Ten Years On: My journey of recovery Scott Latham
Copyright Title: Ten Years On - My Journey of recovery Author: Scott Latham Š 2014, Scott Latham Self-publishing
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author / publisher
Dedicated to ‌ Ashleigh Skye Latham
Preface Thank you for reading my journey of recovery. Ten years on from a life threatening illness, I am now I am in great place. It’s important we keep the awareness of Meningitis flowing, and you have helped to do so by reading my story. This Account of events would not of been possible with out the support of my Mom, Dad, Sister Keely, All my Friends and Family, The Staff at Walsall Manor Hospital and Meningitis NOW organisation.
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Where it all began. As I sit here today, contemplating what life has got planned for me in the future, it’s hard not to remember the past. Today is Wednesday 14th May 2014, my 28th birthday, Ten years since turning 18, essentially the day I became an adult in society. I remember my 18th Birthday quite well, An entourage of friends and family ascended into our home for a little knees up, 20 plus young adults, alcohol and food, left a lot of tidying up for my parents the following day. However, myself did not actually drink too much, by this point I was within the very early stages of recovery from what would be a very life changing experience, but before we get on to that, I’d like to walk you through the
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days leading up to that moment in my life. I had decided in the summer of 2003 that sixth form was not for me, and had enrolled into a course at college to study Public Services, not with the aim of following in to the footsteps of my dad, who was a Police officer, but I wanted to pursue a career in the ambulance services as a paramedic. That first, day was made much easier as a friend from school, Adam W had also decided to follow the same path, dropping out of sixth form to enroll on the same course, but I’ve always been quite an outgoing person so making friends has never been to difficult. One of those friends from college, is Josh, throughout my journey, you will read about little adventures where he was present, and is still present
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within my life, even though at times he annoys the hell out of me. There has been a great bunch of people I have met in my life; it would be impossible to mention them all, but some of my closest, have been around since I was a kid and although some have fled the nest, a few are still around for the ride, anyways, we’ve diverted off, During them first few months at college, I had passed my driving test, 30th September 2003, I sat in traffic for 30 minutes of the 40 minute test and that was a tick off the list of things to do that year. The second main thing on the list for that year was to find myself a new part time job. I had previously worked Saturdays at a local supermarket from the age of 16, but now I needed to save up for a car and the expenses that came with that. I scouted around the local shopping areas, and got a little job
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working for Bowater. It was telesales but it was a job that paid ok, enough to save for a car and run it. Although I still had my first motorcycle so there was no rush. Why mention the motorcycle? Well, during recovery I did a little reading and research and some common factors seems, to play out. In December 2003, just a few days before Christmas, I was travelling home from visiting my nan, when I was involved in a accident. I was travelling along the main road, as I approached a speed camera, I did the standard speed check only for the car in front to stop and turn without indication. The result was a written off motorcycle, and a big head ache and bruising all over my legs, where I’d gone over the handlebars, banging my head on the car. It could have been a lot worse, which I guess I should be
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thankful of, just as that moment my mum’s close friend, Tina who was traveling down the road spotted the incident and looked after me for a bit until mum turned up. But I had work that evening and felt ok in my self even if I was aching. That was until as the evening and my shift went on the pain started to really kick in as the bruising a swelling increased. My boss at the time, Ashley Jones, arrange for me to go to A&E to get checked out. Ashley the poor bloke would suffer himself from my illness after I sent the whole office into panic. Shortly after the motorcycle accident I brought my first car. A little Renault Clio in racing green, alloy wheels and a big exhaust, it was nothing great at all, but we all have a soft spot for our first car. I started go to car
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meetings and again met some more new friends, with a local group known as Streetrace. I have little recognition of the last couple of days before going in to hospital, but I do remember on Friday evening of February 20th 2004, a group of us from the Bowater office, met for a few drinks in the George Hotel in Lichfield. I’d had a cold for a couple of days and wasn’t really feeling up to a night out on the town, so left the others and took myself home around 11pm, especially with having work the following day.
