Case Study
I am Doc. Smith and I am working with a patient who has tuberculosis, tuberculosis kills people due to bacteria that affect the lungs and droplets from a cough or sneeze can come out and then another person has TB. Her name is “Katelyn Jones”, 34 years old, African American; works at McDonalds, Katelyn has a wonderful loving husband with three children. Their names are Maya, who is 7, Dreek, who is 4, and Kiara, who is 2 months. Her kids mean the world to her they are her most prized possession and her husband is the greatest man in the whole world they are just a big happy family. She went to the mall and there was an outbreak in their water and she drank from the water fountain and drank the water and vomited for a few days. Katelyn might have infected the workers at the mall, people in the garage, her husband and kids, and the workers at McDonalds. She could have coughed of sneezed on someone and the droplets from her cough or sneeze could have got on someone and caused them to get tuberculosis. One day, Katelyn woke up and she realized that she had a really bad cough and a fever of 110. Also, she didn’t have an appetite for 5 days she couldn’t figure out what was going on with her she continued to go to work and she got more and more sick.
Katelyn’s husband said, “Babe I think that you should go to the doctors because you look horrible.”
“Why all they are going to do is waste my time by running test all day and I’m going to miss days of work and we can’t afford that, now can we I don’t think so.” Katelyn did not like going to the doctors because she did not believe that the doctors were really doing their job, she thought that they were just wasting time. She was wondering how her husband was going to persuade her to go to the hospital, he was good at that.
“Look I think that they would make you feel better even though you hate going, they would give you some type of medicine to make you feel better. Please baby do this for the kids and me, please.”
“You are begging, ok I will go just to make you shut up I’m off tomorrow so I’ll go to the doctors in the morning will you be ok with the kids?”
“I will, we will be great thank you babe!” he kissed her on her forehead and they both went upstairs to go to bed. When Katelyn woke up the next morning she felt worse than she did the day before she looked in the mirror and noticed that her stomach looked smaller than it was before and she didn’t eat breakfast she knew that she needed to go to the hospital ASAP. She arrived at the hospital and no one was in the waiting room except two kids and a single mother. She signed in and before she could sit down a beautiful, pretty, married doctor came out.
“Mrs. Jones I’m ready for you.”
“Yes here I am.” Katelyn walked in behind the doctor and went into her office.
“Yes here I am.” Katelyn walked in behind the doctor and went into her office.
“Hello, I’m doctor Smith how are you today?”
“I feel horrible I was better than I was yesterday, I have a fever, a cough that will not stop, and I am noticing that I am losing weight over night, what is wrong with me?” Katelyn was starting to get scared
“Well how about we run a couple of tests and see what is up. Head into the room on your left and I will be right in.” Dr. Smith said
Katelyn went into the room where she was supposed to go, it looked really expensive in there everything seemed like it cost a whole lot of body parts. Dr. Smith decided to do a chest x-ray to see if anything was suspicious in her lungs, Dr. Smith knew what Katelyn had just by looking at her lungs. Katelyn sat in the examination room for 3 hours she was starting to wonder what Dr .Smith was doing to the x-ray that was taking forever.
“Hello, Mrs. Jones sorry for the weight we had to run a couple more tests to make sure this is correct.” Dr. Smith was hesitant to tell Katelyn she had Tuberculosis.
“Well what is it, is it serious?” Katelyn was becoming scared
“I’m sorry to say, but Mrs. Jones you have Tuberculosis.”
“What, what is tuberculosis?” Katelyn asked sadly
“Tuberculosis is a disease where droplets from a tuberculosis patient’s cough gets inhaled and into your lungs and could also affect your brain, kidney, and spinal cord. So someone around you must have Tuberculosis and not know it, is there anyone around you that has been coughing or sneezing?” Dr. Smith asked
“Some workers at McDonalds where I work at there has been a lot of coughing and sneezing, but I don’t know from which person I caught this from.”
“That’s ok all I’m concerned about is you, I’m going to have you come tomorrow so we can start the treatment before Tuberculosis takes over your body.”
