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In response to
"But yeah, a lot of ERs are not longer testing patients and they are giving tamiflu only to the high risk. -- nm"
by
James Bond (aka Igor)
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The way they figure (as was explained to me) is that the test is irrelevant. It's not going to change the treatment, regardless of the result. Plus
Posted by
Trish (aka Trish)
Nov 14 '09, 02:39
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all the tests were overwhelming the lab's capabilities. That slowed down all the other tests, like for cardiac, post-op, peri-labor, etc. I hate seeing stories on the news where people are raising hell yelling about "they refused to test me!how would I know if I were about to die!" or "How dare they not give me any thing but cough syrup"
I'm high risk*. I knew 6 weeks ago when my doc told me I was having the shot he meant "that day". I wish other folks' docs were as caring.
*High risk: peripheral neuropathy and peripheral edema, severe in both legs. I started swelling at the end of June. By the 4th of july I realized my pants legs were soaking wet, then the pain set in. On the 1-10 scale, it was a solid 9/ My doc met us in the ER, started an IV, gave me 3 bags of different antibiotics, iv morphene, iv valium, and potassium. My electrolytes were all juncked up. Worst of all, the skin on my lower legs was just gone, huge weeping areas that had me almost screaming the walls down. I had developed cellulitis (deep) and was headed to osteomyalitis. Now, on my 8th different oral antibiotic and 4th iv antibiotic and a couple of shots of Rocephin, my L leg is almost unswollen, it's still a little painful and all the skin is peelig off. The R leg...well, lets just say the swelling is +4, I have to do dressing changes 2x day, I'm on morphene 3times per day. I can't imagine having full fledged influenza on top of all that. Heh, I'm on 3 different diuretics to try to dry out my legs and lungs. When he weighed me last week, I was 36 pounds lighter than the week before. He figures most of that is from my left leg, abdomen and lungs. You need to hurry up, graduate, and come be my private doc. :)
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