Will Shaw

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Will had a serious infected sore on his left knee. He went to see his orthopedic surgeon on April 13th. His doctor put him on an antibiotic and was concerned to the point that he had Will set an appointment for a recheck a week later, on April 20th. By time for the recheck, the sore was 10’times worse and the antibiotic clearly wasn’t working. So Dr. Hampton lanced the infected wound, drained it, cleaned it , dressed it and showed me how to take care of it for the next week. He had Will set a recheck appointment for April 20th. He prescribed sulfa drugs to treat the infection. The wound started looking better and better every day when I cleaned it and dressed it; clearly the antibiotic was working . Then on Tuesday April 26th Will was not feeling well at all, he started spiking a fever of 103. The next morning he was covered in a serious rash all over his body. And he had a fever. So he canceled his appointment and I encouraged him to get an appointment with his primary care doctor or go to urgent care. His doctor didn’t call back with a time Will could be seen, so I convinced him to go to Urgent Care. When Will got back home I asked what did they tell him and he said “they say I should go to the ER”. He was very tired, his body temperature was normal and he just wanted to nap. I checked him an hour later and he had a 103 temperature again. So with a good bit of persuasion I convinced him that we needed to go to the ER. I elected to take him to Southern Maryland Hospital near Clinton, MD because that is where his orthopedic surgeon has professional privileges.
Will was diagnosed with rotavirus, tested negative for hepatitis; they did a cat scan of his liver and told us his liver and spleen were enlarged and the the had cirrhosis of the liver. It was a huge shock to us because Will has no medical history that would account for cirrhosis of the liver and he has never been a serious alcohol drinker at all. While he was in Southern Maryland Hospital, He had nonstop diarrhea and vomiting because of the rotavirus, poor nursing care and became extremely dehydrated before he was treated for it. He was discharged on Saturday morning and told to consult with a gastrointestinal doctor as soon as possible. The diarrhea continues nonstop.