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My 18th Birthday From Left to Right: Mel, Charlie, Mike, Ant and Tom
My 18th Birthday From Left to Right: Evo, Faz and MeL
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My 18th Birthday From Left to Right: Genders, Adam Sargent’s Head and Becky
My 18th Birthday - Adam Winfer
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The Darkest Hours. I was rudely awaken rather earlier on the Saturday 21st February by my cousin, Carla to inform me she had given birth to her first son, Harvey. Carla and I had always been quite close but after she moved back from living in Wales for a while, and she became pregnant we spend more time together, hanging out, and eating random McDonalds, due to her craving for a McChicken sandwich. Whilst I was working at the supermarket mentioned earlier, I worked with a guy named, Harry, he would later become Carla’s partner, yes I’m a cupid, but in true cupid fashion found it hard to find a lady of my own. Anyways in rabbling on, Carla had her little boy and I went off to work, When I finished work, I went and joined up with the guys from
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Streetrace at a little midday meeting at the Hollybush Pub near Cannock, still feeling rather run down, I left early and went home, and the rest they say is history. The meeting at the pub is the last I can remember and to be honest, it is only very vague memories of the two or three days before I was admitted to hospital. Now, that would be a very quick end to the lead up story, but luckily my Parents had kept a diary of events for 16months after first been admitted to Walsall Manor Hospital, on Sunday 22nd February 2004. After arriving home from the car meet on the Saturday around 4pm, the diary reads that I had started browsing around, tinkering with my computer, but was constantly yarning away showing signs of flu, so Mum had told be to go to bed, which I did do and slept. At
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around 1030pm Mum came in to my room to find out I had been sick, and upon asked, I did not realise I had vomited everywhere in my sleep. I awoke around 7.30am the following morning, with a splitting headache and after some painkillers went back to bed and slept the day away, expect for again to be sick and by this stage had diarrhea. Little did we know the 24 hours of sleep I had had, would actually end up turning into a few days of sleep, with complex issues along the way. At around 3pm that day, mum was leaving the house to visit my Granddad, but was stopped in her tracks after hearing a large bang coming from my bedroom. She found me writhing around on the floor in an apparent convulsion, not responding to name or any instruction
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with just a blank stare in my eyes. Alone in the house, mum ran to our neighbour, Richard who came round and called for the ambulance service. A two man crew plus a paramedic car quickly responded and was at our home within 5 minutes of the call, after the obligatory questions regards to drugs and alcohol, one of the crew members noticed a small amount of rash on the rear of my hand and they began to sedate me and inject large amounts of penicillin into my body. These swift actions, we were later told was most likely what saved my life. I arrived at Walsall Manor Hospital at around 16.50pm, taken in by the ambulance crew, whilst mum booked me in at the desk of the A&E. Before the registration was complete, a hospital staff member came and met Mum and took her into a side room off the main
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waiting room, where a doctor came and informed my parents he was certain I had Meningitis. My parents were allowed to see myself, and when they came into the room an Anesthetist, Dr. Rob Piccolo, was present to place me in an induced sleep so that I could have a CT scan. The result proved quite positive, as the showed I did not have fluid on the brain, which allowed the doctors to undertake a lumber puncture which would not have been the case if I were carrying fluid. The Lumber Punch itself would allow the medical staff to conduct test to try and determine what type of meningitis I was suffering from. After the lumber puncture, I was taken to a isolation room of the Intensive Therapy Unit (ITU) where I was placed on to a life support machine and given
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large amounts of Antibiotics to treat the Meningitis, where my parents stayed the night, by my side. Monday 23rd February 2004 and I had been in the ITU for over 12 hours, the medical team had started to worry about my organ’s and informed my parents that they had started to fail, In particular my kidney’s. When I arrived at the unit the previous day, I had been fitted with a catheter, but 12 hours later I had yet to pass urine. A kidney bypass machine was prepared with some tubes inserted through my groin. Luckily later that day, just before the machine was fully fitted I finally did pass urine on my own accord meaning the machine was no longer a requirement. A long-term family friend Mary, worked as a theatre nurse and came to visit regular, she was a good support in putting things medical into layman
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terms. She made a statement that said “its two steps forward and one steps back” this stuck with my parents throughout the whole process and proved to be a true voice. I had stayed stable all day on the ventilator, but while I slept quietly, a mass panic had erupted after a phone to Public Health by the Hospital. A course of antibiotics was subscribed to my parents, sister and Vicky, a friend of my sisters who had stayed over at our house on the Saturday night. Public health had also been in contact with Dad, and although has stated that nobody else would require antibiotics many of my friends and Richard, our neighbour, consulted their own GP’s and were given a dose of medication to take. Public Health also informed both work and college about the situation.
