No Such Thing As Just An Ear Infection

[dr_pretentious]

rianders's July 4th barbecue turned into a respite for people who'd spent half the week keeping vigil at the hospital. Our friend J's girlfriend developed bacterial meningitis and slid into a coma when her ear infection went wonky.

Ear infection --> coma.

She'd had a doctor's appointment for her ear infection, but rescheduled it for next week when a job interview opportunity came up. Two days later, her brain was riddled with tiny infarctions.

To everyone's relief, she seems to be coming back out of it, but if she does recover, it'll be a long, hard process.

So I'm thinking about all the workaholics I know who would have made the very same choice she did--to blow off taking care of her health for a week for work's sake. Y'all know who you are. Take care of yourselves, dear ones.

Comments

[sligoe.livejournal.com]

She's one of the lucky ones. My 15-year-old niece died of an ear infection---under treatment with heavy-duty antibiotics for almost three weeks---that caused abcesses on the brain. She died in her sleep. No one knew what happened until after the autopsy.

Ear infections have gone bad---it used to be easy to clear one unless there were underlying problems that weren't easily apparent. The new "superbugs" that are antibiotic resistant are out there. It's not a joke, and it doesn't always happen to someone else.

I hope your friend gets better quickly.