Lemierre's disease

[Larry]

 No it's not a new soda.  Although, it has a catchy name, this is an obscure disease that affects people at random and if it is not properly diagnosed in time death will be the final outcome.

FYI -  I just wanted to pass along some information about a disease that my wife had just contracted which was suppose to be a rare disease, less than 300 cases in 100 years, but as I did a little more research, I have found that this disease is a lot more common than Wikipedia and other sites have led me to believe.  So for this reason I decided to share this information with my collecting buddies.

The reason I want to share this is because it is a fast acting bacterial disease that spreads faster than cancer.  Most doctors have never heard of it so it is passed off as mono, strep throat, or flu.  The main symptoms that my wife experienced were a painful sore throat, swollen neck, on her left side, and mild fevers spiking to high fevers.

A quick story:

My wife had a low grade fever and a sore throat one night.  She took some Advil and went to sleep.  The next morning the fever was back and her throat hurt, but not a scratchy type of sore throat that you would normally associate with a cold, it was more of a sore throat that hurt when she swallowed and her neck hurt when she turned her head.  Her fever was consistently mild (99 F. – 100 F), and would go down with Advil, but after two days of this she decided to go to the doctor.  

The doctor preformed a throat culture, looking for strep throat, and decided that the achy neck was a pulled muscle.  Strep throat was not found.  So she went home and either the next day or the following day she had a fever of 102 F.  She went back to the doctor who then sent her to the hospital for some blood work and a CAT scan.  The CAT scan found a blood clot in the jugular vein.  Luckily a doctor in the hospital (Lutheran General Park Ridge, IL.) mentioned that it looked like Lemierre’s disease.

Normally, besides the above symptoms of the sore throat, swollen neck, and fever, there will be a blood clot in the jugular vein leading to the lungs.  

She has been on two kinds of intravenous antibiotics for the last two days and she is starting blood thinners for the clot.  Luckily, there is no sign of the clot breaking off into her lungs.  This bacterium quickly grows in an oxygen free atmosphere, plus it spreads quickly through the blood stream to other parts of the body.  My guess is that if she stayed home and waited for this to get better, she would have eventually died.  Hopefully, with the miracle of antibiotics, her body’s immune system, rest, and good care, she will beat this.

So remember, if you have a sore throat, a fever, and a swollen neck, get it checked out.  Keep in mind that most doctors are not familiar with this disease.  It is an old disease, pre-penicillin days, that might be making a comeback.

[mznb1u]

Larry,

I wish your wife a speedy and full recovery!  Thanks for passing along the info.

  Tim

[Ltransam]

  HOLY CRAP !!





 Larry I hope for a Speedy Recovery .

 Thanks For Passing this On .My Wife has Been battling VERY Similar Systems The Last 2 Months And Can't get a Stright answer !! From Her Doctor !!! Chest X-RAYS & Cat Scans Still No answer .


                                                          Leonard

[Pat Pixley]

Wow Larry,  I wish the best for your wife and smooth recovery   .
And thank you for sharing this I think this is a good thing to get out there for people to know.

Pat

[Kilroy]

Wow. My tohughts and prayers to your wife and family.

[Seven181]

Larry,

My thoughts are with you and your wife!! Thanks for sharing about this.

Brian

[Jim]

Larry,

Your wife will be in our prayers!
With early detection, she'll come out OK ! ! !
And Thanks for sharing the lesson ! ! !

[Crazzy Canuck]

Wow!!  Sorry to heart that Larry and thankyou as well. We'll be keeping your wife and family in our prayers.

[SIGNGUY]

Larry,
Our thoughts will be with you wife and family as she recovers from this. Thanks for sharing.
Take care!
tell her she doesn't get better soon, you'l be sneaking more machines into the house.. that will get her right as rain real quick!

[Creighton]

Prayers Here!! Hope all goes well.
Just got Linda out of the hospital. She was lucky also.
Can't give enough credit to the folks that work in the medical field.
Creighton

[Yarochrehc]

Larry, hope everything goes well, You'll both be in our prayers!

[90grad]

Larry, take care of her AND yourself.  God bless.

[Larry]

Thanks for all your kind words and prayers.

My wife feels great.  Her neck is still sore, but when they're done feeding her, the antibiotic from the iv, she can get up out of the bed and move around.

She's been getting plenty of company so at least she's not bored.

She might be released on Tuesday, but the iv comes home too.  She also has to have daily injections in her stomache of blood thinner.  I believe that's twice a day.  Yuck!!

I'm Mr. Mom with the laundry, cooking, cleaning, bills, etc., but if that's all I have to complain about, I guess I'm doing allright.

I read her your responses.  She was happy to hear the other coments.  John she chuckled at yours!

Leonard I hope your wife doesn't have this.  If she has those symptoms, you better get her checked out.

[Sodak Bob]

Thanks for the update -   We all wish you the best.  Prayers from South Dakota are on the way as well........

[collecture]

Glad she is doing better Larry!
Thoughts and prayers going out here.

[GreginNM]

Positive thoughts flowing your way from down here in Texas as well!  Glad to hear your wife is doing better!

Definitely a big thanks for passing on the info on this obscure disease...anything to help give the doctors direction to look is great!

[90grad]

Larry,

She probably will be on the blood thinner Lovenox.  My wife did those injections for nearly 3 years.  She has a genetic condition called Factor V Leiden, which actually affects 5% of the population.  The kicker is most people don't know it.  It raises the tendency of your blood to clot.  It is usually unnoticed until a hormonal change results.  In my wife's case, it was pregnancy.  We have both the kids tested and my son has it.  He shouldn't ever have a problem, but we'll keep close tabs on him when we fly, if he ever has to have surgery, etc.  My wife's hematologist told her she would have to get up every hour when flying, etc.  Her dad has it and didn't find out until he had a knee replaced.  They just juiced him up with blood thinner before the operation and all was good.

Anyway, glad to hear the missus is doing well.

[Larry]

My wife is home after 5 nights in the hospital.  She has a pick ( an inlet tube in a vein) in her arm and up into her neck, for feeding antibiotics.  Six weeks of that and she should be done.  Just in time for the show.   Thanks for all your well wishes.

[collecture]

Wow Larry! Glad she is home! Take care of her!

[SIGNGUY]

Good news... Did you sneak anything into the house while she was out?
Glad to hear it..

[Pat Pixley]

Glad she's home Larry    take care of her.

  And you may still have some time to hide those new items that you bought  .

[Jim]

Glad to hear the wife is home and doing better ! ! !

[mznb1u]

  Excellent News!

[bubba]

Glad to hear it Larry... hope things continue forward for you guys..

[BrianB]

Awesome news! Happy to hear that she is safely home from the hospital.