2/16

Ever since we left the ER almost two weeks ago, Dad has improved by leaps and bounds.  He's doing phenomenal.  The neck pain is more manageable.  His cognition is great.  He's basically back to his old self again.  The only thing he really has to cope with at all is intermittent short term memory difficulty.  But it's really small inconsequential stuff like "Did I already call to make a haircut appointment or do I need to do that still?" or "Where did I put the keys to my camping trailer?".  Heck, I have those difficulties on a daily basis without a brain injury!  Half the time I find myself standing in the middle of the grocery store with no clue what I came there for.  Like I mentioned long ago, I think the only thing this encephalitis did is knock Mr. Perfect Memory down a peg to be down here with us common folk.  :)

As if my singing his praises isn't enough, he had two awesome follow-up appointments this week, with Neurology and Infectious Disease.  There were a lot of words and phrases thrown around by the doctors, such as "outstanding", "unbelievable", "one of the fastest recoveries on record", "most recovered case we've ever seen".  The Infectious Disease doctor today said that in the past 5 years he's seen 13 cases of the type of encephalitis my dad has.  Of those 13, he said my dad is the only one who has basically come back to baseline.  Most of the rest have marked neurological defects.  And even the ones doing fairly well, it took them over 6 months to get there.  We're only 2 1/2 months out.  We know there will always be good days and bad days along the way in this healing process, but it's great to know that his recovery is taking a truly amazing road.

His doctors have given him full reign to do everything he used to do, no limitations.  We're excited that he can really get back to living life again.  However, I said that I forbid him from leaving town (and being out of my immediate sight) until he's at least 6 months out.  I know, overprotective perhaps.  But I told him I'm not taking any chances, he can consider himself grounded until May!

Throughout his illness, I've read a million studies and articles on prognosis.  The statistics that most stick out in my mind is that encephalitis, even treated with Acyclovir, is fatal 20% of the time.  57% of people have serious long-term neurological damage.  20% of people recover with minor to moderate damage.  Only 2.5% regain normal brain function.  My dad is that 2.5%.  We are blessed.