I was there too
My Story
On an afternoon in February 2018, my wife noticed a strange feeling of depersonalization, confusion and amnesia, severe headache, nausea and diplopia.
We went to the emergency room. After a blood test and a head CT scan, the doctor on duty told us that she was going to be admitted, as she had seen something she didn't like.
It would take 28 days to return home. The world stopped.
He was diagnosed with possible inflammatory truncal encephalitis. He was started on antibiotics, antivirals and immunoglobulins, as well as cortisone shock treatment. He had double vision, was bothered by noises and light. For several days he was unable to speak.
Days and nights of fears and questions that only those who have lived through something like this can understand.
And that uncertainty that grew with the waiting and the silences. We never knew when the doctor was going to visit and if he would say anything new. The nurses came and went, but they gave just enough information.
Tests followed. Lumbar punctures, PET scans, CT scans, MRIs, blood tests, evoked potentials.
And so did the visits. Ophthalmologist, neurophysiologist, neurologists. To each one of them we had to tell everything over and over again. None of them could diagnose with certainty or give us a definite idea of what the evolution was going to be.
Almost four weeks later, he was finally discharged.
It was another two months before she was able to get out of bed by herself, and four more before she was able to go for walks in the street with someone else.
We continue to visit specialists: neurologists from the center specialized in multiple sclerosis, specialists in autoimmune encephalitis, psychiatrists, ophthalmologists, acupuncture, reiki, and specialists in integrative medicine and psychoimmunology.
He is now better, although he still has chronic migraine, loss of lateral vision, tremor in his hands.
I cannot forget the anguish and pain of those months.
Not knowing what to do or who else to turn to.
Never have the conviction that you are doing everything possible.
Having to explain the same thing so many times to so many doctors.
I will spend the rest of my life recognizing and thanking the work of the doctors and nurses who took care, and continue to take care, of us, but they have hundreds of patients and the obligation to focus on their work.
I wish we had had someone whose only priority was us then.
Pablo Zea. Founder of Prioritas
