Jodelle Hamblin: We have always been a healthy, active family. Starting at a young age, we have enjoyed hiking together, skiing, swimming, playing extracurricular activities. My husband’s motto: A family that plays together stays together. Now that our children have grown, our playing together has changed to traveling to far off places to experiences this beautiful world. In November 2015 we traveled to Costa Rica. It included white water rafting, zip lining, hiking three waterfalls, cliff diving, beach sun and surf. It was the experience of a lifetime. There was only one drawback- our youngest daughter Lashay was bite by a raccoon at Manuel Antonio National Park. The bite was minor with just a scratch. We weighed our options and decided to clean the scratch and watch and see. The rangers assured us there was no rabies in the area.

Our Odyssey began when we returned to the United States. Two days after we landed Lashay began to vomit, have very bad headaches, and stomach pain. I thought maybe it was the stomach flu because airplanes have a ton of germs, but in the back of my mind I couldn’t discount the Raccoon.  After three days we went to our pediatrician. He sent us to the ER. Primary Children’s decided to administer the Rabies vaccination. My fourteen year old daughter is so strong and took the shots knowing there was no choice. Rabies is not something that can be cured once symptoms become prominent.  The vomiting became worse with the vaccination until one night green bile was all that was coming up. We went to the ER again.  They gave her Zofran and sent us home.  She was so sick the zofran stopped working.  We were then referred to Neurologist, Infectious disease, GI. After a month of vomiting like this and more symptoms such as: light sensitivity, stiff neck, eye pain, light headed,  nausea, headache, stomach pain, dizziness Lashay was sent to the hospital. She received MRI, barium swallow test, ultra sound, Xrays, blood, urine, spinal tap, poked like a pin cushion,etc. and everything came back normal other than some bacteria in her esophagus and white blood cells in her stool. Team after team came and asked question after question and gave suggestions and asked me what I thought. Did I tell you that I am a cosmetologist? Lashay and I would look at each other in wonder because again we have Never had a need to deal with our Medical Health Care System.  It has been a new world of understanding practicing medicine and a crash course learning curve of how to navigate this flawed system.

We are five months into this journey. There have been some very nice doctors and some not so nice. But in the end, I feel Lashay has fallen into the rare and undiagnosed category. After going from specialist to specialist we are no farther than where we started. We are not sure if it was the rabies vaccination or we have been told it’s all in her head to parasites are attacking her body.  Other than trying medication after medication and having her hydrated, infused with vitamins and iron to keep her functioning there is not much that has changed.  She still has nausea, vomiting, headache, stomach pain, along with other strange symptoms her legs itch, eye pain, back pain, dizziness.

Lashay struggles with a beautiful smile on her face. She does everything in her power to make others feel comfortable around her.  She has grown by this experience in her understanding of others suffering, what she wants out of life, and how much her priorities have changed. I’m proud of the way my daughter has handle this journey. I’m not willing to give up searching to relieve her suffering. Someday it will be fabulous to see her back out on the soccer field, to see her go to school again, just to be a teenager. She has a beautiful attitude and hopefulness that is contagious.  We will have answers to this Odyssey for a strong, thriving, beautiful young lady named Lashay Nicole Hamblin.