Poor thing. Incurable diseases of any sort are not a lot of fun. I think she’s lucky to be an athlete in this case though, because the symptoms impeded her training so she was diagnosed quickly.
While her diagnosis was quick for chronic illness in general it should have been weeks earlier. Her doctors neglected to do the most basic urine test, which would have showed kidney issues immediately for more than 2 weeks after her swelling appeared. Even the most basic ER or Primary Care doctor orders a urine test on anyone presenting with edema. The fact that Auburn’s team of doctors thought her swelling was allergies is bordering on incompetence.
Borders on? I was horrified when I read this. Smacks of malpractice to me.
You’re right, I was being way too generous; assuming the article is accurate, it would definitely be a lawsuit in any of the hospital systems I’ve worked at. Here they urine test if you come in with a hangnail; the test literally takes 5 minutes, costs next to nothing and is a standard cover your ass measure.
I worked in a major hospital for five years, in the oncology pharmacy and specifically with investigational drugs. The Peds folks were absolute experts at flying by the seats of their pants–to a dangerous extent. They’d come up with crazy workarounds to prep drugs to peds concentrations like mixing IV chemo in orange juice and using it orally, and storing it in the fridge–at the patient’s home, with all of the family food. Like… wait, what? And that’s only the half of it. It’s crazy how much improvisation goes on.
