JO was a 15 year old jovial boy who suddenly took up
sick with fever about a month back. He was sick for almost 2 weeks and was
treated successfully elsewhere. After discharge, JO’s father noticed that his
son was not his former self. He suspected something was wrong.
His suspicion turned out to be true within a couple of
days, when JO became unconscious gradually. Even his family did not take the
way he became unconscious seriously as it looked more of JO becoming more and
more sleepy over the day.
When JO was wheeled into our Acute Care, he was hardly
breathing. JO had something very bad in his brain. He was running a high fever
and had anisocoria. We had to do a CT Scan. But, JO was hardly breathing on his
own.
After almost 2 days of mechanical ventilation, we
could wean out JO from the ventilator. Considering the sort of diagnoses that a
young boy with anisocoria can have, we were anxious for the CT Scan Brain. With
a backup for ventilation, we rushed him to the nearest town for the CT Scan.
The CT Scan showed a hypodense area in the periventricular
white matter of the right temporal region.
After he returned, the anisocoria stayed. However, a
fundoscopy did not show any features of a raised Intracranial Tension. With a
guarded prognosis, we took a decision for a lumbar puncture. The family readily
agreed . . . in fact, we had not given them even a day for their JO to survive.
Lumbar puncture was suggestive of a partially treated
bacterial meningitis with a higher protein levels than usual. Considering the
long history of the illness, we took a decision to come to a diagnosis of
Tuberculous Meningitis.
JO has responded well to anti-tuberculosis treatment.
However, he’s yet to be completed fit for discharge.
We’re blessed to be a blessing in the life of JO and
his family. Kindly pray that this young boy will be completely healed.
