A West Nile Virus story

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Late September 2015 I was prepping for the MS150 Oklahoma bike ride and started to run a fever. Rode through it and the next week went to Portland on business. Fever persisted and October 2nd, turned off the alarm and fell to the floor. My legs were paralyzed.
Hospitalized and diagnosed with Neuroinvasive West Nile virus. Add to that encephalitis, menengitis and flaccid paralysis and it is the triple crown of West Nile. Out of all the people bit each year, about 1 in 150 get neuroinvasive, and a small subset get the rest like me.

Anyway, after a couple weeks, they flew me back to Plano and put me in an inpatient rehab facility (thank you insurance!). While in there, and starting to come out of the fog, I noticed my left leg, being completely atrophied, did whatever it wanted (I lost over 30#). I started to talk to it in rehab and named him bob.

After release (48 days in the hospital), bob's name stuck, because bob continues to do whatever he wants. Bob we hope will get better, so that Steve can get out of a wheelchair and take bob on long bike rides like they used to do.

In the mean time, we wake up each morning, before rehab or exercise, put on our socks one bob at a time, and blog about it. Generally 5 days a week, as bob demands weekends off to rest. (West Nile is well known for fatigue as one of the lingering after effects for potentially years to follow).

I thank you for indulging me as I use humor to get bob and his host, Steve, through some rough times.

And since bob is only one leg, bob only needs one sock. Since they come in pairs, Steve reaps the benefit of bob's stardom!
Hooray bob!

I highly recommend you read up on West Nile at The CDC website. It is more common than you realize.

you can follow my story at Facebook.com/Iambobssock