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Friday, July 11, 2014

Epiglottitis, more than just a sore throat


Epiglottitis, more than just a sore throat.

One 7/3 I finally got home from having a total hip replacement that was on 6/30. I was feeling ok despite the surgical pain. On sat/sun my throat started hurting but not like it ever has. It started hurting farther down my throat. I knew it wasn’t strep or anything but it hurt. I had a scheduled appointment with my PCP Wednesday so I figured that I would just chill out until then and mention it. Well, that plan went away when Monday night the 7th I was getting worse really fast and was in so much pain. I couldn’t eat anymore and hardly drank. By the time Tuesday came I felt horrible, so I called my dr and she said to come up to be seen.

I was dehydrated because of the lack of liquids in almost 24 hours. She did an initial exam and bloodwork which showed my WBC normal. If I had an infection it should be high, so I wasn’t to worried then. Since she can’t see that far down my throat she called ENT to see me.

Picture from PatientHelp.org
I got up to ENT and she looked in my ears, nose and mouth and everything looked good. So then she did a little scope. Kind of scary looking machine but it’s really not bad, and your nose is numbed and it only takes a minute.


She sat down and said I have what’s epiglottitis. My first thought was ok, that’s inflammation, give me meds and i’ll be good to go. I was very wrong. She said that I was too much at risk for the epiglottis to swell even more and if that happens that I could stop breathing, so I couldn’t go home. She’s thinking that my WBC appears normal because of all the other meds I’m on for the hip replacement and the steroids they give during surgery.



She said I was lucky that I came in when I did and didn’t wait. That if I waited even until the next day for my scheduled appointment that it could have went in the wrong direction fast and nothing anyone could do if my airway was swollen shut. I am lucky and only needed a regular hospital room, any worse and it would have been the ICU and a step more from that was a trach, which there is no way I wanted that.
I was admitted to the hospital and was started on some very high hitting antibiotics. I was given IV vancomycin and Levaquin.  They also put me on a pulse Oximeter to make sure my oxygen levels were ok and if not the machine would go off telling them I was having a problem breathing.


Due of my hip replacement they want to make sure the infection doesn’t travel to joint, if that happens it’s not good.
As of today I’m feeling better but still not healed. I’m being monitored closely to make sure I keep going in the right direction and things don’t go the other way.

Moral of this story is that, if you feel off and something isn’t right, go to the dr. It’s better to be safe than sorry. I may not be here today if I didn’t listen to my body. I’m also blessed with a good medical team that takes me seriously when I say something is wrong.




Disclosure: This post was not a sponsored post, but purely my own experience and story. The information presented above is NOT to replace the advice of your medical professionals and is for informational purposes only. Please speak with your physician or other medical providers prior to taking any supplements. If you have any questions or would like your product, service or company featured on Top Notch Material, please contact Katrina from The Nurse Mommy at katrina dot gehman {at} gmail [dot] com. The disclosure is done in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission 10 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

1 comment:

  1. My gosh what a nightmare. You had a total hip and then this!! Oh my goodness. They hit you with high powered antibiotics too. Do you think the airway was the culpret? So weird to go through all of this. I am sorry this happened. You sure are taking it well too. Take care of yourself. Thanks for sharing. Keep us updated too. Rita Spratlen

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