The day before it started

I was nine years old. It was just a normal day like any other. Yet it wasn't.
I didn't go to school because I had a mild fever and a headache. My brother who was very mischievous, too came back from school making an excuse of stomach ache. Maybe he was jealous that I did not go to school.
My mother gave me medicine for the fever and by noon it was gone, so I went out to play cricket with my friends.
I was fine. I played for a while and then came back home in the evening. After a while, the headache came back. And after sometime so did the fever. I took the medicine again hoping it will go away by the next morning and tried to sleep. The headache had gotten worse.
I had vomited all over the bed in my sleep. I woke my mom up and she woke up dad. I vomited again. And the fever and headache were back in full swing.
At this time my mother decided to take me to a hospital to Biswanath Chariali( around 25 kms from my home.)

The hospital hunt

At the hospital, there was no room and all the beds were taken. Fortunately my mother had brought some blankets which she laid on the floor I lied down there too preoccupied with the pain and discomfort. I vomited a few times there as well. My stomach was completely empty yet the vomiting didn't stop.

The medical care there was no good and we again decided to go to Tezpur( 65 kms in the opposite direction) in the morning.

This time too I vomited all the way there. I was totally exhausted by the time we reached the hospital. My whole body was in pain, especially my head and the back of my neck.
Fortunately we got a room and then I was diagnosed with meningitis.

It is an inflammation of the meninges. The meninges are the three membranes that cover the brain and spinal cord. Meningitis can occur when fluid surrounding the meninges becomes infected.

The doctor told that if I was even an hour late, I could have had serious brain damage or could even sinked into a coma or lost my sense of hearing and sight.

Road to recovery

I was admit for around a week or two. But every day it was very much hard on my body. I mostly slept through the day waking up only to eat, to go to the bathroom or to get injected.

As for the injections, they were a lot! I used to count how many I had taken on a day and at the end it summed up to a total of 120 injections and 20 saline drips and countless other medicines that I had taken orally.

In the first few days, I didn't feel much of the injections but as the days passed they got more painful. Especially the antibiotic injections. These felt as if they were burning through my arm all the way to my shoulder. Others were not so much painful.

The visitors

I got a lot of visits from my relatives. And the best part about it was that they brought a lot of treats for me. I ate lots of chocolates and potato chips and other fun stuff.

All I had done on those days was sleep. I seemed to be sleepy at all times which probably was due to the medications.

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This is my story. This was how I barely escaped an onset to a miserable life. Due to the blessings of God and the love of my family, today I am able to write this post.

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