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Results arrived from the lumber puncture later that day and they believed I had Meningococcal Septicemia, a bacteria form of meningitis, coupled with poisoning of the blood. In the meantime the rash had increased highly, my legs and feet been the worse area, with my fingers and toes had turning black. That day a physiotherapist visited for the first time, which would become a daily occurrence, firstly to examine and medicate my chest to ensure that I did not get an infection, and later for my limbs. On the Wednesday (25th Feb 2004) the medical team had decided that a reduction in my sedatives maybe a viable option, to bring me out of the induce sleep, however this has an un desired side effect as I came round far to quickly and I pulled the breathing
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tube out from my throat, so they had to extract it around 9.30am. I was in considerable stress, and opening my eyes, I screamed out in pain, although I had no voice, my eyes showed the pain that my body was experiencing. This prompted the doctors to re-sedate and place me back on to the ventilator. It was at this point that Dr. Freitag (my consultant on ITU) informed my parents to prepare for the worse. To try to find out a little bit more about the state of the illness a second CT scan was done, which showed a dense patch on my brain. After further examinations they determined that this is a lesion, which was good news, as if it was an abscess I would have required surgery. Mum again stopped in the relative’s room that evening, and she had now not been home for 4 days.
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Throughout the night and in to Thursday 26th Feb 2004, I had remained stable on the life support machine, and apart from the daily visit from the physiotherapist, not much was needed medically. The final results from my lumber puncture were delivered to ITU that day confirming I had Meningococcal Septicemia Group B, but what did that mean? Well the doctors explained things as much as they could but it isn’t later into my journey of recovery that why find out the in’s and out of this horrible illness. However as I was stable it was the first mum managed to go home to sleep, forced due to the relative’s room been unavailable as a guy with life threatening injuries had arrived, and his family needed the spare beds. On the Friday 27th Feb, I had picked up a chest infection, which was a concern
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and required a X-ray, but I remained in a stable condition.
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Survival, Rehab and the end of ITU. Today is Saturday 28th February 2004, My Sister, Keely’s 16th birthday. When my parents arrived at the hospital they were informed that throughout the night my heart rate had dropped and was very low. The medical team believed that the sedatives were causing my heart rate to slow down too much, but after trying Wednesday and not succeeding things were touch and go. Mum expressed later in her diary, that this was the first time she felt panic that I would not survive. It was also the first time that Keely had visited the hospital to see me on her Birthday, but did not stop for long, as mum didn’t wish to have her around incase the worse did happen.
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During the morning, various medical staff run tests, including several ECG’s but my heart showed up no problems, although my heart rate was still rather low. A decision was made to again reduce the sedatives to see if my heart rate would successfully rise. By 12.15pm I had responded enough to realise that I had a tube down my throat and started to gag violently. Dr. Rob Piccolo, the anesthetist who but me to sleep originally, decided to extract the ventilator. Dr. Piccolo became the first person I saw after completely coming off the life support machine, coincidently, he was also the last person I saw before going on to the machine, I was now breathing on my own with just support from an oxygen mask. Gradually I slowly opened my eyes and seemed to reconise my mom and dad, but was oblivious as to where I was.
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As the day progressed I seemed to get stronger, been able to give my parents and medical team the occasion nod of the head, my heart rate also increased and seemed to be going well, although responses were slow but compared to the failed attempts on Wednesday things were loads better, a joyous day in the whole progress. By the Sunday I was doing much better without the ventilator and had my eye open for much longer periods, as well as following people around with them. My physical movement, although still very slow and painful, was also improving, moving my head around from side to side, and this would only improve over time, but it was going to be a very long progress. Although I had been of the ventilator since Saturday, I had yet managed to speak, that was until on the Monday I
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finally said my first words. Just one word at a time, but It was again another positive step. That Monday actually had many positive moments, due to the chest infection breathing was still difficult and I was moved into a chair for a while to help with breathing. I also smiled that day, what about I’m not sure, might have been a good looking nurse knowing me, but a smile is a smile. I remember been played music by my parents, this is probably my first recognition of the experience, however It sound rather quite and fuzzy, later that day we found out why during a earing test from the audiology department. The results showed that my right ear had slight hearing loss, but my left ear had a high level of deafness. My
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parent were informed that intravenous antibiotics can cause deafness for a period of time, but a proper test to determine and long lasting hearing loss will have to wait until I was able to respond much better. Although I was improving, I was still very ill, and there was always a risk of a relapse, I was still unaware of my surroundings but I do remember thinking I was at Trent Valley Medical Centre, I don’t even think they even have a medical center, and later explained to mum that I was getting train sounds in my ears, which was presumed due to the loss of hearing. Tuesday 2nd March 2004 marked the third day of been of the life support machine, and the day my mum and dad explained to me that I had suffered meningitis and that I’d been on a ventilator for a week.
