# My patient with rabies **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 22, 2013, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-patient-with-rabies/664196 "2013-07-22T15:05:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-patient-with-rabies/664196/61 "2013-07-23T20:37:52Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > Hm. > Impairment > Death > > I’ll take impairment, thanks. Depends on the impairment. Major brain damage? Kill me. ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-patient-with-rabies/664196/62 "2013-07-23T21:22:25Z")
> [@USCDiver](#): > > I had a patient sent from an Urgent Care to the ER for “a swollen epiglottis” which is potentially an airway catastrophe. I wondered out loud how an urgent care would make such a diagnosis. Turns out the patient had a swollen uvula. Not quite the same level of sphincter tone with that one. Hey! Don’t you dare use that tone of sphincter with me! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-patient-with-rabies/664196/63 "2013-07-23T23:47:21Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > Hm. > Impairment > Death > > I’ll take impairment, thanks. There’s impairment on the level of “one now walks with a limp” and then there’s “drools into one’s diaper and hopes the staff shifts one frequently enough to avoid bedsores” The Milwaukee protocol has seen both. > [@The Great Sun Jester](#): > > I was under the impression the only ‘treatment’ for rabies included a heavy dose of ‘vitamin K’ and some shovel work. Odd it’s considered controversial–even a small success rate beats certainty of death. I take it the more legitemate objection is the rabies strain in question was either weak/beaten without treatment or misdiagnosed? There’s also the “problem” that the doctor who came up with it was “just” an infectious disease specialist who had never seen a case of rabies vs. long term experts in the field who question how such a green outsider could have possibly have come up with a useful treatment. Personally, I’m open to the idea an outsider might try a new approach because he doesn’t know enough it’s not going to work. It doesn’t always work out, but sometimes it does. But yes, you’ve touched on some of the major objections. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-patient-with-rabies/664196/64 "2013-07-24T01:12:30Z")
> [@Fubaya](#): > > Scabies, Rabies, Mickey Rooney Sugar Babies. This is my new jumprope rhyme. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-patient-with-rabies/664196/65 "2013-07-24T02:11:25Z")
> [@Skara\_Brae](#): > > Isn’t rabies always 100% fatal after symptoms appear? I was wondering why they were starting him on anything, unless it was to make him comfortable. [No](http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20593-rabies-may-not-be-the-invincible-killer-we-thought.html#.Ue82aeBdX8s), there have been 8 rabies survivors since records have been kept. The treatment is very hit or miss, mostly miss. I worked with a very sweet Chinese nurse who consistantly charted her pre-op pediatric open hearts were “dusty.” I finally asked her to explain. She said you know, bluish - dusty." I wrote down “dusky” and told her to keep the paper with her until she rememered it. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-patient-with-rabies/664196/66 "2013-07-24T14:25:29Z")
Some of my nurses also tell me that the patient’s skin infection “looks like MRSA to me”. :smack::mad::smack::rolleyes::smack: Can’t tell MRSA by looking. Or by smelling. Only culture and sensitivity will tell that. At least my potential case of rabies was in Milwaukee. Home of “the protocol that made Milwaukee famous”. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-patient-with-rabies/664196/67 "2013-07-24T15:36:07Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > There’s impairment on the level of “one now walks with a limp” and then there’s “drools into one’s diaper and hopes the staff shifts one frequently enough to avoid bedsores” The Milwaukee protocol has seen both.. Both Alzheimers and Parkinsons don’t just run in my family, it gallops. I am going to end up shaking and drooling anyway. [Well, actually I plan on offing myself while I still have my mind and can make an informed decision. If however they come up with some way to stop the Alzheimers, I will consider living with Parkinsons.] > [@Broomstick](#): > > There’s also the “problem” that the doctor who came up with it was “just” an infectious disease specialist who had never seen a case of rabies vs. long term experts in the field who question how such a green outsider could have possibly have come up with a useful treatment. Personally, I’m open to the idea an outsider might try a new approach because he doesn’t know enough it’s not going to work. It doesn’t always work out, but sometimes it does. > > But yes, you’ve touched on some of the major objections. Well, you have a patient with what is effectively a death sentence, medical coma would at least make the family feel like there is no pain [I am not getting into what the body is actually feeling when the mind is on vacation] and why not have a go at supporting the body into the physical symptoms stop - who knows, it might actually work. To be somewhat cold, you wake them up and do a neuro check, if they are a vegetable you can always tell the family ‘oops, sorry they died while in the coma’ and if they pass, you let the family in and start rehab. Hm, I might put something like that in my living will. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-patient-with-rabies/664196/68 "2013-07-24T15:58:59Z")
