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Mon Mar 23 18:54:10 GMT 2009

Am in agreement that the right neurosurgeon can make a life-saving difference for someone with a dangerous brain injury or rapidly-deteriorating medical condition. I am one who knows. My oldest daughter, Meredith, was saved in September 2005 by a neurosurgeon who performed critical and emergency brain surgery on her--twice. 

Before she left for college, she had been seen three times the previous week, twice by pediatricians practice that she had been a patient at since birth and both times the doctors said she had a virus that would get better with time and rest; and next by an ER doctor who diagnosed her with a sore throat that now needed antibiotic treatment.

The first surgery by the neurosurgeon, Dr. Stefan Konasiewicz, now practicing in Texas, formerly at St. Luke's Hospital in Duluth, MN, occurred three days after Meredith's condition continued worsening despite the antibiotic treatment. He aspirated Meredith's left temporal lobe to relieve cranial pressure and drain the brain abscess. During the second emergency room visit Meredith made (she was sent by police escort when the the University's Student Health Services doctor realized Meredith had a swollen left temporal lobe and an escalating white blood cell count) the ER doctors examined her, they found two abscesses, one in her throat and alarmingly--one in her brain. By the time surgery was scheduled, Meredith was very confused, but thankfully still conscious. Prior to the brain surgery, an ENT doctor drained the peritonsillar abscess.

Over the next several days, despite wide spectrum antibiotics and IV treatments, Meredith's condition worsened and Dr. Konasiewicz indicated a left craniotomy was necessary to remove the rapidly-expanding brain abscess. Knowing the risks, we were nearly scared to death. After Meredith's second surgery, when she gained consciousness, we started to see that our trademark Meredith was emerging from the brink.

A few days later, when the culture from the abscess grew Fusobacterium necrophorum, St. Luke's infectious disease doctor, Dr. Linda Van Etta,

diagnosed the cause of Meredith's illness, Lemierre's Syndrome or Disease. 

Had neurosurgeon Dr. Konasiewicz not been there and available to operate so quickly, Meredith would not have had the same positive result. Today, she is a senior at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. Except for some numbness on her left cheek and some other residual impairments, she is still our same beautiful and high energy daughter, even more remarkable. Her experience occurred during her first week away at college. She was hospitalized for nearly two weeks and insisted on resuming a reduced-academic load the day after she was released from the hospital, self-administering her daily IV treatment for Lemierre's.

While some medical sources indicate Lemierre's Syndrome is a 1 in a million disease, compelling new evidence has suggested it may be more accurately 1 in 70,000, especially among those in the 14-25 age range.

Here is more information about Lemierre's Syndrome:

DB's Medical Rants by Dr. Robert Centor:

http://www.medrants.com/?s=Lemierre%27s+Syndrome   (collection of his Lemierre's posts)

"The Strep Throat That Wasn't" by Dr. Lisa Sanders, Diagnosis column, New York Times Magazine, 9-14-2008

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9804E7D7103EF937A2575AC0A96E9C8B63

"It Almost Killed My Daughter" by Shawn Doherty, health reporter, The Capital Times of Madison, WI, 11-19-2008

http://www.madison.com/tct/news/stories/314937

Justin's Battle With Lemierre's Syndrome, website by his sister, Tammy Valencia

http://lemierresyndromejrodgers.blogspot.com/

You Tube--3 consecutive Lemierre's Syndrome segments from the Discovery Health Channel's Mystery Diagnosis entitled, "Deadly Sore Throat"

a medical reenactment of Meredith's medical experience with Lemierre's and interviews with two of the actual doctors,

these segments were posted courtesty of a Lemierre's survivor, Brent Walquist

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmLpeEA5RSs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-bYPUdRls8&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHbafnf89DU&feature=related

Very Grateful Mom to a Very Determined Daughter

Thank you,

Kristie Estes

Hoping that information can ultimately prevent other families 

from having to endure this deadly disease: Lemierre's Syndrome

> Subject: RE: Prevetable death? from a Qc MD
> Date: Sun, 22 Mar 2009 21:28:16 -0400
> From: joe.nemeth at mcgill.ca
> To: trauma-list at trauma.org; trauma-list at trauma.org
> 
> Ken, Pret et al...
> 
> Just got back from vacation. This is what I know:
> While away a VIP went skiing WITHOUT a helmet. She fell, struck her head with +/- LOC. Was well after followed by a rather rapid decline in her MS. Due to the lack of air transport she was transported by ambulance appropriately to the one of two Level 1 trauma centers in Montreal (approximately 80 miles away), ours at McGill being the other. By that time, from what I know, only the Grace of God would have saved her.
> 
> Issues:
> 1) do we need air transport, specifically helicopter transport...yes! Negotiations (arm-twisting) is on-going with the powers that be...Would it have made a difference? Perhaps.
> 2) besides Point 1, I don't think anything else could've been done...
> 
> Agree with Pret's summary: the only surgeon who could've made a difference would have been a Neurosurgeon...
> 
> Joe
> McGill University
> Montreal General Hospital
> 

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