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I had begun to talk in sentences and started to show a bit of my character with jokes, smiles and facial expressions; although this was a struggle and I was repeating various words it was a positive step forward. I was also taken off oxygen on this day to completely breathe alone. Dr Frietag, came to see my parents that evening and explained that my condition was no longer life threatening as well as the results of the latest CT scan. There was a dense patch showing up on my brain that was either fluid showing or an area of dead cells (which I’m not sure weren’t even dead to start with). Eitherway they were to administrate some medication to get rid of the fluid just incase. If it was the later then only time would tell what long-term effects will have.
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Dr. Frietag also explained the main side effect to meningitis been blindness and deafness, which seemed to go along with the earlier test done by the audiologists. Luckily my eyesight seemed to be good. Overall he was pleased with my progress and told how in 20years he had seen over 80 cases of meningitis, he’s seen people die, people make and full recovery and everything in between, and believed that the Ambulance Crew certainly saved my life with the penicillin injections and quick response. My parents consulted Dr. Freitag about my speech and had concerns that a stroke may have occurred during the period, and a specialist consultant was arrange to visit the following day who explained that the dense patch on my brain was at the rear left side and speech was controlled by the front of
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the brain, so my speech should be just a temporary issue. Coincidently my speech did start to improve over that day, and I seemed very much more alert to what was going on around me. A few basic test where by I was able to tell the time and read some of the get well soon cards, as well as remembering a few things of the lead up to events. The medical team felt it was ok to remove all the tubes and catheter too, just leaving me with the line in my arm for the antibiotics, as the prepared to move me to the High Dependency Unit (HDU), before I was moved though I had my first visitors, my grandparents came, however I cant remember seeing any grapes, but eventually was moved around 7.30pm. That was it the first step off intensive care to getting home. When I arrived at HDU the
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consultants came to see us and explained that I may be required to undertake a rehabilitation program in a specialised center, a concerning moment for mum and dad, although they wanted what’s best for me they also wanted me home.
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Magaluf Hotel Cricket Me and Tom
Me, Carla and Harvey
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The ‘Lads’ From Left to Right: Josh, Trace and Evo
Me and Tom
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Boredom, Games and Learning to walk. Thursday 4th March 2004 and I had spend my first and last night on HDU been tsunami bombed by some madcap male nurse. The tsunami bomb was his nontechnical term for a 12 inch injection was that inserted into my stomach which helps stop any blood clots, but this guy just stick the thing in from a great height and at pace. During my physiotherapy session that day, I walked for the first time since arriving into the hospital. Assisted by my physio and a nurse I managed to walk about five meters to the nurse’s desk on the ward. Later that day I was transferred on to a main ward in the hospital, Nightingale ward; I managed to sign my
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own name when registering on the ward. After sorting out the major type pompous old bloke on the ward the fun times could start over the next couple of days. Now let me tell you about this major type idiot, bear in mind I’d just been on Intensive care for a few days, and was not feeling to great, then transferred from HDU to Nightingale ward after visiting hours but was been escorted and given 15mins to settle in with the company of my dad and Emily. A quick divert on to Emily, she turned out to be my girlfriend at the time, although both parents and myself were unaware of it. Basically on that night out with the Bowater office, Emily and I had got together officially after a few weeks of admiring each other’s company at work. She turned up to the hospital declaring to my parents which I’m sure was a strange experience for
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both. Anyways the major took a dislike that people were still around my bed after visiting hours, but between them Dad and the ward staff soon put him in his place. He actually offered quite a lot of entertainment through the stay, as him and the guy in the cubical next to him on the ward argued constantly, it was rather amusing at times. The following morning I had my first real shower, and also walked a little further, again not far, around 15 meters, but the boredom was starting to creep in. Although my brain was fully active, my body was not and there was very little to do, when you can’t walk off the ward. But I did a little reading of a couple of magazines and watched a little TV, well I tried to watch TV but the Sargent major kept turning the thing off, as he wanted to sleep. We came up with a solution that night mind, the ward nurse, who I would
