viral meningitis?

lest you fret, this would be good news, and is the most likely outcome. bronwyn had a CT scan of her brain this morning, and we received the results sometime after four pm from james, a competent specialist registrar. the contrast scan appeared to indicate that bronwyn had some inflammation, suggesting that she has an infection affecting her brain. however, many factors point against bacterial meningitis, which is the scary one everyone is warned about: she does not have photophobia, her neck is stiff and sore but not in a bacterial meningitis-way, she is not (significantly) confused, though she is a little groggy at times, her blood tests do not suggest any kind of bacterial infection, and finally, to be frank, [not for the easily anxious:] the length of her illness with a complete failure to display sudden death.

however, it is important now for the medics to make a positive and definitive diagnosis, in addition to ruling out things she does not have. therefore, at about 5:15pm they did a lumbar puncture. i will spare you the details, except to say that they use local anaesthetic which eliminates the vast majority of the pain, but that the procedure took longer than bronwyn would have liked. however, they finally obtained four clear samples (a grand total of 28 drops of precious CSF) which is definitely sufficient for all their tests and ensures they will not need to repeat the procedure.

in the end bronwyn found the insertion of a cannula into the veins in her left hand far more painful than the lumbar puncture. fortunately this has enabled her to be started on hospital-grade antibiotics (as a precaution to get a head-start should the viral hypothesis prove wrong) as well as a further anti-emetic injection. we hope this means she won't be vomiting any more.

bronwyn has managed to eat a full meal with my assistance and is having reasonable amounts of fluids (drink! drink! drink! —duncan). she is being kept in st george's again tonight. apart from anything else, if you don't lie flat for at least four hours after a lumbar puncture you reap one doozy of a headache, we hear. she's already got all the headache she needs.

we're expecting results in the morning and again are fairly confident that she'll be home tomorrow. treatment for viral meningitis is symptomatic only: there is no threat of harm or ongoing problems to be treated; it is simply a case of pain relief, preventing vomiting, and resting for as long as it takes to get better. she'll be able to do all of those at home. i'll be keeping her on a significantly shorter leash for the next little while though, and none of this off-to-school 'cause i feel fine business for quite some time.

i am doing fine, though it is of course nice to hear from you all though various means... thanks for your concerns and prayers.