Katie’s Meningitis Story

Katie going for a walk in her cart 16 days after contracting Meningitis

On the 11th of July 2014 we all got ready for a long trip to America to visit my family who we had not seen in around 3 years, it was also the first time that Katie would meet them. On the 16th of July, after a few days of enjoying family time and the great weather, we went shopping in the outlet stores. We had a nice time, if you can call shopping nice! The kids where having fun, at one point running in and out of the rain when there was a thunder storm, which we now know not to do as thunder storms in Florida are a time to take shelter. That evening was just a normal evening; dinner then bed time, again just like with Jessica 18months previously. Katie went to bed with no problem. Janet went to the shop to get some more food and around an hour after going to bed, Katie woke. She had a temp and was moaning, but I just put it down to her running around in the rain, so I told her that when mummy got home I would send her in to see her, to which she said ok. When Janet got home she went into see her and was shocked at how hot she felt, but like me, put it down to the hot weather. She took her temp, which was around 40 C. I was not happy and said i would ask my mum to come over to look after Jessica and we would go to hospital with Katie. In the back of my mind i was thinking about meningitis, but did not say anything, as I did not want to go through it again. On arrival at the hospital we were taken to a room where they took her temp, which was now 42 C. They gave her some Tylenol, took some blood and a urine sample and said that they would be keeping an eye on her. During our time there I had said a few times that her sister had Meningitis last year, but was told that it was not that. I was not very reassured, but as it came from the doctor and nurses I decided that they knew what they were talking about. Katie began to improve as her temp came down and she became more alert. A few hours later, Katie said that she wanted some water, the nurse said it was ok, as we were going home soon. Around a minute later Katie was sick all over me, just as the doctor walked in. He said that she was showing the signs of a fever and we could expect vomiting and diarrhoea for the next week. He gave us a prescription and we went back home. We decided that Janet would stay with Katie in our bed to help her through the night. She vomited a bit through the rest of the night, still moaning, not sleeping well and then became very thirsty. On the morning of the 17th, I woke up and went into the room to see how Janet’s night with Katie went. We took off her vest and as soon as I looked at her, I just new that we were going to have to go through it all again. The dreaded Meningococcal rash had started. We raced back to the hospital. I phoned my brother Aaron to ask him if he was working, as he is an ED Tech in the hospital. I told him that we were coming in, as Katie had a rash just like Jessica did. He told me that he was not working, but would ring the head of the ER to let her know we were on our way and he would meet us there. On arrival to the ER, knowing that every second counted, I jumped out with Katie and Janet parked the car. When she came in we were still waiting. Then we all went in together and that’s when it all started to happen. We were taken into a room where two techs tried to find a vein for an IV, but could not and that’s when the Dr came in. She asked us to go through the last 24hours and once she said “infection control”, our worst fears were confirmed. We all had to gown up, put gloves and face masks on while the Dr was pushing IV fluids and antibiotics into Katie. Then it was time to go to PICU. We all got into the lift and Janet tells me that it was at this point that I said that she wasn’t going to make it. On arrival in PICU I asked if Jessica and I could go somewhere else, as I did not want her to see all the doctors and nurses around Katie. So, we were led to the Family waiting room, which ended up where we would sleep and eat for the next 5 days. After a little wait Aaron arrived with my parents and sister. I decided that I would go and see how they were doing with Katie and that was when I got the biggest scare of my life, seeing my little Katie in a bed on a ventilator fighting for her life. I could do nothing, but just look and watch and after a few minutes I could not take it anymore and i just had to leave in tears. It was a very tense few hours waiting and waiting for any news. In that time we had to give permission for Katie to have a blood transfusion. The next few days for Katie were hard. Her blood pressure was up and down, temp up and down, but then they were happy with her being stable enough to be moved to a bigger room where we had a bed and shower, so we could sleep in the same room. It was hard to begin with, but I got used to the noise of all the alarms going off and what they were for, so it did get easier. We also decided, after about a week, that we should let Jessica see Katie. So with the help from the doctors and child support staff, we talked through what she would see with the help of a doll with tubes. At first she did not want to go in, which was fine, as we did not want to push her into it. But she soon decided herself to visit. When she did see her, it was nice, but she did not want to touch her; that took a few days. Then we were given the news that they were happy with her progress and were going to be lowering her sedation meds, which I found easy to deal with. Seeing Katie slowly waking up, but still with the tube in, was very hard for Janet to cope with. Then on the 28th of July, after 12 days on the ventilator, Katie started to breathe enough on her own that they were happy to turn the ventilator off and pull the tube out. It was such a great relief after almost losing her 12 days earlier. The next 11 days were hard on Katie, as she was being weaned off her meds. We were trying to get her to eat, drink and walk again so that the doctors were happy enough for her to go home. We had a nasty scare when she had a sudden spike in her temp. They rushed a load of tests and quickly found everything to be normal. They put it down to a symptom of withdrawal. Then on day 22, we were told that if she had a good night, then she could go home in the morning. We were so excited, but daren’t believe it until it happened. After 23 days in PICU we finally went home, or at least what was home at the time. I had had a lot of low points in that time as I thought that we were going to lose Katie, but the team in PICU were amazing. They explained everything that they were going to be doing to Katie and what to expect during and following her hospital stay. If it was not for all of the Doctors, nurses, etc then we would not have Katie with us now. Every day since we left the hospital and finally America Katie has improved, Every so often I look at her and remember just how lucky we are to not just have Katie, but also Jessica. Since returning home we have all had the Meningitis B vaccine.