What you THINK is the flu.. .may not BE the flu...
A coworker of mine, a guy that works on the same project as me, left work last Friday a couple of hours early, complaining about chills. Not so unusual, tis the season.
On Monday, he was still not back at work. Still, not that surprising.. probably a bad flu.
On Tuesday, he came in but only lasted a half day complaining of aches and a fever.
On Wednesday, he IM'd me saying that he was still feeling awful. He couldn't keep his hands and feet warm and couldn't keep anything down. Also, his shin hurt.
His shin hurt?
I questioned this right away as it's not a typical 'flu' thing. He explained how his lower leg had been hurting for a day or so and that today it seemed to have moved up. I expresed concern that this was not normal. He said he'd already planned to go to a clinic.
On Thursday morning, our boss emailed the whole team explaining that he was admitted to the hospital and had emergency surgery to deal with an aggressive bacterial infection in his leg. It was so bad they had to remove part of his calf muscle. The best guess going around is that it's a variation of the so called 'flesh-eating disease'.
Today, his leg is still open and being drained. They've got him on stronger drugs than morphine right now.
I'm not writing this to freak everyone out the next time they think they have the flu. Just be aware of ALL your symptoms. If there's someone happening that doesn't usually happen when you're sick, get it checked out. These types of things are rare, but they have to happen to somebody. If he'd gone any further without getting help, he might have lost his leg.
I'm thinking of you, buddy.
On Monday, he was still not back at work. Still, not that surprising.. probably a bad flu.
On Tuesday, he came in but only lasted a half day complaining of aches and a fever.
On Wednesday, he IM'd me saying that he was still feeling awful. He couldn't keep his hands and feet warm and couldn't keep anything down. Also, his shin hurt.
His shin hurt?
I questioned this right away as it's not a typical 'flu' thing. He explained how his lower leg had been hurting for a day or so and that today it seemed to have moved up. I expresed concern that this was not normal. He said he'd already planned to go to a clinic.
On Thursday morning, our boss emailed the whole team explaining that he was admitted to the hospital and had emergency surgery to deal with an aggressive bacterial infection in his leg. It was so bad they had to remove part of his calf muscle. The best guess going around is that it's a variation of the so called 'flesh-eating disease'.
Today, his leg is still open and being drained. They've got him on stronger drugs than morphine right now.
I'm not writing this to freak everyone out the next time they think they have the flu. Just be aware of ALL your symptoms. If there's someone happening that doesn't usually happen when you're sick, get it checked out. These types of things are rare, but they have to happen to somebody. If he'd gone any further without getting help, he might have lost his leg.
I'm thinking of you, buddy.
4 Comments:
Eeek poor dude! What a great reminder that my sore throat is no big deal.
Way to scare the masses Henly......I mean EDUCATE! right.
Flesh eating disease is so frightening.
I got flesh-eating disease too. I usually like a little chicken flesh with a nice Chianti.
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