Melissa hardly ever got sick. Even when she did, she’d take some over-the-counter medication, head into work and tough through it. When you’re a mom, you learn to deal with minor aches, pains and colds because there’s no such thing as  a”sick day”. Minor bumps and bruises are something you also expect to get when you’re taking care of children.  When Melissa accidentally slammed her hand in a door,  she simply went to the emergency room to be safe. Little did she know one precautionary visit to the emergency room would change her life forever.

When she arrived, the doctor asked her if she had gotten a Tetanus shot. It had been years since she had gotten one, so the doctor ordered one right away. In addition, she had not had her flu shot either, so this was also administered. Melissa went home assuming she had been guarded against any further complications.

A week later, Melissa developed a sore throat and a cough, which are typical flu shot symptoms. She took some Tylenol, and proceeded to carry on her life as usual. About three weeks after she first noticed the flu-like symptoms, they progressed to nausea which sent her back to the emergency room. There, she was given a shot for nausea and sent home. 2 days later, Melissa had gotten progressively worse and went to another hospital’s emergency room where she described her hands, arms, feet and toes were numb. The hospital admitted her into the hospital to try and diagnose what was wrong.

Later in her room, she got even worse. She was dizzy, had blurred vision, couldn’t swallow and was losing her ability to speak. The hospital ordered an MRI and a CT scan. The CT scan showed lesions on her brain in the area that controls basic motor skills – seeing, speech and walking. The MRI was just as bad – the protective covering had been stripped from her spinal cord. Based on their findings, doctors gave Melissa’s family little to no hope of her survival.  They were certain that she was not going to make it through this as the odds were stacked against her.

The day after she arrived at the hospital for the third time since her Flu and Tetanus shots, Melissa was transferred to the ICU unit of Barrow Neurological Institute.  For 1 1/2 weeks, Melissa remained in the ICU while her family stood by waiting for her to meet her expected death.  The doctors diagnosed her with post-viral rhombencephalitis – an infection of the brain affecting motor skills. It was explained that Melissa’s body had began to attack and destroy her brain stem.

For the next 12 days, Melissa was given a 7 day treatment of immunoglobulin to restore her anti-bodies as “the plasma was too dirty to fight off whatever was attacking her body. She spent 2 more weeks in the ICU and was given Steroids.

Thankfully, Melissa has not met the immediate demise that doctors had expected her to. She has been out of the hospital for about 3 weeks now but has a long road of rehabilitation ahead of her due to her during her lengthy stay in the hospital and the various medical procedures she endured that caused her to lose much of her balance and strength.  She is still very swollen from the steroids which she will have to continue taking for the next 2 1/2 months. She also reports problems sleeping and a problem with acne, which she had never experienced before.

Melissa’s story and many others remind us to take extra care when getting any kind of vaccine or medical treatment no matter how routine it is. It is the talk of many medical experts that the H1N1 -Swine Flu Vaccine can cause birth defects including autism when administered to women who are pregnant. It is very important to do your homework  and know the side effects of any and all medications and vaccines that you or your children receive. It is true that medicine is advancing everyday, but if we are not educated in side effects, etc, then it advances at our expense and that of our loved ones.

It is worth mentioning that it is not yet known what exactly caused Melissa’s illness – however they are very certain it was the flu shot that she received – particularly because of the rapid progression of her condition within 1 week of receiving the vaccine, which was not notated on her chart. This is also being investigated.

Bottom line:   Know your facts – do your research – ask questions.