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My father (58 years old) got suddenly very ill at the end of July. He lived in Houston Texas at the time. He lost fifty or sixty pounds over several months prior to that, and all of a sudden he started badly slurring his speech, had unexplained falls, and so forth. I actually flew down to Houston in early August to bring him to the VA medical center. The doctors ruled out a stroke. The first thing they suspected was meningitis. Then my sister learned that St. Louis Encephalitis had been found in mosquitoes trapped literally only one block away from his home. Of course, he tested negative for this too. Not like I WANTED him to have it, but at least we'd know what it was.

He was discharged, then readmitted a few weeks later after getting worse. A week or so after that my sister flew him out to Houston. This was only a few days after the Sept. 11 hijackings, so I was really nervous about him flying, and possibly going off on a rant and getting my sister in trouble. Fortunately they made it, and he's now in a 'residential care' facility.

They never did come up with a definitive diagnosis. The point of my story is (1) to vent, and (2) to point out how meningitis/encephalitis can be assumed when it is not in fact present. Flu season will only make things worse. I have a bad feeling that our health care system will be severely taxed by flu sufferers who fear the worst. What if thousands of people demand Cipro or other antibiotics when they aren't warranted?

I'm not an expert on these things, just concerned. Part of the reason I spend so much time here at FR is because my sister and father are my only close family still alive. My sister, bless her heart, is very liberal. My father is too far gone to have intelligent conversations with any more. I feel for those who have to watch a loved one die slowly. I fear that my father will not recover, and is in fact declining with each day.

Sorry for the sob story. Just feeling a little down (doesn't help that the Yankees are getting pounded, either :<)