What IS encephalitis, anyways?

Back in 1999, West Nile hit North America. Most people got nothing but the flu, but some of them got West Nile encephalitis. Makes ‘em a bit woozy for a while, I guessed.Then, disaster struck in April 1999, when encephalitis hit in my own backyard. Hit me, actually. My encephalitis was not vector-borne (not from an insect), but it certainly did drag my family through heaven and earth, as they tried to understand. After 4 weeks in hospital, I was returned home to be babysat by my parents. At that point, I couldn’t figure out how to find a spoon in my own kitchen! I went searching through a pile of newspapers, asked the dog, and then looked in the freezer. No spoon. As I was heading outdoors in the rain to search the backyard for a spoon, my mother had to show me where the spoons were kept… in my own kitchen drawer. Another time, I found a plastic box on the coffee table. It had flexible buttons with words and numbers, and a tiny red light. I was fascinated… I’d never SEEN such a toy! I asked my Dad, “What IS this thing?” He responded, “That’s your television’s remote control, sweetie.” These were each just pieces of knowledge that I had to re-learn.
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