abc7 Dana Smith
A woman in New York is recovering after an infection in her nose led to a life-threatening condition that caused her to have a liver transplant.
37-year-old Dana Smith, 37, had a nose job shortly after Thanksgiving, CBS New York reported Thursday.
About a month later, Smith developed abdominal pain but was reluctant to go to the hospital due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
In an interview with CBS New York, Smith described her symptoms as’ stomach pain. I felt like I had lost some appetite. ‘
“I did not want to go to the hospital with COVID,” she explained at the outlet. But the pain became so severe that ‘it got to the point where I felt I had no choice’.
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“I was just drinking water, I could not hold the water,” Smith told ABC 7, revealing that her symptoms increased so much that she “started shedding blood.”
Her sister took her to Long Island Jewish Medical Center on January 12, where doctors quickly determined she needed a liver transplant and was suffering from hepatitis B, reports ABC 7.
According to the Merck Manual, fulminant hepatitis is “a rare syndrome of rapid (usually within days or weeks), massive necrosis of liver parenchyma and a decrease in liver size” that usually occurs after infection with certain hepatitis viruses, alcoholic hepatitis or drug. induced liver injury (DILI). “
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Smith was transferred to North Shore University Hospital and placed in a medically induced coma while waiting for a match for the transplant. One was found within 48 hours and she was operated on January 17th.
Although doctors were quick to diagnose Smith, the original hepatitis B was initially a mystery.
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Through an elimination process, medical professionals determined that the culprit was an infection of the nose piercing that went unnoticed.
“It was the unique change that took place in her life, this nose ring,” said Northwell’s director of transplant services, Dr. Lewis Teperman, said. “And this is the perfect time for the virus to hatch.”
Smith, who returned home on January 26, acknowledges the decision to eventually go to the hospital because she saved her life – and shares her story so she can help someone else who needs to go to the hospital to get treatment. get.
“It’s very overwhelming. Emotionally, everything, mentally,” she told ABC 7.
To CBS New York, Smith added: “Even if COVID is going on, you still have to go watch because you never know. That one decision saved my life.”