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just like point out, was already fed up with our friend, so decided to give him another thing to moan about and moved the TV next to my bed that evening. Result. Dr. Harvey was now going to be coming doing the consultation’s on myself, he seemed ok with the progress but had informed the staff nurse to expect me to be on the ward for the next two weeks or so. It had now been 2 weeks since been admitted to Walsall Manor, and week ago I was on a life support machine, now I am on a main ward, learning how to walk again. Family had visited but I was yet to see any of my friends, but on the Saturday a few did come to visit, again no grapes though, I mean what’s the point
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in been in hospital if nobody is going to bring you some grapes? There visit at least this time was a successful attempt to visit, as when I was in ITU, several of my friends had tried to come and visit, mainly by means of not realizing how ill I was, but Ad Sargent decided to try tell the hospital he was my brother, It was a failed attempt but gained 10 out of 10 for imagination. Generally of the next few days it was all routine checks, medication and fun and pretty much boring, I was walking unassisted by now, only short distances mind. One change that did happen is a new physio had taken over my rehabilitation. Sarah had been appointed to me as Nikki and Katherine had other patients to tend to. She was surprised on our first meeting as she was told I was a lot worse than I actually was. We made a visit to the
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gym on a couple of occasions to held build muscle and work on gaining some balance, this was very tiring though from doing no exercise to going into the gym was quite intense. Sometime throughout that week, my PlayStation had arrived at the hospital, which more or less confirmed that the ward TV was now mine. This of course was helping with the boredom, and was quite a nice little touch. Earlier in that week a guy had came on to the ward after a severe epileptic fit, although slightly older we were the only two people on the ward under the age of what seemed to be around 90 years old. So we played up a little bit, I remember one evening we got a bored so, as my walking wasn’t to good, we got hold of a wheelchair and went off racing around the hospital. That was until we got caught by the porter and escorted back to the ward.
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Another memory of that ward was a man in the bed next to my own, well actually two different people occupied that bed whilst I was on Nightingale. Firstly there was a lovely man with a love for classic cars; I remember he offered some magazine of classic cars to read. If my memory serves me correctly (most of the time is doesn’t) he was a cancer sufferer. One morning I awoke and learnt that sadly he ha lost his battle and passed away. His bed was soon filled with another patient. An Asian man in his 70’s did nothing but moan and groan for 24 hours a day. However his presence was not all bad. By this time I was fed up to the back teeth of the poor airplane style meals, and just wanted a huge meal, and each meal time this guy was getting a plate (yes a plate not a tray) of curry, rice, poppadum’s and a naan bread, while I was stuck with some
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soup, vegetables and half a slice of wafer thin ham with a pipit full of gravy, I don’t even like soup or vegetables, so was starting to get a little grumpy. I need a slice of his fortunes. Turns out you can ask for an Asian menu from the catering staff and get yourself a feast, bit of a winner to be fair. Saturday 13th March 2004 I was allowed home, well for the afternoon anyways, I had to be returned to hospital by 6pm. At least I managed to get a maccies in for lunch. Plenty of people came to see me that day and by the end of that night I was very tiered. The rest of the weekend was fairly uneventful, although some good news did arrive on the Monday. Sarah, my physio was pleased with today’s session and recommended I could go home if the doctors said so. That night was quite
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sleepless in hope of the doctor’s results. The next morning, seemed to last for ever, normally I had dropped back of to sleep after the daily call for coffee at 6am by the catering staff, but that day was different I was waiting for the consultants verdict of weather I could go home. Tuesday 15th March 2004, and the Doctor says, pack your bag your out of here, 25 days after been taken in to hospital by the Ambulance Crew, and many turbulences I was going home. We had just one thing left to do before I could leave, and that was to visit the ITU staff to thank them for all the hard work and effort given to save my life, Although Thank you is never enough.
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Home Sweet Home. Although I was now back home and settling in nicely, we knew this would only be the start of the battle with recovery. I took a few days resting before trying to find out more information about Meningococcal Septicemia Group B, what was this disease, how do you get it and what are the side effects etc. There are many different types of meningitis, but two main types are more prominent than others. Viral Meningitis, which is usual a mild disease, but can make people unwell, has many thousands of cases each year, and in most cases people will make a full recovery. The second major type on Meningitis is Bacterial and can be life threatening.
