By Dr. César Termulo and A. Pawlowski — Today
As a pediatrician, Dr. Caesar TemulusThe 53-year-old treats many children with the flu during the winter.when her 16 year old daughter Teresa “Reese” TemuloShe contracted the flu in early January 2020, which seemed to be a typical case, but she died the day after she was diagnosed with complications. She was very sad. As flu cases increase, Temulo, who practices at Parkland Health Center in Dallas, Texas, urges people to get vaccinated against the disease and warns parents to watch for symptoms.Share your story with TODAY.com.
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When people think the flu is a harmless runny nose, they’re wrong. It can cause death.
my daughter, Rees, absolutely no health issues. He has no chronic illness. She is completely healthy.
She was a member of the high school dance team and ranked in the top 10% of her high school class. We have started visiting universities. She told me she also planned to become a doctor.
The morning after he was diagnosed with the flu, I told him, “Rees“You’re going to be fine.” Those were the last words I said to him.
Her symptoms began on the morning of January 9, 2020. She had a fever and cough at school, so as soon as the school got the call, we took her to my office and she tested positive for the flu. We started him on oseltamivir or Tamiflu (an antiviral drug).
She felt a little tired, so she went home to rest. But she’s still doing homework, talking to friends, using Snapchat, and all the other things a normal teenager would do.
The next morning I asked him: “Rees, how do you feel? “She said she had a lot of pain in her chest. I had this pain under my ribs and it was muscle pain from coughing a lot.
I know that influenza can cause death, and that death is usually caused by bacterial pneumonia superimposed on influenza infection.
As a pediatrician and parent, the first thing I did was check his lungs, which were completely clear. I didn’t hear any signs of pneumonia. There were no signs of wheezing or diminished breath sounds. Her breathing was not rapid. She had no symptoms that made me suspect death was imminent.
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Rees She did not go to school that day and stayed at home with my wife taking care of her. They prayed the rosary. My wife wanted to read something to him and the first thing that popped up on her phone was a Bible verse about how all the time we have on this earth is precious.
Later that morning, Rees He went back to bed and my wife went down to make him some soup. when it comes back, Rees He had stopped breathing.
My wife attempted CPR and called 911, then me.I ran home and when I got there the EMS crews were moving Rees In the ambulance. One of them said: “We can’t measure your heart rate.”
The ER knew I was a doctor so I finally saw them treat her. It was so scary, I knew I didn’t look alive anymore. She was pronounced dead at the hospital.
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After an autopsy, the official cause of death was Rees He had the flu and strep A pneumonia was found in his lungs.
We gave him a strep test the day before and it came back negative. But Group A strep spread into his blood and was even found in his brain. He suffered from pneumonia, which led to sepsis and overwhelmed his system. It stopped his heart.
You can get the flu, which can lead to sudden death if you develop pneumonia. My daughter died the day after she was diagnosed with the flu.
Many people have asked if this is the new coronavirus, but there have not been any cases of the new coronavirus in the United States, and the new coronavirus cannot kill a child so quickly.
People think of the flu as a runny nose, cough, or fever, but it’s more than that. The flu could be pneumonia. In children, influenza can cause febrile seizures. In children with asthma, it can cause asthma attacks. It can even cause encephalopathy and death.
Rees She received a flu vaccine in December 2019, but the vaccine that year did not include the influenza B/Victoria virus that caused her death.
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I still urge people to get the flu shot even though it didn’t work for my daughter. My analogy is: Would you drive 80 miles an hour without wearing a seatbelt? This is illogical, even though seat belts don’t always save lives. Likewise, not getting a flu shot is illogical. It’s not 100% effective, but if it reduces your chance of dying if you get this superimposed pneumonia, then you should take it.
Once you have a high fever during flu season, just get tested for the flu. This is easy to do.
If you have the flu, you should start taking Tamiflu within the first two days. That’s when it will be most effective.
One of the things I’ve realized as a doctor is that although I do everything I’m supposed to do, I have no control over death.
I’m still recovering from my death Rees. Every moment we have is precious. Our life is temporary: it can be taken away at any time.
If you would like to read the original English version of this note, see here.