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

[violet-moon25.livejournal.com]

Hope your friend is better soon. As a parent of a little kid it is kind of scary...we didn't even know he had an ear infection until his eardrum burst and he is not talking yet to tell us when anything is wrong.

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

I didn't realize how big a deal ear infections could be. You hear about children getting them all the time. I had come to think of them as a sort of equivalent of the common cold.