Too Hot To Handle

Last week we had an unusual patient in our dental clinic. I gave this young lady of about age 16 a number to come to the clinic at about 7:30 in the morning. Her # came up at about 10 o’clock but when she tried to walk to the clinic I knew something was terribly wrong with her.
Early in the morning she looked fine. She only had a toothache. By ten o’clock she could not walk! She could walk only with her Mothers help in very rigid stiff steps. I told Gail she reminded me of Frankenstein taking his first steps! When we got her to the chair, she was shaking uncontrollably but was not cold or afraid. I knew that she was in trouble so we transferred her to the medical exam room and took her vital signs again. Although her BP was fairly normal her temperature was 107.5! We took it several times to be sure and it was correct.
Dr Ly felt pretty sure she had Typhoid Fever. We covered her in ice bags and started and IV drip with several meds. After a few hours her temp came down and at the end of the day we let her go home. Dr Ly wanted to know if I wanted to do her extraction! I thought she had been thru enough for one day.
It was strange how she came for dental treatment when she was so sick. Guess that tooth was hurting pretty bad.