Monday , March 25 2024

Strange Illness! This Man Woke Up One Morning and Couldn’t Remember His Wife

Different kinds of ailments exist but this one will shock you. How can you take a nap and wake only realize that everyone around who is a stranger? Check the account of a man who drove his wife to work, came to take a nap and woke up to a strange environment.

What if one day you woke up and couldn’t remember who you were? Who would help you find your way back? It happened to Wilfred Gachiomi, 30. His wife Ruby shares.

 He was in perfect health, until one day in October 2016, while going about his day at work, his mind went blank.  He couldn’t recognise where he was, couldn’t speak and didn’t even recognise his wife Ruby, a woman he had driven to work only hours earlier. He also got into a stupor, one he woke up from six months later, albeit with some physical and mental changes.

“I have been told what happened and I still cannot believe it. I can’t tell you what happened in the six months. I think I was like a zombie,” he says, still looking dazed from this occurrence two years ago.

My father died one month into my illness, apparently I was at the funeral but my brain didn’t register it.”

Prior to this incidence, Wilfred Gathiomi, then in his late 20s, was a regular dad of two, a husband and a man with big dreams and in great health. Today he is convalescing at home, in awe of his wife Ruby Gathiomi who is slowly nursing him back to health.

Ruby looks on warmly at Wilfred and smiles before explaining what really happened.

The hazy days

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  “A week earlier, he was experiencing sweats and a fever, but he thought it wasn’t serious enough to warrant a hospital visit.”

Two weeks prior, they had learnt that Wilfred had Bell’s palsy, a condition that makes you go numb on one side. However, the doctor said it was not serious and when they read up on it, they found out that it was something that could go away even without medication.

“This particular day when we were going to work, I noticed he was a bit off. He was driving and almost rammed into someone. It startled me but when I asked him, he said he was just preoccupied.  It had been a bit tough at work and we were going through a bit of a financial situation so I thought that was what was bothering him.”

“At about noon, his colleague called me and said he was concerned about him, so I went and checked on him. He looked physically OK but could not speak and when he tried to, it was gibberish. Even when you spoke to him, he would not respond and was looking at me blankly.”

Wilfred at this point could not recognise anyone, not his wife or even his colleagues. And so they rushed him to the hospital.

 “You could tell his mind was not present. I was seated at the back with him and at some point on the way to the hospital, he tried to open the door and get out. It was as if he was in a trance,” says Ruby. He was admitted at Avenue Hospital where he spent 10 days.

“They could not find anything wrong with him. One of the doctors thought it could be a viral infection and put him on anti-viral drugs,” she says.

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  The fluid in his head

 “On the 10th day, doctors told me that the CT scan showed that he had hydrocephalus, where the CSF fluid in the brain, which is ideally supposed to drain itself, was not doing so because the valves were blocked, so his brain was under a lot of pressure and he needed to undergo surgery immediately.” The neurosurgeon told them that it was a life and death situation and he had to be operated on that very day.

Wilfred was transferred to another hospital with an equipped Intensive Care Unit and with the family’s medical cover depleted, they had to raise Sh450, 000 in one day for him to be admitted at the MP Shah Hospital.

We were fortunate to have a great boss and friends who helped us raise the money needed.”

The surgery was successful and the doctors inserted a pipe (VP Shunt) which drained the CSF fluid from the brain to the stomach.

“His whole head was bandaged but the fact that he squeezed my hand when I held it and he was breathing fine, gave me immense hope.”

Eventually he could open his eyes, talk a little and feed through a pipe.

Tuberculosis of the brain

We later found out that the reason for our woes was tuberculosis of the brain and meningitis, which is what had caused the valves blockage in the brain.

After a 35-day stay in hospital, he began physiotherapy sessions.

Today, he wears glasses as his eyesight was weakened after the illness.

He can also walk and talk now, and is hoping to fully get back to work soon.

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“He still has some lesions in his brain and his eyesight continues to improve. Though he still has his sense of humour, he has lost some of our significant memories like our traditional wedding,” she says.

Wilfred turns and smiles at his wife.

“She’s a strong woman!” he exclaims. “After learning what she had to go through with my sickness and a young baby, I am in awe. She could have abandoned me, but chose to stay. And I will forever remember that.”

WHAT IS TB MENENGITIS?

It is an infection where the memory parts of the brain such as the temporal lobe are affected.   This is what causes the brain damage that leads to memory loss.

There is nothing you can actually do to avoid TB meningitis, but it mostly affects people who are immunosuppressed, meaning their immune system has been weakened, because of conditions like leukemia, HIV and so forth.

If you are immunosuppressed and are on medication, you need to be compliant with your medications to avoid getting such infections. There are no vaccinations except the vaccination against TB given to children. If you are immunosuppressed, that vaccination does not protect you from TB and meningitis.

Source:

sde.co.ke

About Chinenye Nwabueze

Nwabueze is a writer with passion for cutting-edge news

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