Marcy
Our son, Madison, died from pneumococcal meningitis on the 1st of June 1996.....nine days after his 2nd birthday. He had had cold symptoms for approximately a week prior.....no ear infection(s)......never a high temperature. We took him to our pediatrician three times the week of his death....the third being the morning of his death. All three times, we were sent home.....without medication(s)....without antibiotics. "....he had a cold..." so we were told. Once we returned home, after the last visit to his doctor's, Madison became quite lethargic. When we called his doctor...again, he recommended we take him to the Emergency Room. There, he tested positive for meningitis, but it was believed we had caught it in time since his spinal fluid was still relatively clear. Antibiotics were then administered....but three hours later...our baby was dead. I still cannot believe it....five years later. Doctors at the hospital were unable to tell us for sure if the infection was too far advanced for the antibiotics to catch up....or....if the "infection" was progressing too quickly for the medication to take effect. It's terrifying for us now when our two-year-old son, Michael, has 'cold symptoms'.