Well fellas let me tell ya a little something. About a month ago I noticed some small changes in my dad's behavior. He seemed a little "easily agitated" and was moody. He started sleeping a lot, more and more each day. The mood swings increased little by little. He started saying things that were kind of off the wall and would curse in front of people that he would normally never curse in front of... He obviously wasn't himself. When Jim and John came over to see Jim's bow I was working on, they noticed he wasn't very talkative. He didn't want to do anything, even hunt, and this is a man that loves it more than anyone I know. When I shot a big doe a few weeks ago he didn't even want to leave he house to help me get it out (normally he would be jumping up and down with excitement) my best friend and father was fading away fast and I felt helpless. Finally I had enough and decided I was going to be the man my father raised and not go quietly into the night, to fight for what I want and love till my dying breath. I physically made my dad go to the doctor and demanded testing. bloodwork was fine, they did an MRI of the brain and it came back showing encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) they wanted for him to see an neurologist but the soonest appointment Would be a week or more, I went ahead and took the initiative and left work and got my dad out of bed (at 11:30, blank look on his face) and drove him to the ER. The doc there was awesome, within 35 minutes we had the lumbar puncture needed to tell us what was going on. My dad was admitted and the first biopsy came back viral so they started antiviral therapy. Day two biopsy results showed it was viral meningitis...dang. Neuro doc said if we would have waited he would have been past the point of help if he would have made it at all. We are seeing some improvements, he was so dehydrated and malnourished when we brought him in, now with plenty of fluids, medications, he is still a little confused but I'm starting to see my dad again. Day three, more improvement...we found out through testing that the cause of all this pain and confusion that both my dad and family have endured was caused by a tick bite. A tick. This little parasite darn near took down a beast of a man. It's a long road ahead to recovery and I'm exhausted. I write this while setting here next to my "old man" "best friend" "hunting hero" and dad...unsure of what's to come. I just set here while he sleeps, holding his hand and telling him I love him as I remember all of our hunts, fishing trips, everything...and just hope there will be more to come.
Thanks for listening guys... Just needed to vent to some good friends
stupid tick, I'm gonna buy a bunch of guinea fowl let them eat some pests.
Ticks are more dangerous than bears, sharks, and rattle snakes combined. At least statistically.
And their behind every bush.
One of the dangers that I've noticed is it's hard sometimes to diagnose that it's a tick bourn illness.
Someone I know who is not an outdoorsman at all came down very sick. He was old and not in the greatest shape anyway.
They came up with a different theory as to what was wrong with him every other day. The tests would prove them wrong again.
Finally he remembered he pulled a tick off him maybe a month or so before and they finally figured out he had Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.
They treated him and he recovered but he was runnin out of time.
I'm not a medical person and I don't understand how this could happen but I remember he was very sick for a couple weeks or more and when he came back to work that's the story he told me.
Prayers for your fathers recovery and everyone be careful this summer.