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Bacterial Meningitis requires urgent medical attention. Most people who do suffer recover, but with some sort of after effects, for my that was my hearing loss, as much as 25% of cases end in a sufferer loosing their life. I don’t want to go into too much detail about meningitis and its effect and causes, one because we’d be here all year and two because there is plenty of information on the Internet from Meningitis Now. But I do want to outline the type of meningitis I suffered, Meningococcal Septicemia Group B. Meningococcal disease is a lifethreatening infection. It is a term used to describe two major illnesses – meningitis and septicemia (blood poisoning). These can occur on their own, or more commonly, both together.
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What is meningococcal meningitis? When the bacteria infect the meninges, the blood vessels in the lining of the brain are damaged. This allows the bacteria to break through and infect the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), the meninges become inflamed and pressure around the brain can cause nerve damage. After-effects include, memory loss, behavioral and emotional problems, loss of hearing and sight, and brain damage. What is septicemia? A severe infection of the blood. Bacteria multiply in the blood, releasing endotoxins that cause widespread damage to the body. The toxins in the blood damage vessels and stop the vital flow of oxygen to the organs including the skin and underlying tissues. After-effects
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include areas of scarring, loss of digits or limbs and organ damage. Key facts • There are approximately 1500 reported cases of meningococcal disease each year in the UK. This is the most common cause of bacterial meningitis. • Group B accounts for at least 90% of cases of meningococcal disease. • Most people will make a good recovery, but meningococcal disease can cause very severe illness that can rapidly result in death and leave people with severe after-effects. • Around 10% of cases of meningococcal disease will result in death. Of those who survive, 25% can be left with severe and disabling aftereffects such as loss of hearing and sight, brain damage and, where septicemia has occurred, damage to major organs, loss or digits and limbs. • Septicemia is generally more life threatening than meningitis. Over the next month or so, I was just starting to find my feet again and get back into some sort of routine. I was
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still getting tiered very easily but I kept pushing on. I’d had an eye test that confirmed that my eyesight was fine which was of course a bonus, although it looked as if the hearing loss was here to stay. I could cope with that though and to be honest it’s come in useful in many occasions when people are talking rubbish, I don’t hear their moaning. At the start of April, I had a college trip to Spain, but while all of my mates were, getting drunk, soaking up the sun and generally having a good time, I had to cancel due to the Illness. I had been visiting Walsall Manor Hospital from physio on and off as an out patient but the team there, felt I was getting to a point that I could visit a more local center to continue my recovery. I had my assessment day at
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Lichfeild Victoria Hospital, and a training program was put in place that would see me visit each Tuesday. Part of that assessment was to test out my reflex reactions, the result were positive which allowed my to start driving again. Another positive that same week was I started back to work, Only very short shifts but at least I was starting to get a little life back. Monday 26th April 2004, a little over a month since I had left hospital, I was back for a round of check ups. All was mostly positive, the eye test was fine and Mr. Harvey the consultant on Nightingale Ward was please with the progress and didn’t need to see me for another 3 months. I also had another hearing test with the Audiologist to see if there was any improvement. The result showed that there was still a significant loss in
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my left ear and still a reduction in the right. I was suffering from tinnitus and a very low tolerance to high-pitched noises. I would require an appointment to see and ear, nose and throat specialist to see what options we have to help with these issues. Coincidently, the tinnitus eased over the ears, weather I just tolerate it more, but it does not seem so bad, unlike my hearing loss, which has got worse over time. Friday 14th May 2004, and I’m 18 years old. When I was a kid my mum used to say, whatever age I was coming up to, that if I don’t start behaving I wasn’t going to make my next birthday, but this time I genuinely didn’t nearly make my 18th birthday. We’ve already touched on the day, apart from the fact that most of the day was again spent in hospital. I had an
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appointment with Mr. Tuner the ENT specialist to see what options we had regard my hearing. He felt everything was ok and hoped that my hearing would improve over time and will reassess the situation in a few months time. One of the side effects from been in intensive care is slight mental health issues, Beverly Ewens visited me in early June to see how I was coping and was very pleased with the results. I was not having any bad dreams or struggling with the scars the illness had left with, she outlined that this is rare and very few people who come through ITU without some issues. I suppose a lot of this comes down to my laid back nature. The doctors informed us that it could takes a few years for full recovery, well to recovery as fully as possible. But with the support of my friends and
