Since it was Taylor's weekend with Matthew's family, Jennifer took Taylor to her grandmother's house. Her grandmother, Beth, said that Taylor went back to a back bedroom to lie down. Beth went to get Taylor something to drink. When Beth returned to the bedroom, Taylor was in the midst of what we now know was a Grand Mal seizure. 911 was called and Taylor was taken to Southern Hills Hospital, where she slipped in and out of a coma and continued having seizures. The medicine that was supposed to stop the seizures did not work. Southern Hills transferred Taylor to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital.
While at Vanderbilt, Taylor continued to have seizures throughout the night and early morning. It was estimated that she had between 8 to 12. She did wake up at times... and eventually was able to talk and even walk herself to the restroom. Unfortunately, she started throwing up again. However, the on-call neurologist thought that the nausea was caused only be the huge amounts of medicine. They told Jennifer and Matthew that Taylor would most likely be released that day (Saturday).
Sadly, things did take a turn for the worse again... Taylor started having more seizures and slipping in and out of a coma again. Despite all of the medicine, the doctors could not stop the seizures. They stopped counting exactly how many. Even in her deep sleep/ unconscious state, she continued to seize. Because Taylor could not breathe well on her own, she was hooked up to oxygen and various other assistance was provided to help her body function.
The doctors decided that while the blood work had ruled out Bacterial Meningitis, they wanted to do a spinal tap and MRI to look for other causes. In order to do these tests, though, they had to get her to stop seizing. They tried everything but nothing worked... and just when they had decided to put her into a medically-induced coma, she slipped into a coma on her own on Sunday. Much of that day, the doctors waited for her coma to stop the seizures... but when it did not... they ended up having to put her in the medically-induced coma and on life-support.
Preliminary results of the tests suggest that Taylor has Viral Meningitis and Ensyphalitis. The cause is unknown. As of today (Monday), the medically-induced coma has finally gotten her brain to rest and she has stopped seizing. However, she did also develop and high fever... but they have since gotten the fever down.
We are all very hopeful that she will come through all of this just fine! She has many, many people who love her and are praying for her. Thank you to everyone who has sent their prayers and assistance through this difficult time!
On behalf of Taylor's Family