“Ok, I will make sure of it thanks Dr. Smith.”
“Your welcome I will see you tomorrow get a good night sleep.” Dr. Smith said. Katelyn walked out of the hospital feeling worried she thought that she was going to die on the way home, she was going to make sure that she went to the hospital first thing in the morning.
Katelyn woke up the next morning feeling the same way she felt the day before, horrible. She got dressed kissed her husband and kids goodbye and went back to the hospital for Tuberculosis treatment, she actually felt good about going back to the hospital because she had a feeling that Dr. Smith would fix her up right and she would be feeling better soon. Katelyn went into the waiting room and waited for Dr. Smith to take her back into her office to start the treatment; in less than a minute she was called back to her office she was feeling good about herself.
“How are you feeling this morning Mrs. Jones?” Dr. Smith asked
“Actually the same way I felt yesterday, horrible, but happy because I’m going to be good as new soon.” Katelyn said
“Well, I hope I can do that for you today. Ok I’m going to give you a couple of antibiotics to take Tuberculosis out of your system; I’m going to give you four antibiotics they are: Isoniazid, Rifampin, Ethambutol, and Pyrazinamide. They may have some side effects like vomiting, loss of appetite, yellow color to your skin, and dark urine. But let’s hope that you will be ok.”
“I hope so too, is there anything else that you’re going to prescribe for me?”
“No, lets the medications settle into your system and if you show any of these side effects come back in and we will take a closer look. I’ll be right back with the medication and give you the pills and then you’ll be on your way ok.”
“Thanks.” Katelyn said
“I hope so too, is there anything else that you’re going to prescribe for me?”
“No, lets the medications settle into your system and if you show any of these side effects come back in and we will take a closer look. I’ll be right back with the medication and give you the pills and then you’ll be on your way ok.”
“Thanks.” Katelyn said
“You’re welcome.” Dr. Smith replied back. Dr. Smith came back within a blink of any eye it didn’t take her anytime to return. Katelyn took two pills first then she took the other two so she wouldn’t choke on them all at one time. After she took the medicine she vomited all over the floor, she thought it was a good thing that she did maybe the medicine started working quickly. She went home and rested for 5 hours and since she didn’t want to go back to work and get anyone else infected she decided to stay home for six to nine months that was going to be a long time before she went back to work.
One morning Katelyn couldn’t get out of bed she was lying there, and couldn’t even move she was stiff. Her husband went to work and he came home from work and went to check on his wife, at first she thought that she was sleeping, but she wasn’t breathing he called the ambulance and they rushed over to the house and took her to the hospital. She wasn’t responding so Dr. Smith and the nurses had to pump her chest to get her to respond after the second pump she was breathing on her own and after a few injections she was awake and responsive.
“What happened to me, what am I doing here?” Katelyn did not remember what happened to her a few hours before
“Your husband and I thought that we were going to lose you today.” Dr. Smith said
“Baby you passed out from the medicine you took it might have been to heavy on your stomach.” Her husband replied
“Yes your body wasn’t adjusting as quickly as I thought it would, but nine months later your healthy again and come in for your regular checkups and you will be back to normal.”
“ Oh my goodness thank you so much Dr. Smith thank you, thank you.” Katelyn was filed with so much joy she didn’t know what to believe all she knew is she was healthy that was the greatest gift from God she could have asked for. Katelyn stayed the night at the hospital to make sure she was stabilized and ok to be released the next day. The next morning Katelyn was released from the hospital and went back to work earlier then Dr. Smith wanted her to, but she is back on her feet and going to the hospital regularly and is living a health and full life.
“ Oh my goodness thank you so much Dr. Smith thank you, thank you.” Katelyn was filed with so much joy she didn’t know what to believe all she knew is she was healthy that was the greatest gift from God she could have asked for. Katelyn stayed the night at the hospital to make sure she was stabilized and ok to be released the next day. The next morning Katelyn was released from the hospital and went back to work earlier then Dr. Smith wanted her to, but she is back on her feet and going to the hospital regularly and is living a health and full life.
