The Alien in my Brain

So far all of my tests have come back unchanged - the MS ones and the seizure ones - all the same as they have ever been. Except for one surprising result -- my spinal fluid has strep in it! My neurologist called me back in immediately to go over this because, as she said, "you're not supposed to have strep in your spinal fluid". I had to have another spinal tap to confirm it, but she said the lab techs would have had to lick the petri dish to contaminate it. So she's thinking I might have had chronic meningitis since May of 2006! (I told you I wasn't feeling well.)

Because she wants to recheck the results, plus check to see if the strep has damaged my heart, she doesn't want to actually treat the disease for another few weeks -- in spite of everything I've read on the Internet that says chronic meningitis needs immediate hospitalization and IV antibiotics. So I just wait. But every time I get a headache, or slurred speech or other symptom, I can't get it out of my mind that there is a foreign substance surrounding my brain, swirling around it, trying to take it over. Some alien out of Star Trek. It is a freaky feeling and I can't make it go away. Maybe it will come out my ears...