My son Chase
Liz Capritto (eac(AT)ener.com)
Wed, 10 Mar 1999 18:17:37 -0800
Hi:
My son Chase was diagnosed with TM in October of 1998. He is 9 yrs. old. He
fell ill overnight as we were visiting relatives in Louisiana. Next morning he
was on a respirator and flown in to Texas Children's Hospital. We live in
Houston. In Louisiana they diagnosed him with possible Guillain Barre
Syndrome. I was very familar with this disease because 15 yrs. ago my brother
had it and today he is doing fine after years of therapy.
My son Chase came to TCH in Houston and was in intensive care for a week,
paralized on mostly his right side. He moved from intensive care to a room for
about a week and doing intensive physical therapy. From there he went to TIRR,
the Texas Institute for Rehab & Rehabilitation for a week and then in day
hospital for 3 weeks, he would come home at night. He went from being
paralized to a wheelchair, to a walker and then to almost 95 percent recovery.
In December he went back to school with limited activity and continues Ritalin
because of his ADHD but he appears as normal to everyone as before. I see
weakness in his right shoulder and right leg but he has made a remarkable
recovery! He rollerblades, plays basketball, rides his bike and continues to
imrpove everyday. I was afraid he would never walk again when he was
hospitalized and everything I read on the Internet scared me to death so I
thought I would send a real positive story for readers! Chase took massive
doses of steroids and had excellent care at the Texas Medical Center. I
couldn't be more pleased. I never saw so many teams of every specialist and
every different doctor than we experienced at TCH. I am so grateful to report
that he is almost fully recovered, no bladder problems, not complaining of pain
or anything else. I sympathize with all of you but encourage you not to give
up and I do pray for everyone who had to deal with this awful disease.
Take care.
Liz Capritto