My mother had severe Rheumatic fever with St. Vitus dance, and heart damage. This was years before antibiotics.

I have had strep and worried too, but then a doctor at a teaching hospital told me that people with blue/gray eyes are more prone to the autoimmune response from strep. (I have brown/hazel eyes). My mother's were gray.
Strep can also thru molecular mimicry attack brain cells that control movements, and cause a form of Tourette's syndrome. This is called PANDAs. This tendency only happens with people who have a genetic tendency for it.

Not everyone who gets strep develops the scarlet fever, kidney or heart damage.

The blood brain barrier research is very exciting today. There is a compound called Zonulin which will open spaces in the BBB and let things thru. Not everyone has this situation however. And there are no tests to tell who has yet. Only so far that the potential exists.

You certainly have been thru alot. You are a strong gal, that is for sure!