!” and then not do it. I was very confused as to what was happening and then remembered him saying “medicine that puts you to sleep makes me sleepwalk”…That was it! The Norco was too strong and he was just hallucinating! Again, this is the piece of information that my brain needed to decide all was ok, and I could handle the situation. Without this, I would have not been so OK.
Deciding To Call 911 Versus Driving To The Emergency Room
After trying multiple times to get him to wake up and talk to me, I went to my mom and asked her what I should do (her suggestion, call 911)? I could hear Cliff yelling from the other room, so I quickly went back to him, thinking he must now be waiting for that water. But, when I got to the room, it wasn't really Cliff in the bed. Sure, he was laying there, and yelling things I couldn't understand, but he had no idea what was going on. I asked him if he knew what he was saying and he said yes, and then I asked if he knew who HE was…He said “Yes, Marty!”…and then I knew…He needs to go to the ER.
Now, I am still thinking at this point that he is having an adverse reaction to the drugs, NOT that there is something seriously wrong. So, I'm pretty calm, knowing that as soon as it wore off, he would be just fine!
Instead of calling 911, I decided I would “phone a friend” instead. (Again, totally unaware that anything is seriously wrong, and I don't know when you are supposed to call 911!) My friend wasn't able to come help me get him in to the car, and also suggested calling 911.
Ok, that's it, I have to call 911! For the first time in my life…
The Police Thought This Was A Drug Overdose Situation
I explained to the operator that my husband had been having a bad headache and that I gave him some Norco, that must be causing him to hallucinate, because he is completely incoherent and doesn't know who he is or who I am.
Little did I know, there was “Bad” Norco going around on the street at the time, so my phone call triggered a drug overdose response. So, the first person to arrive? The POLICE more concerned with what I was giving him than what was wrong with him. I was basically being questioned on where I got the DRUGS and if I really had a prescription. At this point Cliff was very confused and now trying to stand up. I was pretty scared he would end up handcuffed!
Finally the paramedic (and fire department) arrived.
From there they got Cliff quickly onto a stretcher and into the ambulance, ready to take him to the Hospital. I got my shoes on, a jacket and followed along behind the ambulance. (Thanks to my mom living with us, I didn't have to figure out what to do with a sleeping 5 year old!)
Or, Maybe It's A Heart Attack!
I got stuck at a light, so didn't get to go right in with the ambulance, and instead had to wait at least an hour in the waiting room to be called back. I found out later that the paramedics thought Cliff was having a heart attack, and the full crash cart team was ready when they arrived. That's why I was so delayed being allowed in the back. Here I was completely unaware in the waiting room!
I was finally able to go to the back where Cliff was still very incoherent and still had no awareness of who I was or who he was.
I kept retelling the sick > worst headache ever > drugs story to each Dr who came in and tried to figure out what was happening.
After it had been over 6 hours from the time I gave him the medicine, the Drs were positive it had nothing to do with that, and everything to do with something else happening inside of his body…but they had no real idea what it was.
This is the picture I sent to our friends in a group text to let them know Cliff was in the hospital and we had been here for hours!
Actually, It's Most Likely Meningitis
Except for the nurse wearing red scrubs! She was the sweetest nurse and decided that Cliff should be tested for Meningitis. Which at the time I had NO IDEA what it was. I decided it best NOT to Google ‘What is Meningitis' at the time, because I did not need the extra stress of Dr. Google telling me all the horrible things that could be happening.
The only way to test for meningitis was to do a spinal tap and remove spinal fluid and test it. Since Cliff was incoherent, I had to sign consent for them to do the procedure and was made very aware that it would be very painful for him. But, there was no other choice!
They quickly prepped him for the fluid removal and I was sent off to the waiting room, where I found multiple friends waiting to just sit with me…Seriously we have THE BEST friends! So we sat and waited for what seemed like hours, and was probably just about an hour.
Cliff Was Back!
When I was finally allowed to go back into the room, Cliff was back! Not only did he know who HE was, he knew who I was. That had become my gauge for if he was getting any better. I would ask “Do you know who I am?” to be told over and over “No”. But when I walked back into his room after he had the spinal fluid removed, he said “Yes, of course, you are my beautiful wife!”, which to this day still makes me cry to think about. Then I knew, that no matter what the outcome was, he was going to be ok. He was back.
