The Beginning of the Story 8/12/23 recorded on 8/19/23

As John Eldrege shares in his book Epic: The Story God Is Telling (https://www.amazon.com/Epic-Joh-Eldredge/dp/0785288791/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2FBIFGDPPC3B3&keywords=epic+john+eldredge+book&qid=1692558665&sprefix=epic+john%2Caps%2C151&sr=8-1 - a great read for $2.99) we are living our story as part of a bigger story.  

This is the story of Justin's bout/battle with meningitis aka Sinogenic Subdural Empyema aka sinus bacteria going into the brain fluid/menges and causing infection, pus & swelling. This is a part of the bigger story in his life, which is part of the unique role Justin has in the amazing story God is telling.

Sorry that this will sound like a script we have been telling the doctors for 48 hours; because it is. Grab a cuppa and read.

We know for sure on August 12th that Justin had a cold. It could have started a day or two earlier, but he felt well enough to play soccer that night. I wasn't there but apparently he played out of his mind!

On Sunday he didn't feel well, and actually stayed home from the soccer game.

The symptoms of his head cold started to subside, but he started to complain of a terrible headache, he had a fever, some vomiting thus a lack of appetite. This went on into Monday and by Tuesday we went to our Dr. He was diagnosed with gastroenteritis and treated for nausea and told to take regular doses of pain meds. Nothing helped so we went back to the Dr on Thursday, received a shot of strong pain reliever and ended up in the ER because he needed fluids for his dehydration, Vomiting was under control and the pain medicine alleviated his headache for a bit. He had some belly pain so they did a CT scan and also lung x-ray which showed "something" in the lungs (not pneumonia) and was sent home with an antibiotic. He actually ate dinner, and had relief from the headache for only a couple hours, so repeat again until Friday morning Steve took him to the ER again. This is the part for Steve to tell since I wasn't there, but it seemed like deja vu. My friend had mentioned meningitis to me, and Steve had also thought of it, but Justin had none of the typical physical signs so had not been tested yet.

Here is a place where God enters the story more directly. He decided to make the ER very busy, and delay Justin and Steve in the room when they thought they would be discharged. Enter Dr Coleman who looked over Justin and decided she didn't like what she saw so she ordered the Lumbar Puncture aka spinal tap. Praise God!! She didn't like what she saw so fast forward to the correct diagnosis and saving Justin's life.

I was still at home because I had to work that day. Steve was keeping me updated and I think at this point I was thinking antibiotic treatment, right? (We'll let Steve write his story also.) They had to transfer him to Primary Children's hospital (one of the BEST in the country) since he wasn't old enough to stay overnight where they were. While waiting for the ambulance, Dr noticed Justin was having some difficulty expressing thoughts while answering questions, so she ordered a brain CT while they were waiting. This allowed the Dr's at Primary's to be ready to know what to do when he arrived. Which was...

Brain surgery, to open the skull to drain and flush the infection and relieve the pressure in the brain. Nasal surgery to flush the sinuses of infection and widen the nasal passages to allow better drainage for the future. Because they had the CT scan they knew to call in the MRI Dr and prep for surgery. I joined Steve at this point while we waited, and received the explanations of the surgeries.