*************************Nurse's notes******************************
A trucker, 40 years old, a tough, big guy, was on the road, about 1000 miles away from home. He got the sniffles (let's call this gentleman Fred) in Utah...developed fever in New Mexico...and by the time he hit Texas he was really, really sick. He went to his doctor and got some antibiotics, and headed back out on the road for another 3 days. Long story short...he came into our hospital severely short on oxygen (hypoxic). He was my patient...and became more and more aggressively angry and confused (no oxygen to the brain). Ended up on the ventilator...and on the roto-prone bed, with severe white out pneumonia in both lungs. This bed turns patients completed face down, to promote oxygenation to the lungs. It is an ominous sight for a nurse...
Guess what the culprit was? H1N1 flu, and a secondary bacterial infection. Poor guy...he is recovering now, still on the ventilator after two weeks and now has a trach. I will keep you updated on him, he has a precious wife and family who are wonderfully supportive and desperately worried about him.
Get those flu shots...and get to the doctor if you get sick and take this one seriously, people. This flu is a killer of two of my patients this season so far.....
Now on a lighter note...
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Have a super week!!
Julie