The nurse in the red scrubs came in and said she was 99% sure that it was meningitis and explained that the spinal fluid is supposed to be clear, and Cliffs was yellow. They had already started him on multiple types of antibiotics while they waited for the lab results to confirm which type of strain he had and how to attack it directly.
I don't know if it was the pain of the spinal tap or the release of pressure, but that was the point when Cliff started to be more aware of what was going on. Even though he was confused every-time a nurse came in as to why he was there in the first place. He was still very tired and would come in and out a lot. To this day, the pain of the spinal tap is what he remembers first about the whole incident. Before that, he has no memory of the whole thing.
Cliff wanted me to share a picture on Facebook to let people know he was feeling better. Even though it may not show, it was a huge improvement.
3 Days In The ICU
Cliff was admitted to the ICU where he would spend the next 3 days being pumped full of antibiotics, and wondering why he couldn't just go home already!
The crazy thing with the meningitis is it came on so fast and so strong, but as soon as they started to treat it he was feeling so much better. After about 24 hours of being in the hospital, he was ready to go home. Although he was still very tired, he was getting up and moving around as much as they would allow him.
I remember he wanted regular clothes from home, so he was dressed and sitting up in the chair (attached to IVs of course) and one nurse looked in to say “Are you ok? We aren't used to patients sitting up and moving around here in the ICU”.
Everything was moving upwards and the last days just seemed like a blur.
Something that could have quickly killed him (meningitis is an infection that spreads to your brain) or had major lasting symptoms was on it's way to just being a scary memory.
This is Cliff still in the ICU, giving a thumbs up that he's feeling much better! Wearing his regular clothes and wanting to go home ASAP.
The Bad News Of Not Going On Our Cruise
Remember that cruise we had been planning? Well, Cliff was determined that he was STILL going on that thing! Every doctor who came in the room to talk to him, he would say “As long as I'm good to go in 11 days, it's ok” and each one would say “I'm really sorry, you will not be going on that cruise!” He was feeling so much better (in comparison) that he was sure he would be just fine to go on the cruise!
After 3 days in the ICU, he spent another 2 days in a private hospital room. Although he felt much better, he still needed a lot of antibiotics and monitoring.
Even after being released from the hospital, it wasn't over. He was released to the care of a home health nurse who would monitor him and make sure he was getting better. Before being released a “midline” was installed in his arm so that he could continue to receive IV antibiotics for another 14 days at home. This is a line that goes into your vein, and you can put an IV line into it when needed.
The home health nurse showed us how to administer the antibiotics 3x a day and I became Nurse Jessica! Needless to say, those 14 days overlapped the cruise, and we did not make it on the trip! We did finally go on our first cruise, even though we lost over $12,000 on the first one (now we always purchase travel insurance).
The experience with the home nurse was pretty humorous looking back on it now. It's not something you expect to deal with in your early thirties. We were so worried about everything, and I kept texting him. Finally he said “You guys need a hobby! Everything is fine now.”
Cliff had to prove he was strong enough to go home, so every chance he got, he was walking the halls of the ICU.
Lasting Long Term Side Effects Of Meningitis
I would like to say that after the antibiotics were completed everything went right back to normal, but that isn't how things work with infections that almost kill you.
Even though we had left the hospital, Cliff still had bad vertigo and would experience slight dizziness. He also had times where loud noises would cause extreme pain in his head.
One of the long term side effects Cliff experienced after getting better from the Meningitis was anxiety and fear of getting or being sick again. Or that there would be other lasting side effects. The first time that he got a cold again after being hospitalized it caused a lot of panic and even a fear of going to sleep. This is something that still effects him when he gets a cold.
Easy to understand, when you just had a cold and then woke up in the hospital a day later!
Same thing with headaches. There is always more caution when he has headaches now.
Some people suffer things like hearing loss, blindness and other permanent disabilities from having meningitis. We are very thankful that Cliff did not experience any permanent disability from the infection.
