My Little Cousin Has Meningitis

Hey there. Yesterday, I was told that my little cousin was in the hospital. From the Email that my mother sent me, she has been there since Monday evening. It has to be one of the most weirdest illnesses that I have ever seen or heard of. My mother described my cousin's behavior like that of Linda Blair in The Exorcist. My cousin, 5 years old, was thrashing about, yelling obscenities at everyone, and started biting anyone that tried to calm her. At first, her mother thought that it was a tantrum, but when the little one started having "seizure like" movements, she was admitted to the hospital.

Last night, my wife and I went to go visit her and some of my family members were hanging out in the lobby. We asked how she was doing and we all got the same response that she is still acting odd and that we should've seen her last night. My uncle started to describe the scene the same way as my mother did. That it was something out of The Exorcist movie. I showed him a bottle of holy water that we brought, courtesy of my mother in law, and he thought it would be a good idea to sprinkle some in the room.

My wife and I then got a chance to visit her in her room. As we walked in, the lights were dimmed and my cousin's mom was trying to calm her daughter. Soon after we walked in, my cousin started cursing under her breath. My wife and I couldn't believe what we were hearing. A little girl, sweet as hell, yelling out these words is just not right. I know it was hurting her mother being called a B**** and to F*** off and what not. It was as if another person took over my lil cousin's body. We noticed that she was trapped to her bed so she started to yell that she needed to get down and called her mother more curse words demanding that she be released. A nurse soon walked in and advised that it's not best to have visitors if she's acting up since she needs to rest as much as possible and have as little stimulation as possible. We ended up going back to lobby and told our family what went down. They described our experience as mild compared to how she the night before.

From what we were told, she has meningitis, which is some kind of viral infection in her brain that causes her to act and react the way she does. It's so weird because you figure that an illness would not control your body to react so violently. Another cousin of mine likened it to Jim Carrey's character in Me, Myself, and Irene. How his character (Charlie) is nice yet, when provoked, he turns into a completely different person (Hank). It just seems that it's a different girl taking over my little cousin's body. She's on antibiotics to kill off the viral infection. She's going to be on them for the next 2 weeks or so. After hearing another person's experience with meningitis, my family started to prepare themselves for a long bout with this disease.

Turns out that the 2 week antibiotic treatment is just the beginning and if she makes a full recovery, it can take anywhere from 6 to 8 months of medication and therapy. She will be in bed so much that her body will need to relearn how to walk and move about like a normal child would. Another thing that bothered us was that the docs said that the hallucinations may not go away entirely. That's right, my little cousin is hallucinating. She's complained of spiders on the walls, she's been ice skating in her bed, and even started yelling at aliens to leave her alone. It's just horrible that a young is experience this, or any kind of illness that can severely manipulate your body and mind in that manner.

I'm going to try and find out how she's doing now. I'll catch up with you guys later. Later.

Back to School Night

Hey there. Last night was back to school night. It's usually a huge snore fest since it's the teachers going over the student's learning plan for the year. The highlight of the night is always the one piece of work that they showcase for their parents. Our daughter showcased a poem and our son went with a drawing of himself. Check em out below:

Our boy is always drawing stuff and our daughter is always writing so it doesn't surprise me that this is where they headed towards their one piece of work. I love the drawing, it resembles our boy and the poem is off the charts. lol I substituted her name with "Metallman's Daughter". I don't have her permission to post it, but because I'm daddy, I'm sure she wont mind. This was definitely the highlight of back to school night. Later.

Heavy Metal Rankings NFL Week 3 2009

Hey there. Another week of NFL football is now in the books and another week of great games have been witnessed. Dallas unveiled their new stadium, Philly showed what they can do without QB Mcnabb and Oakland took their slogan, "Just Win Baby" quite literally. On the the rankings.

#1 New Orleans Saints 2-0 (prev. #3)

Can anyone beat the Saints? QB Drew Brees continues to light up the score board, scoring almost 100 points in 2 games. The man is on pace to break all kinds of passing records if this offense continues to play in "god" mode. The Philly defense kept the Eagles close in the first half but they failed to show up in the second half while Drew Brees cut them up for 31 second half points. Next @Buffalo Bills

#2 Atlanta Falcons 2-0 (prev. #1)

QB Matt Ryan is feeling pretty good now that he has a go to receiver in TE Tony Gonzalez. He threw for over 200 yards and 3 scores against the Panthers, despite Carolina RB Cadillac Williams and WR Steve Smith had great games. @New England Patriots

#3 New York Giants 2-0 (prev. #8)

QB Eli Manning showed his worth to this team by doing something that Dallas QB Tony Romo has not, lead his team to a win in a big game. The Giants battled the Cowboys in the brand new Dallas stadium. Despite not have a go to receiver, Eli has found several receivers to pick up the slack. None more than up and coming WR Mario Manningham, picking up 150 yards and a score. @Tampa Bay Buccaneers