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family I was getting there slowly but surely. Although my family had been a huge support, my friends never gave up on me either and at times pushed me to do what I needed to do. I remember shortly coming out of hospital, maybe a week or so, Ad Sargent, Ratty (Matt) and Becky dragged me off to Weston Super mare for the day. They made me walk and walk and walk, not even a normal healthy person should have to walk as far as they pushed me. I think I slept for about 3 days afterwards, it was very hard and tiring but without them pushing me I’d have maybe just given up and would not be where I am today. It’s a shame really because once Ad and Becky Split up I never really saw here much afterwards but to think back now she was a great support when it was needed. The same kind of goes with Ratty and Ad too, Ratty had always been interested in mainly money and how much he could make so became very
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career driven, so see him maybe once or twice a year. Adam got married to a woman called Vicky, a day again I felt honored as he asked me to be his best man. That summer we took a family holiday to Rhodes, a bit of a relaxation, and my first flight. It was a funny experience really, the doctors felt that it may effect my hearing with it been so soon since the loss, but I was ok and nothing really changed. It was nice to get away as a family with no hospital or physio appointments to worry about for a while though. We continued looking into people’s stories from their experience with meningitis reading diaries and forums, and a common trait seemed to come to light. Now there are not official stats or facts saying the two are related, but many experiences from sufferers
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showed that a head injury had occurred at some point in the near past. This takes me back to the motorcycle accident a couple of months before the illness, whereby I took quite a heavy bang to the head when it collided with the car involved. Life was moving forward and I was getting stronger everyday, but my hearing and balance was causing a few issues, late in 2004 I was given another hearing test to see if there had been any change. Unfortunately the results were as before so a hearing aid was to be supplied. It took a little getting used to but did help with the clarity of hearing, but was still rather quiet. This hearing aid although a help especially with balance, caused various issues, namely what seemed to be constant ear infections. Over the years due to the pain it was causing I at some point stopping using it.
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Apart from the hearing aid fitting I hadn’t been to the hospital for a while but had an appointment to see my Consultant Mr. Harvey on Monday 6th December 2004. Has it happened, Mr. Harvey put the trust in his understudy to do my check up. He explained that meningitis is the collection of pus in between the skull and the brain which has it fills up the gaps has no where to go so pushes on the brain resulting in damage or even death.
The build up
was clearly down to my left hand side of the brain, hence the patch on my brain scan and the left hand hearing loss. Resulting in temporary weakness on my right hand side leg and arm, which was clearly visible while in hospital.
He also said the back left
hand side of your brain controls your short-term memory, which is where I had been struggling at times. The front part of your brain (temple) controls
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your movement and mental state, which luckily I have no damage there. Things had gone quite well and only a few days to Christmas, so something to look forward to again. Apart from a few routine appointments for further hearing tests and physio check ups nothing major really happened over the next apart form the fact of my 1 years of survival anniversary. On Monday 6th June 2005, I had an appointment with Mr. Harvey, He was very pleased with how quickly I had responded to all the medical programs and procedure, and 16 months after first been admitted to hospital, I was totally discharged.
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Ashleigh Skye Latham
Asheligh’s first day at school
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Ashleigh and Kirsty
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We love the VILLA!
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Work, Love & Becoming a Dad. After been discharged from hospital completely it was time to start moving forward in life. I had missed so much of my college course through the illness that I would have had to re-sit everything again so instead of reenrolling decided to go down the route of full time employment. I landed my first full time role at a company that supported adults with learning disabilities out in the community. A guy called Jim and lady Lisa conducted my interview. Lisa and I would become good friends over the time I worked at the company and have remained in contact every since. She was supportive both at work and out of work, with always an open front door for a cupper coffee.
