Meningitis Day 18 ~ how ill is ill?

Apparently having Meningitis doesn't actually protect you from catching everything else.

After a very long week with slow recovery that would be almost impossible to measure if I wasn't writing it all down, my partner definitely took a step back. We've had 2 days where he hasn't wanted to come and sit with the kids, his head has been bad and he's felt far more unwell. It broke last night and when we went to bed his temperature was high.

By 2am he was up to 38.2 and I'd promised myself when he left hospital that if it went over 38 I was taking him back. He said he felt okay, his neck wasn't actually stiff, he just felt ill and his throat was very sore with huge swollen glands. I made him get out from under the duvet and have Paracetamol and by 2.20am he was back down to 37.4 and I agreed to stop worrying so much and see how things were in the morning.

I really did revisit the terror for a few moments, and my Google was on overdrive. I know that Septicaemia can show up for a couple of weeks after Meningitis, and although I keep telling myself he should be okay because he had 3 different antibiotics in hospital, you cant stop worrying. I spent a broken night testing his temperature every time I woke, and thankfully it was high, but okay.

This morning he was bundled in the duvet saying he's cold, still hot and with a very sore throat. A quick look and he clearly has a throat infection. A throat infection, that's all, nothing so special I hope.

I've spent hours looking on websites this morning and the information out there is stunningly lacking. I have no idea if we should be worried or concerned. I'm assuming what he's been through has left him more susceptible to infections and we need to jump on it. He says he just feels like he has a throat infection, along with his headache and tiredness, but I know his joints are stiff and he's uncomfortable and I'll be keeping a close eye on him and his temperature every step of today.

He's really upset that he's poorly again,  he just wants to be better and this feels like a kick in the teeth. He's really concerned about having to go back to hospital or the walk-in centre (it's Sunday), but I will take him if he gets too hot or ill.

Yet again I'm left in the position of being so incredibly grateful that he isn't a child. He can explain himself, he knows what a throat infection feels like and he knows what Meningitis feels like. He has the ability to describe in detail. He takes his tablets when I tell him to, and he goes back to sleep if I wake him.

One of the major things this has proven to us is that there is no doubt that he cannot return to work on Monday. I'm not glad he has a throat infection, but I'm really pleased I didn't have to argue that point with him and be brutally blunt and point out all his inabilities, or even worse let him set himself up for failure and have him crushed by it...

We're at the Doctors tomorrow....if not before...