They diagnosed my mom
 

And it's West Nile virus.

Stupid mosquitoes!

Sorry to hear this, Erin. I know she had some problems from a car crash in the past. Is that right? She certainly doesn't need more problems.

I hope this is resolved completely.
ANN

Thank goodness your Dad is in health care and got her into treatment quickly. Hope she is better soon.

Something treatable! http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0004457/

Here's to a mild case with quick recovery!

It doesn't sound like Erin's mother has a mild case of west nile virus. Yes, it's treatable but it depends how bad it really is as to the outcome. Hopefully Erin's Mom will recover just fine. A person over 50 died from it not far from our area. Nothing to fool with at all. Texas is doing a lot of spraying now as it really has raised havoc there.

It hardly affects some people and others it can be bad.

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/west..._factSheet.htm

I hate mosquitoes too. We never used to have all this stuff around. :(

Prayers for your Mom, Erin....and hugs too.:hug: Hopefully she'll be good as new very soon!

Is this a recurrence of West Nile Virus, Erin? I understand it stays in your body and can recur?

My prayers for your Mommy..:hug:

What medications do they have her on? Sounds like she has a pretty severe case of it since they originally thought it was a stroke. I hope she gets better soon.

It's not mild

She actually had a seizure today from it. Bit her tongue, and she cut my dad's arm up with her fingernails.

They had her on so many antibiotics over the weekend. Plus a big steroid. (Decadron?) I guess they backed off on all of that now. They have her on antiseizure meds. They're getting a feeding tube set up because she really needs nutrition. She probably hasn't eaten very much since Thursday.

The neurologist said the people who get West Nile, If they had a previous neurological problem, The West Nile somehow interferes with whatever healing they hadFrom the previous problem. The 50 years ago when she had her accident, She was paralyzed on the right side. Right now she's not moving her right side very well. Neurologist said that her movement should come back once the West Nile is resolved.

my dad kind of pinpointed when my mom got bit. Several weeks (maybe 2?) before my hands went numb. We sit outside a lot. I'm wondering if my flair is actually caused by West Nile. Both me and my mom were Not feeling good for the past several weeks. Incubation is anywhere from 3 to 14 days.

I'm Going to ask my neurologist about it when I see him next week. I might End up getting checked to see if I have a titer for WNV.

Not like you can do anything about it. With West Nile you just have to sit and wait for it to resolve if it resolves. It is definitely not a simple little virus. I'm getting a front row seat at how bad this is.

Now I totally understand why they're going insane in Texas trying to kill mosquitoes. This is an nasty disease.

Thank you for the update Erin. Your Mom certainly is not out of the woods yet. I hope she keeps getting better and better.

And of course not all mosquitoes carry the virus. But it is not something one wants to get. And it hardly affects a lot of people. But as you said, you are getting a front row seat as how bad it can be if you get it.

Also, stay away from dead birds. They could have West Nile Virus as well. I remember that from a number of years ago when it first came around our area.

I, too, wonder now if the stuff going on with you is possibly caused by West Nile Virus. Hopefully, your neurologist should be able to figure this out.

Take care.

I don't think that it stays in your body and then can recur. I believe you would have to be bitten again by a mosquito carrying it and then you have a new case of it. JMO

So sorry Erin. It's better to know what it is though so you all can go forward with treatment

I think my dad said once you get it, you cant get it again, but you can have lifelong residual effects.

hugs for mom, hope she feels better. :hug:

Yes, that's what I have read in researching it. It is assumed that a person should remain immune for many years. Here is the site from the CDC and it's at the end of the article. Interesting I think.

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/west...ansmission.htm

Another site concerning lifelong residual effects.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/50512.php

I just heard this morning that West Nile Virus is in 47 different states now.

They just confirmed a case of WNV here in the county I live in. Surprisingly it's not my mother. Apparently it's a 65yr old man who recently visited Texas.

My mother has not been to Texas since 1965 (parents met and married there) she got infected probably in our front yard within the past three or four weeks.

Guess my mom is an "unofficial" case until the CDC says she's "official".

They put her on a feeding tube today. They just haven't started pumping in any nutrition yet. Why hook her up if they're not going to plug in a bag of nutrition? She hasn't had any real food since last thursday except for probably a few spoonfuls of "something" here and there.

My dad is getting annoyed with the nurses. They won't get her up out of bed into the chair. Something both my dad and aunt both say they should be trying to do every day (dad and aunt are both nurses. Aunt is a critical care nurse practitioner).

It must be soooo frustrating for you and your Dad. Thanks for the information concerning the other person. Take care.

Erin your Dad and Aunt have a right to have a care conference scheduled and have in attendance a pharmacist or dietician, physical therapist and nursing. I don't know how long ago the feeding tube was placed or what kind but I know when I was working there were times when we needed to have correct placement of the tube confirmed by xray

Apparently they used a special machine to confirm the placement of the tube When they placed it. My aunt had already told my dad about that tool.

