Leah -Pneumococcal Meningitis

In September 1999, my then 2-year-old son Jeremy, almost died from pneumococcal meningitis along with septicaemia and pneumonia.

He had been unwell for a couple of weeks, runny nose, cold and flu etc. I had been to my local GP several times and each time I was told it was only a viral infection and they could not do anything for him. What I didn’t realise was that he was getting so run down, losing weight and generally getting low.

One Friday in September he seemed worse than I had seen him before, very lethargic and running a high temperature. The thought of meningitis did not even cross my mind. Once again I headed to the GPs. I was getting tired of Jeremy being sick. The GP referred me to the local hospital to a paediatrician. It was the same paediatrician who checked Jeremy at birth and thankfully I was able to see him that day. All the time Jeremy was getting worse and more and more lethargic.

The paediatrician was unable to detect anything specific and suggested that I take Jeremy home, give him some pain relief and see how he was the following day. I took him home but by 4pm in the afternoon he was almost unable to stay awake for more than 5 minutes and he had vomited once. I decided to call Health Direct and they suggested a similar course of action to the paediatrician.

Jeremy slept most of the night and awoke at 4am to vomit again. At this stage I still wasn’t panicking but found myself on the phone again, talking to Health Direct. They suggested that I go to the nearest emergency room because they thought he might be getting dehydrated. This is where I believe God was watching over Jeremy.

I got off the phone and Jeremy was sleeping peacefully. My brain told me to leave him there until the morning because it was cold and dark outside. But something kept me going. As I was packing the bag I was saying to my husband, “What should I do? Shouldn’t I just wait until morning?” Anyway I found myself in the car on the way to the hospital.

To my surprise the hospital accident and emergency room was empty and staff were able to see us straight away. However they didn’t seem worried about his condition and suggested he probably had pneumonia. They also suggested that I might be able to go home after a chest x-ray was performed. By this time Jeremy was grey in colour and still burning hot. I had never seen him like this before and didn’t like it. Anyway they did the x-ray and suggested we might be able to go home. I just said to them “I am not going home, he is scaring me and I would prefer to stay here” I’m sure they thought I was crazy but thank God I did not go home!

They decided to observe him for a few hours. We had been there since about 5am and at 12:30 he started to have convulsions. He clearly was not improving, even though they reassured me all morning, that any minute he would start to get better. Another doctor came to see Jeremy about 1pm. Thank God that at that time the doctor decided to give him some antibiotics by needle, despite admitting they were unsure what they were treating. They also agreed to admit Jeremy to a ward, as soon as a bed became available.

By about 4pm they transferred him upstairs (mind you he still hadn’t really ‘woken up’ during the course of the afternoon and had endured needles etc and not batted an eyelid)

A young female doctor came to see him. She took one look at him and went straight to call the Consultant. She came back with the Consultant. The Consultant immediately ordered that Jeremy was put on a drip and a lumbar puncture performed. My husband was with me by this stage and we were relatively calm up until now. Panic struck, as everything suddenly seemed so serious. The doctors wanted to move Jeremy to intensive care but finally decided to put him in the isolation room close to the nurse’s station. The room was dark and small and there was a constant flurry of activity. We still had no idea what was going on but knew now, it was serious!!

At 10pm the doctor sat down with us and gave us the verdict: bacterial meningitis, septicaemia, pneumonia and RSV. He warned us that if Jeremy survived the night he might be severely brain damaged or deaf. The good thing going for us was that he had been given antibiotics earlier during the day. Thank God and thanks to the doctors as well.

We called in our parents to come and say goodbye if needed and then all we could do was pray and pray we did!

Anyway my husband and I sat with Jeremy until 4 am (I had now been awake 24 hours) and he suddenly sat up, pulled at the drip and wires and gave out a cry. It was the best sound we had ever heard.

He woke up the next morning and the consultant and resident were both equally shocked that he was sitting up and eating rice bubbles. The next few days were really intense, as he was in pain and physically exhausted. Jeremy stayed in hospital for eight days on the antibiotics and came home for 3 weeks before being rushed back into emergency following an epileptic like seizure. Scans showed that he had fluid on the brain and we stayed in hospital for a further 3 weeks with Jeremy back on a drip. He was on anti-convulsive medication for 12 months with 3 monthly hospital check -ups for a period of twelve months.

Jeremy is now nearly seven years old and thank God above he is a perfectly normal boy who loves all kinds of sport and playstation!!! and has shown no other side effects from this horrible disease. The day I wrote this story Jeremy had a cold and it frightens me so much to see him sick but I know that God looks after us and watches over Jeremy and I don’t need to be afraid. I believe that God looked after Jeremy and guided each person’s actions but I also give credit to the doctors involved and the medication and treatment that are available to us in Australia.

I didn’t realise how fast the disease can kill and I was unaware of the actual symptoms. I think people need to be aware of the time factor and seek medical attention if they are concerned and to return to the doctor or hospital, if their child gets worse.

With regard to siblings in the family, it is an awful shock to them as well and a real adjustment has to be made on their part. My daughter Taylah was only 5 months old when Jeremy became unwell and thank goodness a happy baby that was able to be left with my in-laws. I would go and visit her after a long shift spent with Jeremy at the hospital and then quickly home for a few hours sleep. I can only imagine the impact on older siblings who understand what is going on. It was an awful experience.

To this day I feel that I need to ensure our bond grows stronger because we missed out on spending that time together. She has just started pre primary and we have had three years spending time with each other while Jeremy was at kindly, pre-primary and then of course grade one. I have spent some really good times with Taylah during that ‘one to one time’, we have had together.