BosGuy reports on his third case of viral meningitis:
I swear I must be the only person who can self-diagnose meningitis and rate Boston area hospitals on their proficiency with spinal taps.
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Comments
Points for the headline
By Cynic
Wed, 09/15/2010 - 8:04am
Points for the headline
Smile on Mighty Jesus
By The Beer Guy
Wed, 09/15/2010 - 9:46am
Spinal meningitis got me down...
I wish her mom drove to Boston to see BosGuy's Docs
By SwirlyGrrl
Wed, 09/15/2010 - 10:54am
... but it is too late. She died at age 16. She was the daughter of my husband's former coworker.
Seems the girl's multiple ER visits yielded multiple MRIs (well, she had a history of migraines - makes her immune to a common illness in school age kids, right?) but not one goddamn fucking spinal tap until it was too late. Five days stalking goddamn zebras while a crazed rabid horse destroyed her brain. The symptoms were obvious and should have screamed DO A GODDAMN SPINAL TAP NOW when presenting in a school-age child.
I told my husband to archive her mother's facebook posts because the pattern is pretty clear from the symptoms she presented with at the ER from her first visit. Had she been seen some large hospitals or HMO/care delivery systems, the attending clinician's screen would have AUTOMATICALLY provided an alarm given her age and those symptoms.
I hope they die in as much pain and confusion as she did.
Protect your kids and yourself - Know the symptoms of meningitis. If you take your kid or yourself to the doctor or ER, print these out. Given these symptoms, if you don't get a clear explanation as to why meningitis has been ruled out of the differential diagnosis, GO ELSEWHERE BECAUSE YOU DO NOT HAVE COMPETENT MEDICAL CARE.
/angry public service announcement
Ugh, sad
By eeka
Wed, 09/15/2010 - 11:15am
I also have severe migraines, which mimic brain tumors, strokes, meningitis, seizures, etc.
The cheap-and-easy gold standard ER treatment for ruling out migraine is that they shoot you up with a shitload of migraine drugs, and then if your vision and coordination and speech are suddenly fine and your head no longer feels swollen and hard to move, then it's a migraine. Other more damaging brain conditions don't resolve immediately upon doing this, so then they'd start doing scans and bloodwork and things. But I've never just been told "go away, it's a migraine."
(I admittedly have told MYSELF that I'll stay home and see if the side of my body starts working again after a few hours, but that's my choice. A hospital shouldn't do that.)
Sorry to hear about this kiddo. :o\
Rating Boston hospitals
By Will LaTulippe
Wed, 09/15/2010 - 12:30pm
Does he do so on a scale of one to eleven?
Shouldn't take too long
By Michael
Wed, 09/15/2010 - 12:31pm
Boston's not a big medical town.
This rating of your vaccination program is just two words
By Dan Atkinson
Wed, 09/15/2010 - 2:11pm
"Shot sandwich"