Sad story "may" have a lesson for all of us.

DDD

Well-Known Member
I'm assuming this almost never happens but it made me think. A fifteen year old neice of my RN neice had a bad sore throat and the Dad took her to the Dr. who
swabbed her throat and said "it doesn't look like strept but I'll send it out to the lab
just to make sure".

Over the past fifty years I have heard that many times and, fortunately, never had a problem result. This girl died as it was strept and it spread and resulted in death.
The laboratory had no personnel on the weekend so the results were not shared with the Dr. or family. She went to the Dr. on Wed. afternoon. She died over the weekend despite ER's efforts and her RN Aunt's efforts to save her.

Not to be over dramatic but all my life I assumed that no news is good news on lab results. This proves that parents have to ask "when" will the lab results be in and
what about weekend staff. Chances are it rarely happens but it is just so sad that
loving parents and family members lost a child due to scheduling. :sad-very: DDD
 

donna723

Well-Known Member
What a terrible thing to have happen! As a teenager, my daughter had strep throat so many times we lost track. Rather than waiting on lab tests results, her doctor always started treating it as if it were strep since the liklihood was so high.
 

nvts

Active Member
There's a particular virulent strain of strep running around here right now. My sisters friend has it and developed MRSA.

I will stay vigilant from now on though knowing this story! Thanks for letting us know DDD!

Beth
 

tiredmommy

Well-Known Member
How incredibly heartbreaking!

I can tell you that Duckie's strep infection had us monitoring her very closely around this time last fall. It activated her asthma very badly and the doctor was very concerned about a secondary infection, but he didn't want her at the hospital unless absolutely necessary due to a nasty H1N1 outbreak in the area. I had to report in every morning with the practice and the doctor gave his service instructions to call him asap if I called after hours.
 

shellyd67

Active Member
What a sad story ... Thank you for the important information. Thankfully the kids pediatrician swabs and gets results right in the office. I had strep 2x in my life and the 1st time I landed in the ER because the 1st antibiotic didn't help. I ended up on IV and needed steriods. Strep can be very dangerous !
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
What an awful tragedy for this family that could've been avoided, which of course makes it even that much more painful.

Strep is nothing to mess with.........it can lead to all sorts of nasty complications quite quickly if not treated promptly.
 

smallworld

Moderator
The way strep can kill is by getting into the blood stream.

There are about 200 strains of strep; some are more virulent that others, which is why your kids may seem sicker from strep throat some times more than others.

Novelist Ann Hood wrote a very sad memoir called Comfort about her 5-year-old daughter who died from strep.
 

gcvmom

Here we go again!
How horrible!

My difficult child 2 developed a movement disorder and got launched into full-blown bipolar after an inadequately treated strep infection. Until we went through the lengthy diagnostic process to find out what was wrong with him, I'd never known that strep could cause so much trouble. Sore throats are taken very seriously now in our house, especially since he can have a relapse of the movement disorder if he gets strep again or is even exposed to it.
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
Wow, I also wasnt aware you could die from strep. I knew about rheumatic fever but not that it could happen so fast. Jamie once got scarlet fever from a bad bout of strep...at least I think that was it. Long time ago. He was about 3 and started complaining of a bad sore throat right around the time a very strange rash with tiny red bumps appeared all over his body. pediatrician sent him straight to ER and met us there.

I am so sorry about your family member. So sad. Will also keep me on my toes with the kids.
 

susiestar

Roll With It
Strep is nothing to play with. A couple of years ago when I had cellulitis in my leg one of the types of bacteria was a strep - the flesheating kind. I also had a dangerous type of staph infection. At the same time Jessie has a sore throat - my mom took her to the doctor right after they took me to the hospital. I was dangerously sick and she couldn't visit me for over a week. No one could even touch me until I had been on IV antibiotics to the tune of 8 doses a day - 4 rounds of each of 2 antibiotics. It took the lab five days to figure out which strains I had. We were blessed that the two medications he chose turned out to be the right ones for the types of bacteria I had. I did NOT have MRSA, which was a surprise to the docs - they started out treating me as though I did.

I still remember giving the doctor a sharpie to use when he wanted to draw around the edges of the infected area so they could see if it was getting better or worse. He wanted to use a regular pen, but it didn't work and it hurt. Good thing I always have a sharpie, because that worked well and didn't wash off.

Don't play games with infections!!
 

Lothlorien

Active Member
A lot of doctors would have automatically prescribed antibiotics as a precaution, anyway. Yet, there are other doctors who just refuse unless test results are positive.

Fortunately, since (unfortunately) both my kids have asthma issues, our doctor automatically prescribes an antibiotic for throat infections, even tho we (my entire family) have NEVER tested positive for strep.

This is rare, but extremely sad. I feel terrible for the parents of that child.
 
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