> [@picunurse](#): > > I worked with a very sweet Chinese nurse who consistantly charted her pre-op pediatric open hearts were “dusty.” I finally asked her to explain. She said you know, bluish - dusty." I wrote down “dusky” and told her to keep the paper with her until she rememered it. This is why you keep a feather duster in the operating theatre. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-patient-with-rabies/664196/69 "2013-07-24T16:04:39Z")
> [@LawMonkey](#): > > This is why you keep a feather duster in the operating theatre. No, that’s for fun with the OR techs after the surgery is all done! ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-patient-with-rabies/664196/70 "2013-07-24T17:20:00Z")
> [@picunurse](#): > > The treatment is very hit or miss, mostly miss. Some say the old treatment [was too](http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=S2L0WQu2fEI&t=110). ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2013, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-patient-with-rabies/664196/71 "2013-07-27T03:39:09Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > My clerk once asked for a day off because his mother was in the Hospital suffering from…a _Mayo Infection_. If it was nosocomial, it was a staff infection. If she was in a hospital in Minnesota, that may well have been a Mayo staff infection ;). ---
**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2013, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-patient-with-rabies/664196/72 "2013-07-27T04:03:31Z")
Random factoid I enjoy sharing - I have been bitten by a rabid cat. It in no way makes me special, but I got full approval from the health department to foam at the mouth and threaten to bite any coworker who annoyed me. The mechanics of said foaming was left up to me. I recommend toothpaste for those playing along at home . ---
**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2013, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-patient-with-rabies/664196/73 "2013-07-27T04:04:51Z")
Doubled post ---
**Author:** ![user\_hostile](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/user_hostile/32/474_2.png) [@user\_hostile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/user_hostile)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2013, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-patient-with-rabies/664196/74 "2013-07-27T04:06:12Z")
> [@raventhief](#): > > Random factoid I enjoy sharing - I have been bitten by a rabid cat. It in no way makes me special, but I got full approval from the health department to foam at the mouth and threaten to bite any coworker who annoyed me. > > The mechanics of said foaming was left up to me. I recommend toothpaste for those playing along at home . > [@raventhief](#): > > Random factoid I enjoy sharing - I have been bitten by a rabid cat. It in no way makes me special, but I got full approval from the health department to foam at the mouth and threaten to bite any coworker who annoyed me. > > The mechanics of said foaming was left up to me. I recommend toothpaste for those playing along at home . If I see double, do I…do I have rabies? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2013, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-patient-with-rabies/664196/75 "2013-07-27T04:09:30Z")
Yes. Sorry. There is no hope for you. Better to end it now. Goodbye. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2013, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-patient-with-rabies/664196/76 "2013-07-27T18:18:23Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Some of my nurses also tell me that the patient’s skin infection “looks like MRSA to me”. > > :smack::mad::smack::rolleyes::smack: > > Can’t tell MRSA by looking. Or by smelling. Only culture and sensitivity will tell that. > > At least my potential case of rabies was in Milwaukee. Home of “the protocol that made Milwaukee famous”. 🆒 My husband’s a bit of I hypocondriac. I tell him that all the time, just to mess with him. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Azile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d07c76/32.png) [@Azile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Azile)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2013, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-patient-with-rabies/664196/77 "2013-07-28T05:39:27Z")
This reminds me of chart notes I once recieved on a patient who suffered from tremors “during everyday activities such as eating her stool.” :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Renifer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@Renifer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renifer)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2013, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-patient-with-rabies/664196/78 "2013-07-28T15:00:52Z")
It’s kind of coincidental that in Scrubs one episode had a patient with rabies, and that your thread title is in the same style as the titles for Scrubs episodes (“My . . .”) Okay, maybe not an amazing coincidence (a medical show dealing with rabies), but when I read the thread title, that episode immediately popped into my mind. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-patient-with-rabies/664196.md?page=3)