What are Helen Keller's memories of her illness?

In Chapter 1, Keller writes that her memories of her illness when she was 19 months old are "confused." The illness was called "acute congestion of the stomach and brain," and it resulted in making her blind and deaf. For a while, Helen's doctor thought she might not live. As rapidly as the fever came, though, it left her. Helen recalls being tended to by her mother, and the suffering she felt when she awoke from a half-sleep with dry and hot eyes. Her vision became dimmer and dimmer by the day. Other than these memories, her recollections seem to her to be like a "nightmare." She recalls eventually becoming acquainted with silence and darkness and not recalling when she had been able to see and hear. After her illness, Helen stayed with her mother and held her dress and learned about the objects around her by touching them. She also began to communicate with others using types of signs.