Ryan's Meningitis Story

My Halloween will never be the same, my son was born August10, 2006. He was a healthy 8lbs 1oz baby. He was so funny, so cute, big blue eyes, blonde hair he was perfect.

On October 27th 2007. Weather was perfect. We were doing the same thing we do every other night playing, walking, running, eating dinner, normal things. The next morning at 4:30 am he was a little crabby, so tired, slept through out the day. I thought he was tired from the big day we had before. I took his temp through out the day; he had a little bit of one, not too bad (he was also teething).

Dr they said to check for wet diapers and plenty of fluids is what he needs. OK, He didn’t have a wet diaper. He wouldn’t drink anything; I was giving him fluids through a straw. I couldn’t wait the 4 hours, 6 hours or whatever at about 6 p.m. I went to the ER. We waited for 3 1/2 hours before we got to go in. We were there probably back in the room for about 2 hrs.

They gave him fluids and got a blood culture, he still wasn’t perking up, he started to fuss a little bit and they sent us home in GOOD HEALTH and gave us a prescription. Of course I was like WHEW it is only the flu good we can fix that right?

WRONG! On Tuesday October 30th we got a phone call from the Dr telling us we need to get him to the hospital I left as fast as I could, drove as fast as I could. When we got there they gave him a spinal tap and told us we would be in the hospital for about 7-10 days.

We had to wear gloves, mask, and gowns. Poor little guy had tubes and wires all over him. Around 11:30 they had put some IV in his leg, That’s when it all happened, nurses started running, machines were going off, all this beeping, ringing. IT WAS DRIVING ME CRAZY. I was yelling, telling them to help him and screaming what did you do! I was going crazy. It felt like a nightmare a very bad dream.

On October 31st 12:20 am he was gone. I didn’t hear machines or anything. It was like they were trying to keep me from him. There was nothing I could do. There was nothing my husband could do we were helpless.

Pneumococcal meningitis just took our son!