The experience really showed me just how fragile life really is. That we just don't have guarantees that things will be ok forever. No matter the promises we make to each other, “to live until we are 99 and die peacefully together in our sleep”, things happen.
I am also much more likely to take someone to the Emergency Room or call 911 instead of just assuming that everything will be fine!
This was Cliff leaving the hospital after the 5 days that changed our lives forever. So thankful for health and surviving this!
Thanks For Letting Us Share This Experience With You
Do you have any similar stories yourself? Or has anyone you known been effected by an illness like this?
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Thank you for sharing this. My 89 year old dad had spinal meningitis and completely recovered. He is very active and in good shape. He normally does remodeling projects around the house. I want to mention his symptoms, in case this helps someone else. My step mom said he had 3 episodes that gradually got worse. He would go to sleep at night, and the next morning when he woke up, he didn’t know who she was and only spoke gibberish. The first 2 times, he was fine by the afternoon. He went to the doctor, but they didn’t know what was wrong (and yes, it was good your husband was not mis-diagnosed early). The third time it happened, he didn’t “snap out of it” in the afternoon and was walking around the house and urinating on the walls. We took him to the ER. He had a fever, but didn’t seem that hot to me. They eliminated all other possibilities, then moved him to a bigger hospital for a spinal tap. He was weak but mentally normal by the next morning. He was hospitalized for a week and was working on his projects again within 2 weeks. He and his wife rarely leave the house. We suspect he got it from a mosquito bite. The neighbors have a stagnant pond that they don’t treat, and the mosquitos were swarming in my dad’s year. Be sure to do everything you can to eliminate mosquitos and wear repellant. Thanks for posting this topic.
I’m glad to hear he has had such a great recovery! Thanks for sharing with us.
Thanks for sharing. My experience was similar. At the same time I had Viral Encephalitis. Excruciating. I don’t even remember experiencing any pain with the spinal tap. No real resolve, perhaps a mosquito bite even though we could never find the bite.
My dad went through the same thing. We actually ended up in the same hospital as I was battling a kidney infection. I can still remember hearing them call codes to his room as he was so confused and fighting the orderlies. The vertigo also stayed with him for quite awhile.
Glad to hear things turned out well for your dad! It is so scary seeing them disoriented like that.
I apologize in advance this is a long comment, but I wanted to share some very important information about what can happen after getting a spinal tap. Back in 1990 I was stationed on a military installation in California, and had a bad headache one day. I went to the military doctor and for some reason was told I needed to get a spinal tap to rule out meningitis. I wasn’t expecting that at all, but I’m guessing there had been a case of meningitis recently. So I got the spinal tap, and was told I didn’t have meningitis. I think they just gave me Motrin or Tylenol for my headache and I went home to rest. But the headache just kept getting worse and worse after the spinal tap, than it was before! I kept going back to the doctor and they didn’t know what was wrong. The only thing that made me feel better was to lie down. I couldn’t sit up or stand for any length of time. This had been going on for around 2 weeks when a supervisor told me she knew exactly what is wrong, and how to fix it! Apparently, the same thing had recently happened to another girl. She said that after the spinal tap, the hole where they took out the fluid had not closed up, and the spinal fluid was continuing to leak out into my bloodstream. I should mention here, the correct term is actually ‘cerebrospinal fluid’ because the same fluid that cushions and protects the spinal cord, also cushions and protects the brain! She said the doctor needs to take a small amount of my blood and inject it into the same place where they did the spinal tap. It is called a “blood patch” because the blood will form a clot and stop the fluid leak. I went back to the doctor and told him this. He did the blood patch, which only took a few minutes, and I felt instantly better! In fact, I danced at a friend’s wedding reception that night, after not being able to stand up for 2 weeks!
Hey Jessica,
My name is Brandon and my wife’s name is Tammy.
It’s so crazy I just read this. May, 2015 we went through very similar circumstances. I was diagnosed with meningitis after 3 days of terrible headaches too. I didn’t even know at the time people still could get it. I was in the hospital for exactly 5 days, spinal tap and all. Took me all summer(I’m a teacher) to recoup to almost 100% and we had to cancel a trip to Guatemala we had planned on all year.
