The death of a 5-year-old Nashville boy who had the H1N1 virus has put parents on alert to look for the slightest signs that their child might be sick.
Max Gomez, who was a student at Henry Maxwell Elementary School in Antioch, became ill Friday and was admitted to Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt on Monday. He died the same day. The state testing lab confirmed Wednesday that the boy had the H1N1 virus.
An initial autopsy did not indicate other health problems, though results will not be final for another 60 days.
Lewis heard a lot about H1N1 in the months leading up to October 6, but never did she think the illness would take her daughter.
"Never had we thought when we took her to the hospital that she wouldn't be coming home."
Mercedes was a student at Clay Intermediate School in South Bend. She was just starting sixth grade. Her family says the weekend before her death she came down with a sore throat. On Monday, they took her to the hospital, and by Tuesday morning, she was gone.
Caputo said her sister, who lived with and cared for her elderly parents, fell ill with the flu about eight days before her death. She was admitted to Sault Area Hospital's intensive care unit on Nov. 21 with pneumonia.
"It was supposed to be just 48 hours, but she didn't come out of it," said Caputo. "Finally her heart just couldn't take it anymore."
Caputo said her sister died of a streptococcus A infection.
The first of several trips to the emergency room, sent Hayli home with medical personnel saying she only had one of several flu viruses going around. A 104 temperature the next day sent Hayli back to the hospital, only to be sent home again with a diagnosis of pneumonia and some antibiotics to fight the infection.
Two days after the initial emergency room visit, Hayli's temperature skyrocketed to 105.3. Murphy's maternal instincts kicked in and she brought her back to the hospital without even consulting anyone.
Things progressed quickly, and not positively, after Hayli was admitted to the intensive care unit at The Children's Hospital of Southwest Florida in HealthPark. Doctors put her on a ventilator.
When Andrea Samples' 15-year-old daughter, Jessica, got sick with the swine flu in late September, her instinct was to have doctors check the girl -- three days in a row.
Though doctors sent Jessica home from her first two visits, she was admitted to the intensive care unit at a hospital in Fort Worth, Texas, on her third. The infection had spread to her heart, and it could no longer beat on its own, said Linda Thompson, one of her doctors. Jessica almost died three times.
Jessica is up and around again after a recovery that included two weeks in intensive care. What if Samples had delayed getting her daughter to the hospital, even by half a day? "I don't think we would have pulled her through," Thompson told CNN.
Her dad is a pediatrician, and mom is a critical care nurse. This young woman was a nursing
student.
H1N1 suspected in death of 22-year-old nursing student
...he had an H1N1 vaccine available for Sewell, who because of her age and the fact she was asthmatic was considered to be in a high-risk group and eligible for the shot.
"She had been too sick to get her vaccine," Blackstone said. "I had one for her, but she was ill."
Suffering from side pains, Sewell had an outpatient gallbladder surgery two weeks ago, her father said.
She started showing signs of serious flu-like symptoms.
"Within 48 hours, she was coughing up blood," Blackstone said.
This link at facebook gives us a look at her treatment in hospital. For those of us who don't work with these patients, it sounds so very complicated and amazing. Kudos to the ECMO teams!
On Nov. 10, Greable's heart slipped into an arrhythmia, which caused a short circuit in his brain. His death came unexpectedly. He never had any prior heart condition and aside from the fact that he was recovering from the flu, Greable was healthy.
Greable had been working on his L.L.M. (Masters of Law) at Loyola Law School for more than one year. Though he already had his J.D. from Case Western Reserve University, Greable was attending Loyola to specialize in healthcare law.
Henry Masters, 25, a Medfield resident and student at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH, died of complications from swine flu last week, cutting short a life full of promise, fellowship and love.
Henry was in Dartmouth's Masters of Public Health program, and was due to graduate in July. He was interested was in the United States' national health care policy, and supported healthcare reform. "I think everyone who knew him, knew him to be a future champion of health care policy," said his mom, Lucy.
By Friday night, Nov. 20, Henry had been transferred to the Intensive Care Unit, but he died the next day, Nov. 21.
In the end, Henry's system couldn't oxygenate a significant number of red blood cells to sustain his organs. The H1N1
compromised the blood gas transfer in his lungs so it in that way it also became the complicating factor as well as the trigger," Jeffrey said.
On Oct. 18, Donald Franklin Dyer, 16 years old, student at Sandwich High School, became the first person in DeKalb County infected with the H1N1 virus to die. But before he did, he spent 58 days in the hospital, hooked up to machines that helped him breathe and taking medications to help him fight off pneumonia.
"He told us there was nothing more he could do," Michael said. "He had never once said that before. I always had a feeling Donald would get through this, but when he said that, I knew."
Donald Dyer died later that day, just a few days after his 16th birthday. The DeKalb County Health Department, while not confirming Dyer's identity, said there were no underlying conditions in his death, which was related to an H1N1 infection.
Paige Maickel died on Nov. 27 at The Children's Hospital in Aurora. She is from Grand Junction and is the first reported pediatric death from H1N1 in Mesa County.
Her parents say she was a healthy girl before she was diagnosed with H1N1. After her diagnosis, doctors also discovered she had leukemia.
Since she was healthy before getting the flu, she did not meet the criteria to get a vaccine in Mesa County. Many clinics have now opened up their restrictions for who can get vaccines in Mesa County.
A 10-year-old Upshur County girl who was receiving treatment for H1N1, died at Ruby Memorial Hospital, in Morgantown, Saturday, officials at West Virginia University Hospitals said.
The girl also had an underlying heath condition and the cause of her death is unknown, according to officials.
indigo girl
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Solon, Ohio
http://www.cleveland.com/chagrinsolonsun/index.ssf/2009/11/friends_family_mourn_orange_te.html
(hat tip pfi/homebody)