My dad said some of the nurses are having 'Disagreements' with what the physical therapy people are doing. At least that's what he's observed. I think my aunt is trying to stay away so that they don't think she's meddling, since she works at a different hospital. At least my aunt can give advice.

I guess the feeding tube was installed early this morning.

Hoping once she gets nutrition in there that will stimulate her some. You can't really do much if you don't have the energy to speak or move because you havent eaten for a week.

Starting to think that my mom has been "LTR-ed" (dads old hospital-speak for "Left To Rot")

They "installed" the feeding tube at six this morning. It's 630 now in the evening, and there is still no nutrition attached to the other end of that tube. My dad is really mad. The nutrition was ordered around noon. You would think she'd have it by now.

Wondering if they're making it in a big cauldron in the basement and it's still simmering or something.

I told my dad to ask for a care conference. I told him to be a little aggressive. Not too aggressive just enough to get them going on my mom.

I want them to get something into her before she rips that tube out of her nose. The doctor says she needs it so why aren't they giving it to her?

I'm going to go say a lot of swearwords. This is getting frustrating.

Oh, and I think my hands are worse. I'm still super numb, and can barely move my fingers. It was entertaining opening up the container of soup I got from a local restaurant today. I had to pry it open with a spoon handle because I don't have the dexterity to use my thumb and index finger at the same time. Good thing I let it cool in the fridge. Surprisingly I didn't spill anything and the soup was wonderful.

Can't wait for when my mom gets to have soup. I'm planning on taking her out for her favorite macaroni and cheese at a pub when she gets out of the hospital.

It's just driving me nuts that it's taking freaking forever for them to get anything done with my mother. Hopefully my dad is getting a care conference now.

I felt that way, after my DH passed away at the Hospital. That he was a bit LTR..:mad:

It also just occurred to me, that I had my IV steroids prescribed and administered me faster than my mom has gotten a feeding tube.

I had my IV steroids by 8 AM the next morning (they were called in sometime the previous afternoon)


They've been talking about giving my mom a feeding tube for two days now. She's got it hanging out of her nose right now for 12+ hours and still counting and still nothing is attached to it.

by the time they attach a bag of nutrition into it, she'll probably be a skeleton with a little plastic tube running tangled through the rib cage or something. They'll have to blow dust off of her

Erin does YOUR doctor know the stress you are under

Yes I called crying, Asking about pain medication for my left hand. I feel like a horse has crushed my hand. I'm guessing that's spasticity. Kind of freaked out on him About my mother when I was asking about the Pain meds. Mostly because at the time we thought she had a stroke.

I need to call him back and ask about Pain meds again because my hand really hurts. And I can tell him about the West Nile my mom has.

I'm still in fear that mom's mosquito got me too. Making me wonder if that's what set off my flare. I'm still betting it's just a coincidence.

Found out tonight my mom has a severe case of West Nile, But it's considered a mild/severe case. There are different levels of severity, And my mom is on the low mild end of severe.

Severe enough to be hospitalized mild enough not to be on breathing machines. My aunt takes care of the severe cases and she says my mother is an extremely mild case.

If my mom has a "mild case", I don't want to see what "severe "cases Looks like.

From what you have posted Erin about your Mom, I would not want to see a "severe" case either. Your Mom's seems really bad enough.

WOW, they need to have a 'moderate' level.

I don't know the official names of the different various levels of severity for West Nile virus. My aunt didn't tell me all of them. I just know that my aunt said my mother would be a mild/severe case if she were at my aunts critical care unit.

My dad called and said that they're talking about putting my mom in a rehab facility. No clue if that means she's better or she's just not so bad they have to be right there on top of her all the time.

My dad said she slept last night. With some Ativan.


I just discovered why my mom hates to do my dads laundry, and why she has rubber gloves in the laundry room. Makes me wonder if my dad has some sort of a digestive problem I don't know about.

Soooooooo gross!! Ewwwwwwwww!!!

Erin, your Dad has an unbelievable amount of stress and pressure on him.....most of the time it seems. I'd be sure to make him take good care of himself, too. He can't do much for anyone else if he's sick, too.

My dad just called back. My mom has a fever. Apparently she has an infection somewhere now. Guess that means they're not going to be putting her in rehab yet

Wish she'd hurry up and get better.

I'm putting off going to the physiatrist about my hands. I figured out that it's spasticity causing my problem. I can't drive.

Start to feel like that one mosquito bite has just wiped out all of my dads savings.

my mom is talking!! yay!! well, I could hear her in the background and it was more groan/moan in nature, but you could hear the response in her voice.

she's still really sick, but she's still in there.

my dad says she answers questions.

the thing she said that made me feel better was when dad told me she said "oh shoot". If she was able to censor what she usually says (the ummm...ruder version of "shoot") then to me that means she's better than she was this time last week.

they're talking about rehab. she still has to get stronger. isnt to the point where she can participate in the rehab yet.