Your story brought back so many memories. Even now at any sign of a headache I will almost hold my breath and pray it isn’t the same headache. Does he do the same? I’m glad your husband is doing well.
It was during that time we made many changes in our lives because realizing time was/is so precious, which eventually led us to pursuing other opportunities outside of public school teaching
My wife now stays home with our first who will be one in 2 1/2 weeks and I’m hoping/planning to go fulltime on my amazon journey this year. Thanks for sharing.
Wow, thanks for sharing. It does sound so familiar! Yes, he does the same with every single headache. We pray that eventually, the feeling won’t be there. Congrats on starting Amazon!
I was expecting an FBA related story and read something much more meaningful and thought provoking. Thank you for sharing.
You’re welcome 😉
Hi Jessica and Cliff. Thank you for sharing this story with us. You take each day for granted and never think of things like this, this was great information to make me make sure everything is in order and not take anything for granted. I am so very sorry you’re family went through this and I’m so very happy things turned out good. Thank you again for sharing.
Hey Julie, it is so true. We just don’t realize in everyday life how quickly things can change.
My only brother had meningitis with the urlian virus and he had a couple of days of complete absence. Although he was 18 at that time so almost an adult, he almost not made it. Many days after “waking up” from those absent days, he didn’t have any taste or smell, and of course no me,ory of the past few days. Scary! Thankfully, he’s still with us, and I have a wonderful teenage nephew 😉
So glad Cliff got through it well too!
Thanks for sharing your story as well Mima. I’m so glad to hear your brother came through.
Thank you for sharing your story. We can relate as well. This past fall our 30 something single son showed up at our house while I was out of town and crawled into our guest bed. My husband mentioned a bad sore on his hand. Two days later walking in at 9pm I hesitated checking him out thinking I’d wait until morning. But a little voice said check him now, morning will be too late. Fortunately, I listened to that voice as he was just an hour or so from losing his hand and possibly his life from a serious MERSA infection. Thanks to the ER nurse’s quick action lansing the wound and removing a lot of the infection saved his hand and he was able to come home a week later after responding to strong doses of antibiotics. He had a complete recovery without needed follow up surgery to repair the damage caused from the infection. Best wishes to Cliff’s continued recovery.
Wow Ruth, thanks for sharing! That “little voice” is so important. Glad to hear the nurse was so great. They make all the difference sometimes.
This is an amazing story. Praise God that he’s better! Praise God that he has a wonderful wife. 🙂
Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for sharing!
My 6-foot-2, trained-killer husband (former Marine) was writhing in pain on the floor of a VA hospital last fall, in the wee hours of the morning, while waiting for the pharmacy and urgent care to open.
We took him to the ER at a civilian hospital, but the prescription was SO MUCH. Hence the VA’s pharmacy.
Bad, bad ear infection. Punctured eardrum. Very scary, at the time.
Strong antibiotics, pain medication, and rest – then he felt much better.
Still has not recovered hearing 100%. Hearing aids are on order. ☺
So glad Cliff is better!
xoxo
Thanks for sharing Anna. It sounds like that was pretty recent then?
Yes, the Fall of 2017.
I am grateful that my husband was ultimately seen by an audiologist, who then pointed out his loss of hearing (that I’d been noticing for DECADES), and ordered his hearing aids — just sorry that he had to suffer so badly to wind up at the end. I suppose that’s just how life is.
At the time I was just plain scared! It is very hard to see your protector in need of protection.
Now, he is safe, AND he can hear!
Hi Jessica,
Thank you for being so transparent about a serious hurdle in your lives. It is good to hear how God spared Cliff the worse case scenario. We go through tragedies sometimes to help others
My husband had viral meningitis a number of years ago, with the accompanying symptoms. He was misdiagnosed at first, but eventually got the right answer. He was having weird, scary symptoms with it, including losing his sight and brain issues, especially before the correct diagnosis and treatment. Very painful, very strange, and very frightening! We were wondering and worrying about what would become of it all. Thankfully, he has not had any apparent lasting effects, but it does leave its mark on your psyche. We hope and pray it never happens again! SO grateful you and Cliff have overcome this, for the most part! My ex-husband’s son died as an infant from this. Such a horrible, confusing, scary illness! Thanks so much for sharing!
