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Survivor Stories
Jennifer Muszynski
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My name is Jennifer Muszynski and this is how I survived bacterial meningitis.
I had frequent colds in February and all of March of 2008. I experienced horrible headaches a couple days before being hospitalized. I guess those were my clues, frequent colds and horrible headaches. I took over the counter pain medication when I had the headaches and the medicine worked, at that time for about six hours. On the night before March 25, I went to see a movie at the theater with no signs of being unhealthy. No colds, no headaches. Throughout the movie, the headache came back but I had no medicine with me. I suffered tremendously throughout the movie and could not pay attention. I should have left the theater! After the movie, while driving back to my dorm room, I could not open my eyes because my head hurt so much. No need to worry, I was not driving. My head was pounding by that point. I barely made it up to the fifth floor to my dorm room. I crawled up into the top bunk bed, put an eye mask on because I was sensitive to light, asked my roommate for a wash cloth then tried to go to sleep. Thank God I couldn't! I had all the signs. My resident assistant told me to go to sleep and see the nurse on campus the next day. I completely disagreed and knew that I needed medical attention as soon as possible. My neighbor, she lived in the dorm room next to mine, asked if I could get out of bed and walk to the car. I literally fell out of bed and could not walk. I leaned against her while slowly walking to the car. With a wash cloth on my face, she drove me to the hospital.
On March 25 at 12:30am, I was sitting in the emergency room providing all my information. This is when I look back and realize how God helped me. I could not open my eyes, barely talk, and there was no way of thinking because my head felt like I was hit by a baseball bat. Name, phone number, residence, social security number, insurance information in which I was able to think clearly with no pain for only that specific amount of time. The tremendous pain came back as they brought me to a room. I do not remember any details after that. I was told that I had a few seizers and was unconscious for three days in the ICU. I was hospitalized from March 25, 2008 until March 31, 2008.
I had frequent colds in February and all of March of 2008. I experienced horrible headaches a couple days before being hospitalized. I guess those were my clues, frequent colds and horrible headaches. I took over the counter pain medication when I had the headaches and the medicine worked, at that time for about six hours. On the night before March 25, I went to see a movie at the theater with no signs of being unhealthy. No colds, no headaches. Throughout the movie, the headache came back but I had no medicine with me. I suffered tremendously throughout the movie and could not pay attention. I should have left the theater! After the movie, while driving back to my dorm room, I could not open my eyes because my head hurt so much. No need to worry, I was not driving. My head was pounding by that point. I barely made it up to the fifth floor to my dorm room. I crawled up into the top bunk bed, put an eye mask on because I was sensitive to light, asked my roommate for a wash cloth then tried to go to sleep. Thank God I couldn't! I had all the signs. My resident assistant told me to go to sleep and see the nurse on campus the next day. I completely disagreed and knew that I needed medical attention as soon as possible. My neighbor, she lived in the dorm room next to mine, asked if I could get out of bed and walk to the car. I literally fell out of bed and could not walk. I leaned against her while slowly walking to the car. With a wash cloth on my face, she drove me to the hospital.
On March 25 at 12:30am, I was sitting in the emergency room providing all my information. This is when I look back and realize how God helped me. I could not open my eyes, barely talk, and there was no way of thinking because my head felt like I was hit by a baseball bat. Name, phone number, residence, social security number, insurance information in which I was able to think clearly with no pain for only that specific amount of time. The tremendous pain came back as they brought me to a room. I do not remember any details after that. I was told that I had a few seizers and was unconscious for three days in the ICU. I was hospitalized from March 25, 2008 until March 31, 2008.
When I woke up, I was informed that I had two seizures, pneumonia in my left lung and bacterial meningitis. I was in the hospital for six days and received antibiotics for an additional ten days through an IV in my arm. I went home on bed rest for the ten days that the IV had to be in my arm. I could not drive for those ten days and had to see an infectious disease doctor as well as a neurologist. Thank God I did not have any permanent damage. Thank you God and Sherman Hospital for saving my life! I am completely healthy!
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