A young boy comes down with a particularly nasty strain of bacterial meningitis, and he struggles to recover from his illness.
The story is told by his mother, Angel.
My son is a little fighter; always has been. And this time is certainly no exception.
My son is 11 years old, and his name is Brendan Michael Kincaid. I am Angel, his mother; and I have had to practically raise our son on my own after his dad, a no-good alcoholic, decided that the bottle was more important than the needs of his very own family, left us. Brendan was all but two then, so he really never knew his dad. He's heard about him and has seen pictures, but that is about it.
Anyway, my son has had to struggle, more so than most kids his age. He has a mild form of autism, and he also has learning disabilities; and now, as I write this, he is in the hospital, in Intensive Care, fighting for his young life. Brendan came down with what I had thought was the flu a few days ago, and he only got sicker and sicker as the hours went by; and now he is in the hospital, in a coma. He has a virulent strain of bacterial meningitis, and right now, doctors aren't sure as to whether he is going to survive or not. The meningococcal infection is raging throughout his entire body, and he is right now in extremely critical condition. They think he may have some damage to his brain because he isn't responding as well as he should be, even with all the antibiotics being pumped into his system; and he is still running a pretty high temperature.
I feel horrible because only a few days ago, Brendan was playing football with his buddies in the backyard; and that night, he started running a fever, and it seemed that he was feeling worse and worse as the hours went by; and two days ago, he broke out in a rash all over his body, and he was delirious with fever; so this was how he ended up in the hospital. After he had a battery of tests it was found that he had bacterial meningitis, and he is now a very sick little boy.
I also feel bad because I have two other children besides Brendan: I have two daughters, Megan Rochelle and Tawnya Elaine, who are nine and seven; and they need me right now; but with Brendan, their brother, being in the hospital in such bad shape, I can't risk leaving him, in case something should happen; and I am afraid that if I DO leave Brendan, then he will die on me; and I don't think I could live with myself if that were to happen! (In the meantime, the girls are staying with our neighbor's while I am at the hospital with my boy.)
I am actually sitting in the Intensive Care waiting area; I am waiting for the next time I can go in to see him. Brendan can't see or hear me of course, as they have him purposely knocked out; but it is so devastating to see him lying in bed, hooked up to a whole myriad of tubes, and it is especially disconcerting to me to know that he may not make it through this sickness. He is deathly ill at this point, and right now, things don't look very good for him. He is breathing with the aid of a ventilator, and he has tubes going in and out of practically every orafice; and he is lying on a cooling blanket that they can turn on if his temperature should happen to spike upwards again, like it did yesterday, and because of it, he had a seizure. So far, since the seizure, nothing else has really happened; but Brendan is still in bad shape, and there is NO telling what may happen in the very near future. The doctors and nurses are still very concerned about him; and their serious mannerisms has my nerves on edge. I don't know why they don't discuss Brendan's condition with me; it is as though they are hiding "things" from me; and as Brendan's mother, I have a right to know what in the hell is going on with my son!
Hello Karyn,
You write so vividly capturing the essence of the story. Dramatict writing well done Regards John W
Reviewed by Robert Blackwell
1/4/2004
It's never easy to watch your child going through such things. As usual, you have captured the drama and heartbreak of that like no one else can. {{{{{{{{{{hug}}}}}}}}}}
Reviewed by Kate Clifford
1/4/2004
It is terrible to see your child in the hospital and fearing for there life. When I was young my mother had this experience with me. I had Spinal meningitis. The other children that were admitted to the hospital at that time, died. I have very little memory of this time in my life, expect for a vision/dream? I am not sure.
This write and the loss of my son gives me some idea what a mother would go through in this type of experience. Excellent work.
Reviewed by Simon Thurlow
1/4/2004
That's a terrifying illness..especially for the young. Hope he recovers
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My son is a little fighter; always has been. And this time is certainly no exception.
