I am Lymebrat's husband. She has been in the hospital for 6 days and we are hoping she will be released later today. She asked me to write and let you all know.

They first thought she had toxic shock syndrome but now testing and her symptoms are leading them to believe she has viral encephalitis. SHe has had a high fever of 104, extreme headaches, backache, nausea, vomiting (and other stomach aliments), and is covered with a bright red rash from head to toe.

She is in alot of pain and just wants to come home. She is very bummed out as she missed Derek and Mikayla's big birthday party on Sunday. She had a big party planned with over 70 people and she had to spend the day in the hospital.

The doctor told us yesterday that he thinks she may have West Nile and that he thinks that the West Nile caused the encephalitis. We won't know for sure which virus she has until the tests all come back in 3 weeks. The good news is that her fever is down to 99.9 and she hasn't vomited today, so she may be allowed to come home.

Please keep Missy in your prayers and I'm sure she will check in as soon as she gets home from the hospital.

Don't forget to take care of yourself, hubby, ok? Missy and the kids are very lucky to have you.

Ouch! I sure hope you are doing well very soon and back at home.

I am praying for you!!

Thanks for the posts, i am so tierd I am going to post the reply i jsut posted over in medical for now and will come back later and post again....

here is the psot I posted over in medical.....

I am back from the hospital. It was a nightmare!!!. At first they thought I had meningitis, and then they thought it was "just" the lyme acting up again....

They took so much blood, I look like a pin cushion. I am all black and blue and am typing this one handed as the IV came out of the vain and ended up swelling my left hand so bad, I can still hardly move it.

I told my hand hurt, and it took them 12 hours to figure out that the IV wasn't working right. I honestly thought they were going to kill me, before I got out of there.

And of course I had to have another lumbar puncture. I must say, I scared the emergency room staff when I started crying like a little girl when they told me I needed a spinal tap.

As many of you know I have had 3 of them, and the last one left me in so much pain, I was on vicodin for months. I was so sick, I just broke down at the thought of having anohter one....

But as I had a temp of 104 for 3 days, and the demurral wasn't touching my headache, I let them test me for the meningitis. The head of radiology came in and did the procedure himself under flora scope, so it wasn't so bad.

I am still in a great deal of pain and this is the first time I have been out of bed in 8 days.

Thank you for all the posts, prayers and concern. I am fortunate to have all of you!

I got a phone call from my doctor 2 nights ago in the hospital. He said he received a letter that day from the CDC stating that there were 6 confirmed cases of viral encephalitis in the town next to me.

He said that he, the CDC, the group of doctors who evaluated me at the hospital and the doctors he has spoken to about my case, all believe that I have viral encephalitis brought on by west Nile. ( i'll get the results of all the tests in 2 weeks)

They also all agreed, much to my amazement that the reason I may have been hit so hard by this, was that the viral infection may have caused a relapse of my lyme.

So as a precaution I am going to start back on oral antibiotics as soon as I can keep them down. I was on IV antibiotics while in the hospital, but I can't tolerate anything in my stomach yet.

This is a biggie, as this is the same doctor who 4 years ago, told me that he cured me of lyme as I took 3 weeks of antibiotics. So I guess my 4 years of hard work at trying to educated him and the local doctors about lyme is paying off!

Well I should get my poor body back to bed. I have never felt so sick and sore in my life.

Plus I am feeling a little picked on as I worked for weeks planning Derek and Mikayla's big birthday party, and I ended up in the hospital and missed it.

The kids said the best present they got was having me come home from the hospital, so that lifted my spirits...

Thanks again for the prayers, and please keep them coming..

Just saw this...

Glad you are home...

I LOVE your spunk.

Hey Rambleguy, I hope you are keeping them on their toes over in off topic. I'll be over to stir up some trouble when I feel a little better..I love reading your posts, it's nice to see a voice of reason over there!

UPDATE:

I can't believe it is 5:00 and I am just now getting out of bed!!!! I have been in my pj's for about 10 days and am sure I never want to get dressed again.

My husband had to go back to work, so I have been home alone with the kids for the past 2 days. I am so lucky that they are able to entertain themselves and that they are relatively good kids.

They are so worried about me. I don't think they have ever seen me this sick. And Mikayla keeps asking me if I'm going to die. And I have all I can do to assure her that I'll be okay, that it will just take some time for me to get better... But I must admit that the thought crossed my mind a time or two while I was in the hospital.

I am still in constant pain, but I did manage to eat last night and have it stay down, so that is a step in the right direction.

The pain in my joints are very intense and I am waiting for my PCP to call me back about some type of pain med or medication to reduce the inflammation..

The good news is that my fever has come down to 99. and I think I am finally getting over the worst of this illness and will hopefully start feeling a little better soon.

First lyme and now this...I am sooooo sick of bugs!!!! Even after all I know about lyme, west nile etc..it is still hard for me to comprehend that 1 little bite from a mosquito could make me this sick...

Though having lyme the past 11 years, you'd think nothing would surprise me anymore.

Okay, I have to get going, I just wanted to poop in and give you all an update... I'm going to attempt to take a shower, so maybe I can surprise my husband tonight when he comes home and actually have my hair combed and some clothes on.

I'm kinda late sending support & concern, but wanted you to know I'll be praying for continued improvement.

I have had a lot of trouble with my stomach and taking meds. I found that taking Nexium (or you can now get priolsec over the counter) made a huge difference. Maybe you could ask your med. people about that. I took it once a day, 1 hr before breakfast and after taking 40 mg a day for a while, was able to cut it back to 20mg.

I do hope you can get this under control and feel better soon. The best thing is to try to take care of yourself and know that it will take time. I am just so glad everyone is taking it seriously and that you got care when you did.

Kids can adjust and can feel good about being helpful. Let them be a part of your recovery and give them lots of credit and hugs.

Thanks for your prayers, concern and info!!

I am doing a little better today , but am still so dog tired that i couldn't drag my poor aching body off the couch until 2:30 this afternoon. Plus I am taking vicodin for the pain, so that helps a little as well.

I am a little nervous as Derek woke up today with a fever, headache, and tummy ache. The docs assured me that even if I were contagious that the kids would have been sick 7 - 10 days ago, but I worry.

I'm hoping it's just a summer bug and that he'll get better real soon.