Melvin Johnson

Melvin hadn't been feeling 100% for about 3 weeks. He's been feeling tired all the time. He went to the clinic to have his blood pressure checked and it was very low. April 18th the Dr had him quit taking his medicine for his high blood pressure and wanted him to follow up with a cardiologist. On April 24/25th he was feeling very cold and said he just couldn't get warm. He also wasn't eating much, he said he wasn't hungry and he had metallic taste in his mouth. On April 26th he only ate a little bit breakfast and sat in his chair all day (very unlike him). When Lois got home from work, she could see he wasn't feeling well. His blood pressure was very high as well. Eventually, Melvin told her he "felt like crap." So Lois knew she needed to take him in. By then he started hallucinating some and his hands were very shaky so she called the ambulance. After a many of his tests coming back negative and no explanation for a temp of 101.5 they advised us to go to St. Cloud hospital. We started our stay in St. Cloud hospital on April 27th with more blood work, evaluations and a CT scan of his chest and abdomen. Both came back showing nothing. Still shaky, not as alert nor oriented, and high temp. Friday he was talking less, not very alert nor oriented and still had a high temp. The Tylenol just wouldn't help it go down. His Dr.'s did an MRI of his head and a spinal tap. On Saturday he was very disorientated and barely talking, even when asked question. Very delayed with words and very weak. The Dr said that the tests looked to be viral encephalitis and he began treating Melvin for that. By Sunday he barely spoke, and had no coordination to get out of bed with the help of the nurses. We also got the official diagnosis of Viral Encephalitis, caused by the herpes simplex virus. He was also started on anti seizure medicine because it was determined that he was having seizure activity. Monday, he was admitted to the ICU. A breathing tube placed, a PICC line put in and an oral gastric feeding tube. He was placed in a drug induced coma to let his brain and body rest. He is currently on very high anti seizure meds and an anti viral. The Dr.'s say he is a very sick man and it will be a very long road to recovery. Please continue to pray for his healing.