I do think sometimes that it was all Gods timing that we didn’t go in earlier, for the reason of misdiagnosis like that. I’m so glad that your husband got his sight back.
Thank you for a look into your personal lives. I know that wasn’t easy to write. My father cane home from work one day and he had a terrible headache. We assumed it was a sinus infection that he’d had for a few days. Well then he had some very minor stroke-like symptoms and I insisted he needed to go to the ER. Very stubborn man, waited at home because his boss was stopping by the house. So boss came in and they were having a regular conversation! I said excuse me, but I think my dad is having a stroke and we have to leave! His boss couldn’t believe it! Turns out he had a golf-ball size aneurism in his brain. After surgery he had a clot and a major stroke and never woke up. That was ten days – one day just fine and then your life has changed forever. Now, my whole family still gets really worried when anyone has a bad headache. We live in fear of a repeat incident. Thank God For that nurse acting quickly. I’m so happy that Cliff is doing well.
That living in fear is the worst side effect for sure! I’m glad you were able to get your dad in there!
Wow thank god he is ok! Thank you for sharing your story about your hubby. It’s scary not knowing what to do.
Prayers to all of you.🙏🏼
And how fast you need to react!
Thank you for sharing your story. I just have a question. Did you find out how Cliff may have contracted the meningitis?
We learned that many people actually carry the virus, but not everyone gets sick from it. So he could have come in contact with someone who had the virus, but was not sick.
The Dr was surprised because we work from home and homeschool!
But, no one we knew ever got it either.
So just bad luck ultimately.
Oh my! What a blessing that everything turned out so well for you.
2 years ago my dad was having trouble with headaches and running low grade fevers over several months. When he wasn’t able to hold anything down we finally made him go to the doctor. It took them over a month to figure out what was wrong with him. He had fungal spinal meningitis. Because it took so long for them to figure it out the meningitis caused permanent brain damage (it was like having a toddler–he would pull out his catheter or his IVs if he was not supervised at all times). Unfortunately, while they put him under to put a tube in his head to drain the excess fluid, his heart stopped. They were able to get it started with compressions, but he was in a coma and he passed away 3 days later.
I am so happy that your situation turned out much happier than ours did. So much to be thankful for! 🙂
Wow, Missy, I didn’t realize you could have the symptoms for so long like that. I am so sorry to hear that your dad didn’t come through. 🙏
Hi Jessica,
Thank you so much for sharing this really personal and scary experience. I really appreciate that you let us get to know you better also. Did you ever find out how Cliff got the Menningitis? That would be good to know so you would know to never go or do whatever it was. I had a scary experience this past August that turned out to be Pneumonia but I live alone and didn’t have brains enough to call 911. Thanks to someone else doing that I was able to get better pretty fast but that isn’t nearly as scary as meningitis.
Thank you again and I am so happy that Cliff has fully recovered and you guys are doing so well!
Take care,
Barbara
Great article and reminder. Thank you.
I had Meningitis when i was three years old, i was told by my mom that i nearly died.. Unfortunately, i became deaf in result from that.
Wow Richard. Thanks for sharing. I know Cliff spent a lot of time researching what can happen, and I’m sorry you had that lasting effect.
We were going to visit our friends in Detroit and I had a slight sore throat and what I thought was a cold. The sore throat got worse and I went to the hospital there because I knew it was strep throat and I needed antibiotics. Well, I got the antibiotics and felt a bit better. Our friends took us sight seeing and that night I began to feel sick again. This time my throat hurt and I just didn’t feel right. We decided to drive back home, a 4 hour drive and go to a local hospital. My cousin met us there and picked up our three boys. I had all kinds of tests and was treated with steroids right away. The strep throat was affecting my heart. I was kept in the hospital for 3 days until my heart was back to normal. I am very nervous about getting strep throat now. Who new it could be so dangerous.
My husband had viral meningitis last November. THE scariest thing. He also was in ICU and had the “worst headache of his life”. I took him to the ER when he couldn’t figure out how to put his shoes on and didn’t know the names of our children!
Thanks for sharing Ashle! I’m glad you guys went to the ER.