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Date with fate - post 27 - Meningitis
This entry was posted on 1/12/2011 1:30 AM and is filed under Fate Fairies.
I have written about my ordeal with Meningitis before in the context of it happening during my days of operating a lawn service business back in Texas. But the experience was so significant to my life it deserves a stand-alone posting. It certainly falls in to the category of one of the top ten most dangerous experiences in my life. At the end of my first year totally on my own in business, a bomb dropped on my head. No pun intended; I acquired Meningitis. It was basically misdiagnosed at first by a local doctor down the street from my shop. To his credit the illness was unheard of in 1990. It was an old-world illness, but was making a come back Down South. A friend of mine got Tuberculosis as well a couple years before - another old-world illness making a come back. It was only luck that I retreated for a second opinion at the Veterans' Hospital (VA) for help.
In regards to the old-world analogy, once my mom and her cronies heard I had Meningitis, they pretty much wrote me off as dead. Even to this day in many cases, but especially back at the early part of the 1900s and earlier, it was a death sentence.
I remember taking on a project at an old house in Oak Cliff which was a borough of Dallas. There was old lumber piled everywhere, the place was a mess. We were to knock down the tall weeds. There were mosquitos and other nefarious critters everywhere.
I am not sure I acquired the illness at that location, but it is one of the last things I remember doing before falling ill. I began to get an excruciating head ache. The weekend was upon us and I went to the indoor arena football game that night with a couple of my workers. I even got sick on a paper dish of nacho chips and cheese, a concession stand treat I have always loved. The next day Heide and I were to meet her parents in Tyler, Texas to see all the famous flowers of the region. My back and legs were now also in excruciating pain. I was in such pain, my mother-in-law became distressed and told me to get back to Dallas and get to a doctor.
On Monday I headed to a local doctor down from my shop. He was concerned of course, yet suggested I get to a hospital for a more thorough examination. He was not sure what the hell was going on. He thought perhaps I had just gotten too much Texas sun and extreme heat.
Not having comprehensive health insurance as a small business person, Heide got me to the Veterans' Hospital. The VA Doc had been overseas at one time and knew of such awful sicknesses. He diagnosed me before I hit the cot.
While at the hospital I found out there were basically two types of Meningitis - Viral and Bacterial. Bacterial is still a certain death sentence to this day. As it turned out, I had Viral. The VA Docs matter-of-factly informed me that if I had had Bacterial, I never would have seen the end of the arena football game the same day the first symptoms appeared - it kills you just that quick.
Regardless, Viral Meningitis is dangerous enough and if untreated it also will kill. I remember having several spinal taps. That is one of the worst medical procedures I have ever endured. They seek to examine the fluid around the spine and brain. If indeed infected, the fluid causes the pain in the brain and spine.
After spending three weeks in the VA, I thought hard about the coming Spring. It was the beginnings of my crusade to get back to Wisconsin again.
Nowadays, universities encourage their students to get vaccinated against Meningitis. It seems to haunt young adults in environments of close proximity like colleges. Of course no vaccine or even the culture of awareness was available back when I got sick as a...young adult.
For years after I survived the ordeal I could not eat much meat at all. It just repulsed me. The doctors never would comment on the phenomena, just saying I should be glad I am alive. Wisconsin Military Service Person Special Mention of the Week
(each week Cooldadiomedia mentions a Wisconsin service person killed in Iraq or Afghanistan)
Corporal Keith Alan Nurnberg, 26, McHenry, Illinois, and Genoa City, Wisconsin died Wednesday, September 5, 2007 in Baghdad, Iraq. Nurnberg was in the 2nd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, out of Fort Benning, Georgia. He died from wounds he received when insurgents attacked his unit during combat operations in Baghdad. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel noted Nurnberg had moved to Wisconsin before deploying to Iraq. His wife was expecting a child at the time of Keith's death. He was on his second tour of duty in Iraq. Via information from the Northwest Herald newspaper of McHenry, Illinois, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel went on to mention Nurnberg left for the second tour of duty in Iraq not long after marrying his wife, Tonya, in December of 2006. She is a third grade teacher in Round Lake, Illinois. He had moved to Genoa City from McHenry around the time of their wedding. Nurnberg was a 1999 graduate of McHenry West High School and joined the Army at age 22. He was laid to rest at Bloomfield Township Cemetery in Pell Lake, Wisconsin. The data base for military casualties iraq.pigstye.net via information from the Chicago Daily Herald notes Nurnberg was a Specialist E4 at the time of his death. He was promoted to Corporal posthumously. The Web site iraqnam.blogspot.com via information from the Northwest Herald noted Keith Nurnberg came from a family with a long history of military service. Nurnberg’s grandfathers both served in World War II and his father, Al, is a veteran of Vietnam. One of his great-grandfathers served in World War I. The family was quoted as saying Nurnberg mentioned things were different in Iraq from his first time around in the country. The iraqnam.blogspot.com also mentioned the couple's courtship had been quick, but they had known each other for 10 years before dating. Keith had run track in high school. At the time of his death Keith Nurnberg was survived by his parents, Barb and Al of McHenry; wife Tonya; and three sisters, Christi, of Colorado, Melissa, of Indiana, and Kimmi of McHenry. Keith Nurnberg was the 80th Wisconsin military service person to be killed in Iraq since the spring of 2003.
As of this blog entry's posting date:
99,341 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
9,820 Iraqi Security Forces have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
4,435 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
1449 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
318 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
841 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
32,112 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
9,971 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
103 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
27 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
145 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
21 journalists (various nationalities) have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
Wisconsin military service person special mention of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; washingtonpost.com; thehighground.org; Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs; iraqbodycount.org; www.defense.gov/news/casualty.pdf; and, icasualties.org.
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