Ana Castillo's story
Confederation of Meningitis Organisations (CoMO) member Ana shares her experience with meningitis.
Bright had not been well, and I had taken him to several private clinics where they told me that he had pneumonia, but his condition was not really improving. I noticed that Bright had a high fever, stomach ache and was breathing so fast, and I didn’t know what was wrong with him, so decided to take him to Ndirande Health Centre.
At the clinic they thought it was malaria, so they did a malaria test, but the results were negative, so they referred him to QECH because of the way he was breathing.
When we reached the hospital, a nurse started helping Bright and he was put on oxygen in the emergency room. They took a blood sample, and they thought he had pneumonia as well. While in the emergency room, Bright started convulsing, so he was given an injection.
They then did a lumbar puncture on Bright, and took some blood cultures, and they said he had meningitis. While in the hospital, he was also tested HIV-positive and has been told to start antiretroviral therapy (ART), and I am so confused. I am hoping Bright will recover from the meningitis and that the ART drugs will work.
We have been in hospital for five days, and my husband who is a driver is staying at home with the five other children to look after them.
I think I could now spot meningitis if another member of the family or village contracted it. I will tell the rest of the village what to look for if someone is sick and they need to get medical help quickly.
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