Newly-Wed With Lobar Pnuemonia

She sat quietly but was obviously in discomfort as I raced down my notes of the admission. Clearly, it was a case of Right Lobar Pneumonia and you could see the effort she made with each painful inhalation.

There was reduced air-entry over the right lung-fields on auscultation. She was running a moderate fever and she coughed loudly in a dry, raspy manner. She was baby-faced, fair-complexioned and newly wedded. She had not missed her period recently and I pointed this out in my admission notes - she would require very effective antibiotics and I wouldn't prescribe any without ruling-out early pregnancy...

The child with the diarrhoeal disease who had had bouts of seizures, became quite well and was eventually discharged home. Her aunt, our Staff nurse, is on night duty with me tonight - one less worry on her busy mind, obviously.

Comments

Post a Comment

Say something... Anything!... I'll shout right back at you inside 24 hours.

Popular posts from this blog

Vanishing Testes... Uterine Evacuation

I was mad with the father of a 10-year old whose child proved to have both his scrotal sacs empty - a case of bilateral Congenital Undescended Testes. The point is both parents had known for years the condition and were hoping against all hope that one day the testes would appear, never once thinking to seek medical advice. The poor young chap would have to visit the Paediatrics Surgeon soon. I'm just back from the labour room where I had to evacuate the womb of this married lady who began to bleed just a week after finding out she was in early pregnancy; she being childless till date - she's had a couple of miscarriages in the recent past and a scan today proved once again the same matter of a miscarriage with some products of pregnancy retained, hence the needed evacuation. She'll need to see the Gynaecologist for a thorough check, the poor woman.
Read more

Sudden Unconsciousness - No Head Scans Available

You know when a medical emergency has arrived when the noise of several heavy, clumsy feet grow louder and louder towards you. So it was, as I sat in my consulting room three days ago, when this young man was rushed in semi-conscious. The accompanying elder sister calmly narrated how they had both eaten lunch at home before setting out on their journey to a popular open market quite close to the hospital where I work - when he began complaining of feeling ill; later leaning over on a stall just before passing-out on the ground. He was "drowsy" but rousable when I called out his name. I pondered what the diagnosis could be as the nurse gave the steroid (Hydrocortisone 200mg) shot through the i.v. line secured - no recent fever or complaints of ill-health whatsoever nor was there any history of Seizure Disorders. Then the fact came forward that he fell backward and hit his head while shooting basket ball hoops at home - but that was four days ago and he then didn't appear h...
Read more

Hypoglycaemic Coma

Unfortunately, 14 hours had elapsed before one Mr Nwokocha was brought to us deeply unconscious. A known Type 1 Diabetic , he had usually injected himself daily with Insulin - the hormone that his body lacked in the right configuration, making him unable to properly utilize blood glucose. He had given himself the usual Insulin shot the morning of the previous day. Apparently he then must have gone into low blood sugar mode; his brain suffering the lack of glucose thereof, he then slipping off into an unconscious state. Unfortunately he was home alone. Eventually a neighbour managed, somehow, to find the poor man deeply unconscious the next morning. He still appears in a vegetative state, even now. His blood sugar count was very down indeed, a fast check showed, and of course he was infused with hypertonic glucose infusions, amongst other measures done to carefully bring him round. I'm afraid he already may have suffered irreversible brain tissue damage. I told this to his ...
Read more