For 37-year-old Dana Smith, of Hollis, Queens, a spontaneous decision to get a nose ring during a shopping spree last Thanksgiving led to a medical emergency that nearly claimed her life.
Only a few days later, Smith, who works as a corporate payroll manager for Northwell, noticed that she was not feeling very well.
The busy mother of a teenager gets it to acid reflux and the stress of the upcoming Christmas holiday, but as the days changed into weeks, she could no longer tolerate food or water.
“I just drank water, I could not hold the water,” she said. “I think at some point I started vomiting blood.”
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Finally, on January 12, she asked her sister to take her to the Jewish Medical Center of Long Island. At this point she was so ill that she could not remember the events that followed.
She remembers one ultrasound in the hospital, and then wakes up with her doctors telling her she has a new liver.
“That one decision saved my life,” Smith said. “It’s very overwhelming. Emotionally, everything, mentally.”
Tests have revealed that Smith suffers from fulminant hepatitis B, a very rare condition in which the patient is immediately sent to liver failure.
Smith was then taken to North Shore University Hospital, where she came under the supervision of Dr Lewis Teperman, director of Northwell’s transplant services.
The brain swelling due to hepatitis B caused seizures, and therefore it was decided that Smith should be in a medically induced coma.
She was immediately placed on the transplant list and within 48 hours a match was discovered that could have her transplant surgery on January 17th.
She was able to return home on January 26.
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The mystery about what caused the otherwise healthy young woman to become so seriously ill was solved when doctors removed Smith’s mask to discover the small, strewn nose ring.
Excluding all other variables, the medical team determined that the disease was a nasal ring infection that led to a persistent hepatitis B, and, more importantly, she waited too long to seek medical help.
“It was the unique change that took place in her life, this nose ring,” said Dr. Teperman said. ‘ And this is the perfect time for the virus to hatch. ‘
Smith, who has not yet returned to work, wants to share her story in hopes of encouraging people to keep a close eye on their health and not get out of the hospital for fear of COVID-19.
If she had only waited a day or two to visit the emergency room, her story could have ended very differently.
Smith, who regularly plans appointments with Dr. Teperman every ten days, says she is not sure what to say to her daughter if the discussion of a nose ring were to appear in the future.
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