The beginning

The doctors have speculated this all started with mom pricking her finger while digging in mulch in her garden. She didn't mention not feeling 100% to anyone, but then has said she thought she might have been coming down with something in the week or weeks leading up to coming to Hawaii. The morning she left SC for her flight to Hawaii she was carrying 3 gallon buckets of water and pouring them over the deck to her plants below. Then that afternoon, when Nancy so kindly drove her to the airport, she began complaining of neck pain...she assumed from leaning over the deck with those heavy water buckets. The 11 hour flight took its toll, on what she assumed was muscle strain, and she was feeling significantly worse when she landed in Hawaii. Taylor was in the final stages of some of the most intensive training he's had since he has been in the Navy. He was working and studying long hours and was under a lot of stress and sleep deprived himself. Mom knew this and knew that she would likely not see him for the first few days she was here. She was staying at his apartment, and Taylor was sleeping on the couch. After a day or so when mom was getting worse, Taylor took her to an urgent care orthopedic office for them to examine her. They prescribed pain pills, muscle relaxers, and anti-inflamatories. She made a brief improvement, then a couple days later she had some confusion, was not able to walk, and had swelling in her knee. Taylor called the doctors office and they saw her again and prescribed prednisone and Lortab instead of Vicodin. She again got better for a day or so, then things again regressed. Her knee got much larger and inflamed, and the confusion increased along with the development of hallucinations. Taylor called the doctor back and he blamed the cognitive issues on the pain meds and didn't seem concerned about the knee. So he and mom waited it out. A day or so later Taylor noticed she spiked a fever and they both agreed to take her to the hospital.