4 ms·
Hey, those innoculations aren't the end of the story. I was involved with a patient who went swimming in a waterfall pool in Hawaii and came down with leptospir
by niels_olson 10y ago
Hey, those innoculations aren't the end of the story. I was involved with a patient who went swimming in a waterfall pool in Hawaii and came down with leptospirosis. He didn't mention to his primary care provider that he'd had a splenectomy (and the provider documented other surgical history, so not sure why he omitted that, probably just forgot).
His 9 friends didn't get sick. But they had spleens. He ended up intubated in the ICU and became sufficiently well known in certain circles that I have had conversations with doctors involved in his care on both coasts. Which means he was a terribly interesting patient.
You never, ever want to be an interesting patient...
- pacaro 10y agoLeptospirosis is seriously nasty. I know kayakers who've had doctors not take their risk level seriously ("Hi doc, I was kayaking in this nasty canal and now I have flu like symptoms, please check for leptospirosis", "Nah, leptospirosis is rare and the test are expensive"). An extended stay in ICU resulted for a couple of them.
- shakna 10y agoI got in a journal after my splenectomy! Being a fascinating subject was bad. 5 weeks in ICU bad. It's always one of the first things I bring up with a doctor, relevant or not, because without a spleen, my immunity is compromised. As my GP said, "This stops most people from getting whooping cough, it'll stop you dying from it."