There are few things worse than a sick child. As a parent, we want to see our children happy & healthy. Unfortunately, everyone gets sick at some point in time, including our kids. There’s always some type of bug going around, and we know that germs are literally everywhere! Children come home with colds and coughs all the time, right? But how do we know if it’s something more serious? Do you know the signs & symptoms of Meningitis? Do you know what to look for? I didn’t.
Our son contracted Meningitis shortly after having his tonsils & adenoids removed. He was actually home recuperating from surgery when he started having symptoms. Had we known more about Meningitis, we would have known what to look for.
A couple days after surgery, our son started complaining of intense throat and ear pain. This is normal following a tonsillectomy. Then he started saying his head hurt. This was also something his surgeon said might happen. I gave him over-the-counter pain meds his doctor recommended, making sure not to miss a dose.
After two days of headaches, which seemed to intensify at night, I called the doctor. I told him my son was in a lot of pain, and how difficult it was for him to fall asleep at night. Our son would whimper and cry himself to sleep, with me rubbing his back, trying to console him. The doctor reassured me his headaches were a result of the tonsillectomy, and they would soon pass.
By the following day our son was extremely lethargic, refusing to eat or drink anything, saying his throat and head hurt too much. I’d never seen him like that before and grew more concerned. His lips were extremely dry and I knew he was dehydrated. We decided to take him in to urgent care, where they then transferred him to the ER.
Our son’s vitals and labs were within normal limits, he did not have a fever. They gave him some pain meds and two iv bags of fluid. He was indeed dehydrated. He spent about four hours in the emergency room before they released us.
As soon as we got home, he threw up. This was a new symptom. We washed him up and he fell asleep. I was hopeful that the worst was behind us. I was wrong.
Early the next morning, he woke up vomiting, had fever, and his head still hurt. We rushed him back to the ER. The fact that he was vomiting AND had a headache were alarming to the doctors. As was the fact that he’d developed a stiff neck. They quickly moved him to an isolation area. At one point he had four doctors examining him. I knew this wasn’t typical.
He was hooked up to oxygen. His white blood count had doubled overnight. The doctors approached us and told us he was exhibiting symptoms of Meningitis. They wouldn’t know for sure unless they did a spinal tap. We gave them consent to proceed. As they pulled the needle out of his spinal column, I said a prayer, asking God to protect my baby. They held the spinal fluid up to the light to show us. It should’ve been clear, but it was cloudy. They told us our son had Bacterial Meningitis, and would need to begin antibiotics immediately.
Bacterial Meningitis can be fatal if left untreated. They wouldn’t know for sure if that’s what it was until they got his labs back, but they were pretty convinced it was bacterial as opposed to the non-fatal viral type. I was numb.
Our son was moved to a private hospital room, where antibiotics were administered via his iv. We would spend the next five days at the hospital with him, sleeping in chairs at night. He was extremely weak, and felt awful, but would get a little burst of energy at night when his big brother would come visit him after work. We waited for his blood work to return from the lab.
His headache was constant. The vomiting was off & on. His heart rate was erratic, especially at night. His heart monitors went off repeatedly. We, his parents, were terrified.
On the sixth day, we got the news we’d prayed for. The doctors were wrong; it was Viral Meningitis. We knew then that our son would not die. He was given a CT of the brain, to make sure the swelling wasn’t getting worse. Once the doctors were satisfied with the report, we were given the okay to take him home. Even though he still had a bad headache and was throwing up periodically, he no longer needed to be in the hospital. He was cleared to continue recuperating at home.
After two weeks, our son was back to his normal energetic self! He still gets scared any time he gets a headache, and I don’t blame him.
If your child:
complains of an intense headache
has fever
develops a stiff neck
has sensitivity to light
is throwing up
Please seek medical attention immediately.
