Alaa Jaffar
“Ah… who’s next?” I was thinking.
“Doctor! We have an emergency case. Come on!” Nurse shouted.
“What happened?” I asked.
“It is a 33 year old man, complaining of acute diarrhea, but he seems that he is at the death’s door!” replied the nurse.
The doctor told the nurse "Do for him Complete Blood Count (CBC) and give me the results as soon as possible." After a few minutes, I saw the results and was shocked. The patient had very low platelet count, hemolytic anemia, low hemoglobin, high Lactate Dehydrogenase (LDH).
I was very confused as it was the first time I had ever seen case like that. I did not know what to do so I asked my colleagues but all of them were confounded. We were arguing so hard and at last we agreed that the most probable diagnosis is Hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS).
So, as fast as possible the doctors did for the man (plasma exchange). I was hoping that the man would heal; however, he did not respond for the treatment and also had plasma overload.
“I can’t let my patient suffer. No, I should do something, I can’t give up… Wait, my last hope is the consultant, I will call him now.”
The consultant said that maybe the patient is suffering from chest infection or from cardiac failure, but at last, he confirmed that the patient had chest infection. So, the doctor gave him antibiotics and with plasma exchange the patient survived.
“Thank god! It was a hard day but we made it through!” I said
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