After a week of just trying to stay afloat in the sea of work, call shifts and sleep deprivation, I just didn't have it in me to post things. Getting out of town for the long weekend helped my mental health state, but prolonged my writing even longer. But through all the chaos, I did in fact save some facts to share with you when I had the time and energy. So without further ado, here's a whirlwind catch-up post!
LastMondayIL:A non-verbal infant cannot, by definition, have a sore throat. Soreness is a subjective quality and babies can't tell you what they are feeling. You can only infer that the throat hurts from their swallowing difficulty or if they cry when feeding.
Langerhans cell histiocytosis presents with osteolytic bone lesions, skin findings on the hands, and diabetes insipidus.
LastTuesdayIL: Allergic shiners are dark rings around the eyes that can occur when blood pools during an allergic reaction. The "shiner" term is because it looks like the patient has two black eyes from fighting.
LastWednesdayIL: In a pinch, you can use Coca-Cola to clean out an obstructed gastrostomy tube.
LastThursdayIL: Cerebral palsy is a lifelong diagnosis, but can be very misleading if the effect is mild. CP is when there is a brain lesion at birth that causes any sort of permanent muscle dysfunction. Whether that dysfunction is a life-altering disability or a totally benign quirk, the person with it will have the CP diagnosis for life.
Quote of the Day: "At this point in my career, if I haven't heard of a disease, it is by definition rare."
LastFridayIL: ALTE, pronounced "all-tee", stand for apparent life-threatening event and is defined as anything that happens to an infant medically that truly scares the parents. Common examples are turning blue, not breathing for extended amounts of time, not moving, etc. ALTEs are useful to group a broad, nebulous collection of symptoms into a single, generally understood category for use as a chief complaint when the child is brought into the hospital.
YesterdayIL: Arthrogryposis is a fancy term for multiple congenital contractures... which is a fancy term for not being able to move two or more joints at birth.
TIL: PDAs are more common in Denver. A patent ductus arteriosus is a congenital heart anomaly where a fetal connection between the aorta and pulmonary arteries stays open after the perinatal period. One of the environmental factors that regulates the body's drive to close this connection is the blood oxygenation status. At high altitudes, such as in the Mile High City, babies have less oxygen from the air and their ductus arterioses stay open longer and are more likely to stay open and cause problems.
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