There is a helpless feeling (that I don't care to feel again) when you walk into a room at the call of the worried triage nurse and see a child with a fever, altered mental status, and this. And you want to be wrong, but you know you are not, and two days later you hear the news, and then you see the next patient.
What happened to the kid/what was the diagnosis?
ReplyDeletei have guesses, but theyre probably wrong.
ReplyDeleteSeen it only twice and it's devastating to have that knowledge and try not to tell the parents isn't it?
ReplyDeleteAt least we don't have H Flu to deal with anymore like I did in the 70's and 80's along with this mofo..
That, NursingAnatomy, is the purpuric rash of fulminant meningococcemia. I remember the first time I ever saw that and standing in the shower at work after that shift washing my hair with chlorhexadine like I could somehow erase the experience from my mind...
ReplyDeletedamn. does the kid have to be immunocompromised to get it?
ReplyDeletenope, just wrong place, wrong time. don't know if this was meningococcus or streptococcus, though my guess is mening. never did get the id on the bug, rarely do. i guess if it was mening. they would have come back at us with prophylaxis and they didn't so maybe it wasn't.
ReplyDeleteAhh when it looks like this prophylaxis yourself at the end of the shift with some Cipro stolen from the meds room. This is one to not bring home to your family.
ReplyDeleteNever rely on the ID guys to remember to give you the news you have had an exposure....
yeah, but all meds have to come from pharmacy now... even the cipro is locked... safety first.
ReplyDeleteYeah, 911, go get you some Cipro.
ReplyDelete-SCRN
Googled this, Wiki claims neisseria gonnorhea. Makes me mad, because hypothetically I just learned that. When do you actually figure out how to ID stuff like this?
ReplyDeleteAhhh MS1, F
ReplyDeleteulminent Neisseria gonnorrhea is it's own special hell, but this is definetely N. meningitidus. You will learn grasshopper.
911, The meds all come from pharmacy? Every time I look at US job offers you come along to make sure I stay put.
Jesus 6-7, this post is more depressing than Auburns 2010-2011 Basketball "team". And if meningitis wasn't enough, your Dog died.
ReplyDeleteAnd in your heart of hearts, don't you wish it was Mark Richt they burried yesterday??
Seriously, howcome Jehovah lets seriously E-ville guys like Fidel Castro, Ayatollah Khomeni, and Jimmy Carter live forever, and can't spare a miracle for a cute little puppy??
And MS1, its Neiserria MENINGITUS that causes Meningitis, Nesierria Gonnorrheae causes the other one, that makes you wish you had Meningitis.
And Dr. J, we've got enough arrogant foringers already thank you very much, and Larry Bird totally kicked your ass in the 85' finals.
Frank "14-0" Drackman
What's 14-0 (and 1-8)?
ReplyDeleteAuburn's basketball opponents!
frank,
ReplyDeletehey, it's the angry old testament God that smote just about everybody and he's yours man, but i don't think you are asking for a paragraph long theodicy are you?
and CJrun, it's 14-0 with an aasterisk... Auburn's the BCS football winner and all until they strip all their wins from them and order the campus razed and the ground sowed with salt for all eternity, and i don't even wan't them to have to vacate their wins. they cheated fair and square just like everyone else. 1-8 is what happens when you try to run a basketball program at a football school.
Drackman: For your insolence I am going to force you to drink a fine french wine and eat a fancy cheese with a very foreign name. You are also sentenced to start spelling it anaesthesia and oesophagus.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure there is now blood dripping from your ears so I'll stop.
You need a new hospital pharmacist. When our ER docs/nurses/techs are exposed to something we always send prophylaxis. At the rate our ER is going we keep extra Zithromax ready for ER pertussis exposures. Call next time--you might be surprised.
ReplyDelete