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The job enabled me to meet some really special people, who made me appreciate life. It also allowed me to get into quite a dark area of my life. The money was flowing and the banks were lending. I was living the high life on the basis of experience that life is too short to worry about things, especially a little thing like money. But ultimately when you spend more than you earn it leaves you I a little bit of a mess. Within a year I had brought a new car, a new motorcycle and various other items that were defiantly none essentials. It was a struggle at times but eventually managed to break the habit, and don’t plan on ever going down that route again. I met many inspirational people through out that period of time, some of the service users were amazing people, and other members of staff, changed the way I looked at life, although apart from
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Lisa and Becky, I have lost contact with most. Since leaving my position at this company I have rode the wave trying my hand at various jobs. I did a couple of driving jobs, one of which was with a bus company. I worked there was a few years, and again met some amazing people, as well as some right planks. I actually quite enjoyed the job and worked hard to try and progress within the company, however, this was a difficult task after the first stages. That’s when I received the phone call from David. I’d known David for a fair few years from fishing; he owned an electrical company and a lighting store on the side. I had always had a passion for web design and digital marketing and had previously undertaken various projects for clients. David offered me
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an opportunity to turn my passion into a career. I joined the company and have basically been here every since. It’s a job I get great satisfaction from and although I have to undertake a 50 miles round trip each day, mainly sitting in traffic, It’s the 9-5 job that allows me live a little life again. All the previous jobs were shifts, 4am starts, 1am finishes, and even 24 hour shifts with a sleep in. Work is kind of irrelevant to my recovery, but the people I met whilst working at these places have been supportive and deserved a mention. So with my first Full time work sorted, it allowed me to save money for a holiday. Tom and I booked a week off work and decided the best option was to go with a budget to the travel agent and go wherever we could.
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Tom was one of my best friends, a friendship that grew over the years, although there was some ups and downs, mainly because he’s a grumpy git at times, and rather stubborn, it’s a friendship that will always be close to my heart. The holiday was booked and we were off to Magaluf. Me, Tom and another friend of ours also called Tom, or more commonly known as Swingle. It was my first ‘LADS’ holiday, and also a great way to get away and reflect on life, in the sun and a beer. Actually quite a few beers from what I can remember. In fact on one of the best nights of the holiday Swingle go so drunk he didn’t even make it out of the hotel. Gradually life was back on track, recovery was going well and as time progressed, my body got stronger. I noticed for the first couple of years
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and to a degree this still stands today, each time I got ill with a cold or something, my body took a lot of time to fight it off. My immune system was pretty low and due the amount of antibiotics used to fight off the Meningitis my body did use any further doses to help fight off throat and ear infections to its full potential. With life going quite nicely already, Kirsty came into my life. I met her one evening when out with friends, we’d spoken a few times, but nothing major. I had very little intentions to get myself into a relationship of any sort at that stage in my life but this woman had caught my eye. The problem is I found it hard to tell my story as to why I was deaf and why I had scars on my body where tubes had been in my neck and legs, not embarrassed by them, because I have a “you take me as I am or leave it” attitude, but at the same
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time, I didn’t want to tell my story as for people to feel sorry for me. I suppose it’s like a rich guy pretending he isn’t so well off when he meets a nice lady so she falls for him not his money. What tended to happen was, in time my Mum would tell my story and I didn’t have to. I got closer to Kirsty over time and ended up in a relationship that would last for a fair few years. We got our first house together, a lovely little place in a fairly quite area of my hometown. It was almost perfect, and two years later, after trying for a while, she was pregnant. I remember that night like it was yesterday, I was sent to the chippy, and when I came back I found Kirsty in tears upstairs, staring into a pregnancy test. We’d been here before, several times, but this time it was different. Other tests had been negative and this time it came
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out positive. It was a joyous yet nerving stage in both of our lives. Ashleigh Skye Latham was born at 13.37pm on Friday 20th November 2009. This now meant instead of focusing on myself I had the most precious thing in the world to look after. There’s nothing more special than been woken up everyday by your own flesh and blood, and the love and desire been a parent offers. The only set back so far was loosing my best friend to cancer in 2012. My grandad was the man who I’d go for a pint with, go round for a chat and even went on a couple of road trips in my works truck. He had suffered with cancer for many years, finally having his voice box removed in 2011. This was Difficult time for everybody, but over the year I had managed to learn how to lip read due to the lack of hearing. We
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could talk for hours and nobody would have a clue what we was on about. Unfortinatley the cancer eventually won the fight and he passed away on 5th November 2012. I found it hard to express how I felt and put on a very brave face, but I was abosultley devistated. It took along time to get through this period, and I still think about him alot. But I belive he is up there sorting out our futures. Today, 10 years after the meningitis, I still have hearing loss, which is very slowly getting worse, but life is still amazing. Kirsty and I unfortunately did not see out our future together, it was the only time my heart was truly ever broken. The recovery of the split was as hard as the recovery of the illness, but took far quicker to repair. We
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remain friends and more importantly we are good parents to our daughter. Ashleigh is the only love in my life since the split, but the future is looking much brighter.
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