#4 Minnesota Vikings 2-0 (prev. #6)

The gunslinger we all know and love may be no more as Minnesota QB Brett Favre continues to step aside to the RB Adrian Peterson show. The problem with the Vikings is that they are starting games slowly, letting the Lions have a halftime lead before putting them to sleep in the second half. Next: San Francisco 49ers

#5 Pittsburgh Steelers 1-1 (prev. #5)

The Steeler running game is beginning to worry me. Despite them losing to the Bears, they could have come up with the win if not for missed field goals by K Jeff Reed, they could have come up with a win against a hot red Chicago QB in Jay Cutler. Next: @Cincinnati Bengals

#6 New York Jets 2-0 (prev. unranked)

Young Jets QB Mark Sanchez is looking like a season veteran, outplaying the Patriots QB Tom Brady. He may not have had impressive numbers but he managed the game well and relied on a balance passing and running attack to take down the mighty Patriots. Next: Tennessee Titans

#7 Philadelphia Eagles 1-1 (prev. #2)

Second string QB Kevin Kolb had himself a great game, throwing close to 400 yards and 2 TDs. The problem? He was up against the QB Drew Brees and the Saints. The Saints defense allowed the Eagles to stay in the game but once Drew got going, they simply blew the Eagles out of the sky. Next: Kansas City

#8 New England Patriots 1-1 (prev. #4)

Is it time to panic in New England? The Patriots did not have an answer to the Jets offense. QB Tom Brady looked confused and fluttered and did not look like anything of the cool and collected QB of Super Bowls past. The defense has definitely suffered this year and if the offense cannot bail them out, the Pats will have a mediocre season at best. Next: Atlanta Falcons

#9 Baltimore Ravens 2-0 (prev. unranked)

The Baltimore Ravens are relying more on QB Joe Flacco and the offense than their legendary defense. That doesn't mean that the defense doesn't have it's moment in the sun. With time running out, LB Ray Lewis tackles Charger RB Darren Sproles for a loss on 4th down to secure the victory for the Ravens. Next: Cleveland Browns

My Oakland Raiders 1-1 : What an ugly game for the Raiders. Negative 7 yards for the first quarter. Are you kidding me? Raider QB JaMarcus Russell simply looked awful. His accuracy seemed to diminish from the San Diego game. Against Kansas City, he throws for a little over 100 yards with about 70 of those coming on the final drive of the game. Quite frankly, the Raiders had no business winning this game. KC out played the Raiders and out gained them by over 200 yards. With all that, the Raiders came up with the victory. Al Davis preaches, "Just Win, Baby" and the Raiders definitely just won the game and did little of anything else. Next: Denver Broncos.

We Are Now Considered Full Term

Hey there. We have entered our 37th week of pregnancy. That means that if baby decided to pop out today, all should be good. We had a little scare a few weeks ago when the doctor put my wife on bed rest, but that only lasted for a week. What my wife got off of that is 1 week of bed rest and getting out of work more than 2 weeks earlier than she would have liked.

She's not liking this staying at home business. Actually, she's not staying at home. She's staying at her mom's house. I don't want her to be by herself in case the baby decides he wants to be born, I'll be able to get to her quickly. She wanted to stay home, by herself, which is over 15 miles away and I need to get on the freeway to get there. On top of that, it's driving AWAY from the hospital where her doctor is going to deliver her. I'm just not very keen on the idea of her being farther away from me than she needs to be. I don't want to be stuck in a traffic jam and not be able to get to her quickly if she were to go into labor and she's at home. I just don't like that idea.

So she's at her mom's place and she's expressed to me that she's extremely bored there. I told her to take some books, magazines, or even Guitar Hero to keep herself entertained. Our due date is 3 weeks away, but baby can be here any day now. Just a little bit longer, babe. Just a little bit longer. Later.

And That Makes 4

Hey there. Just got back from a baby shower that my mother threw for us. That brings the total to 4 baby showers! We still have the stuff in the car. We'll go get to it tomorrow. Right now, we're just going to sit back and chill in bed. I don't feel like doing any online work tonight. I'll just catch up on all of today's NFL action. Later.

A Shooting Pain

Hey there. I have this shooting pain that comes and goes on my right side of my body. In simple terms, it sucks. I just started getting it and it pretty much paralyzes my for the length of the pain. It's happened twice this past hour and my wife thinks it may be my appendix. I'm going to look up symptoms since she's heard that people that have had their appendix removed, they were in intense pain. I'm not in that kinda pain but man, it sure does hurt! I'm going to try and walk it off. I'll catch you guys later. Later.