Great news :Grin-Nod: :trampoline:

That is wonderful news. When we were looking for a place for my Mom for rehab after her pic pinning and looked into the locla rehab hospital we knew rehab wasn't the answer. They have to tolerate hours of rehab. With all of Moms previous spinal problesm and the new diagnosis we new she couldn't take it. I am so glad. She went to a rehab to home unit in a nursing home from there to a hospice and from there 'the big house'. So we had a much better quality of life with her as a family in this rehab to home unit. The were big private rooms with no visitation rules.

this morning my mom was able to tell my dad what temperature water to wash his underwear in. Which is a good thing. He was on 'emergency undies'.

he'd loaded up his underwear in the machine before he left this morning (I was refusing to touch it because it was making me gag...now I know why mom waits till the last minute to wash them and why she keeps rubber gloves in the laundry room :eek:)

when I called to ask how mom was, she apparently heard my dad talking about it. Told him to use the cold/warm setting. her voice is slurred and every other word is 'owwwww!'. Dad called me back and told me what setting. So he's going to have fresh undies now.

I think when mom gets home, I'm telling dad that he has to help her with his laundry more often...maybe do hers for her sometimes. (I do my own)

I'm just glad mom was able to think today and communicate.

wish her neck and back would stop hurting her. she already had problems with that before all this happened. A week in bed hasnt helped that at all.

This is so wonderful Erin

they transferred my mom to a nursing care place today. hope she gets better to the point where she can come home.


talked to my neuro a little bit ago He wants me to get a west nile titer to see if its possible my flare was set off by a skeeter bite. Not sure how useful that would be, since treatment for WNV is to let it run its course. At least I'd know if I were immune if the titer is positive.

Talked to my mother's doctor. Her specialty is infectious disease. She told me to get an IgM test for West Nile. Now I know what to ask for.

The doctor said that my mother talked to her this morning in sentences. I thought that was good news. My dad keeps telling me she doesn't talk much. Maybe she didn't have much to say to my dad. I'm glad the doctor heard my mother talking in sentences.

She said my mom moaned and groaned in pain a little. She asked my mother what was wrong, and mom told her my back hurts. And she asked my mom something, and my mom's answer was a typical "mom" answer. She said "I guess so..." in answer to what ever the doctor asked. That is a very very typical answer from my mother. She's in there I think she's just being lazy.

The man that was reported to be the first diagnosis of WNV in my county just passed away. That's sad. The news had reported that he was getting better the other day.

I'm not telling my dad about it. It'll really scare him. He'll find out when he sees the news, but I'm not going to volunteer the news to him when he gets home.

That scares me. If he was improving and then got worse. My mom is supposedly improving right now, but they said she still has brain swelling going on.

I have an appointment with my doctor tomorrow to get a blood test for West Nile. I'm actually thinking that I don't have it. I think maybe it's just a coincidence that I had a flare at the same time mom had West Nile. My mom's infectious disease doctor said that if I do have it there might be a different treatment plan for my MS flare.

Hearing about that guy dying has made this really scary now. (he was older than 65, and he got sick after visiting Texas). hopefully it was a different strain and maybe my mom got one that's not bad. She hasn't been to Texas for 45 years.

I don't think that there is a different strain of West Nile Virus. It's just that some people get it and don't even know it, others are worse off and then the "few", supposedly few, who are really affected.

Really disappointed with the rehab place so far. This morning she was moaning and groaning because her back hurt. The respiratory therapist heard her moaning. He kind of panicked and went and grabbed the nurse. The nurse came back in, without saying anything to my dad gave my mom a milligram of Ativan.

My dad was like what was that? And the nurse said she won't make any noise now.

This was two minutes before she was supposed to do her respiratory therapy, her physical therapy, and have the doctors come in and check her out talk to her. That arrogant little nurse drugged my mom for the entire freaking day. Maybe even for tomorrow too. Really mad at that nurse now.

I had talked to my dad five minutes before all this happened, and I could hear my mom in the background. she was talking complete sentences, and to me she sounded pretty good. The moaning and groaning was her normal moaning and groaning that she does when she gets up. A little louder than usual but it was normal.

That nurse should not have given her the injection of Ativan. wasted an entire day of rehab.

I finally got to see my mom tonight for the first time in 12 days. She was completely out of it. That nurse had her gorked (dads anesthesia term for "blotto"). So far I'm not impressed with the rehab place.

The nurse who was quick to drug my mother was giving my dad the hairy eyeball tonight when we went back up there. Hope she isn't going to be taking care of my mom from now on. I dont like the attitude she had after she gave my mom that shot.

tonight I went outside for five minutes to lend something to my neighbor, and I got a mosquito bite. Hope it wasnt a WNV bug.