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Nurse Stories, Part Twenty Three: Tetanus! (by Louisiana M. Sandusky, R.N.) ~Warning!: Graphic Picture~ by Karen Lynn Vidra, The Texas Tornado
Friday, October 29, 2004
Rated "PG" by the Author.
A nurse writes about a particularly puzzling (and troubling) case that she is currently involved with.
I learned about it first in nursing school, but I never dreamed for a second that I would see it firsthand, in real life. I am talking about tetanus, or lockjaw, which is a serious disease that affects the muscles (particularly those in the neck, jaw, mouth, and face) and can cause certain death if quick, lifesaving action isn't taken in order to save the afflicted person's life. I am now involved in the care of a youngish woman visiting the United States from Africa (Nigeria) who has that very thing; and she is now a patient of mine in the hospital. The woman is visiting a friend, who lives here in America, in Nashville, Tennessee, and this incident first took place two weeks ago.
Tashi Tachingwe is a fortyish year-old woman from Nigeria, in Africa, who first took sick two weeks ago when she inadvertantly stepped on a rusty nail that was sticking up of the ground, and she didn't take the necessary steps in cleaning the wound or covering it with a bandage. She just let it go, and now, as a result, the tetanus germ (bacterium) entered her body via the cut, and now she is lying in our ICU ward, fighting for her very life. She is now hooked up to a ventilator, and she is knocked out with Valium, so she can rest. She has been having seizures, frightening seizures that involve her entire body; and even during rest between seizures, you can see the muscles twitching underneath her skin; and any little thing can set off the seizures--light, noise, accidentally bumping into her bed, or even touching her in any way. It is really a struggle to try to get her to stay calm; and it is even more so in dealing with the seizures. The seizures are so bad her entire body shakes violently, and she will only have the back of her head and the back of her feet resting on the bed while the rest of her body is high up in the air, limbs flailing, and a horrible grin plastered on her thin, sweat-soaked face; and her eyes rolled back into her head, showing only the whites. You can tell she is in great pain when she has one of her seizures because the monitors are going wild, with ever-beeping tones and alarms, and we have to use all our wits to try to get her seizing under control. We are so afraid that she is going to end up with permanent brain damage or disability if something drastic isn't done. This is why we keep her so sedated with Valium, plus we have been flooding her system with antibiotics and tetanus-fighting medications, in the hopes of knocking out the tetanus bacterium from her body.
Every day, for the past two weeks, I have been wondering if Tashi will live another day; and so far, she has cheated death. Yet she keeps us hopping, and it is always so stressful to deal with her seizures. The younger or newer nurses are having a hard time, and I am too because I haven't seen anything quite like this. I have always been told or heard to keep wounds clean or disenfected or covered with a bandage, or the chance of tetanus could set in. Until I first saw Tashi, I only heard of tetanus in books or in the newspaper (and sometimes on the evening news), but had never witnessed it in reality. Now I wish I never had because whenever I try to sleep, I see images of her still-seizing body in my mind, or I am afraid that one of my own kids will end up with tetanus; and I don't think I could live with that if that were to happen.
Only time will tell as to whether Tashi will survive her bout of tetanus: at least half of those people infected with tetanus die or end up with serious complications that leave them disabled, and it is still a worldwide problem. Only about 100 cases or so are reported here (which is still too many, as far as I am concerned), but over 50,000 cases are reported in developing nations such as Africa, India, Latin America and Mexico, and southern Asia. All I can do for the moment is pray for her and try to help her survive this battle with her life. I know I will never forget it as long as I shall live; and I hope never to witness such a horror ever again!
P.S.: The picture used is an illustration of a tetanus-induced seizure. Not at all pleasant to deal with or see! This is what I have to deal with, and I am having a hard time with it. One never knows when my patient will go into yet another seizure! That is the scary thing about this disease!
Thanks for sharing this very insightful piece Karen!!
You really do teach me alot about so many illnessess...Thank you!!
Love Tinka
Reviewed by Judy Lloyd
10/29/2004
A lot of the reason why nurses burn out is because of the things that you never expect to see or the ones you see too much of. I am still troubled by some cases that I was own. Time does not stop the horror.
Rovella is a beautiful woman with a cold heart whom blames herself for an unfortunate old family secret that is literally ruining her life. This secret impedes a gorgeous woman from having happiness in her childhood, and throughout her life. Dark sec
I learned about it first in nursing school, but I never dreamed for a second that I would see it firsthand, in real life. I am talking about tetanus, or lockjaw, which is a serious disease that affects the muscles (particularly those in the neck, jaw, mouth, and face) and can cause certain death if quick, lifesaving action isn't taken in order to save the afflicted person's life. I am now involved in the care of a youngish woman visiting the United States from Africa (Nigeria) who has that very thing; and she is now a patient of mine in the hospital. The woman is visiting a friend, who lives here in America, in Nashville, Tennessee, and this incident first took place two weeks ago.
