An 85-year-old female with a past history of hypertension presents with acute right-eye pain, redness, and proptosis/bulging for the past two months that has been worsening over the past two days. She endorses blurry vision that began two days prior. She does not use contacts or glasses. No trauma, headache, or loss of consciousness are reported. She reports a “whooshing” sound in her right ear for two to three months.
A fifty-year-old male presented to the emergency department (ED) unconscious with CPR in progress. Per EMS report, the patient was found down surrounded by emesis with no pulse or respirations. Fifteen minutes of CPR was performed prior to arrival in the ED with a King Tube in place. The King Tube was filled with emesis and increasingly difficult to bag. The King Tube was removed to attempt intubation and maximize oxygenation and ventilation.
When the Mac 4 blade was placed in the mouth, a large, pink, fleshy, and vascularized structure was seen in the mouth just anterior to where the uvula should have been located. Attempts were made to compress the mass into the tongue, separate the tongue from the mass, and sweep the mass out of the way. All attempts failed to expose the epiglottis. An attempt was made to remove the mass, but it appeared to be part of the mouth. The decision was made to proceed with a cricothyrotomy; a 6.0 tube was successfully placed, and the patient was able to be ventilated. Return of spontaneous circulation was never achieved and the patient expired in the ED.
A sixty-five-year-old male with a medical history of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), hypertension, alcohol dependence, homelessness, and cocaine abuse presents to the emergency department with abdominal pain for three days. The patient describes his abdominal pain as knife-like, 9/10, located diffusely throughout his abdomen, with associated anorexia and nausea. He reports that he had one episode of coffee ground emesis this morning which provoked him to come to the ED. He reports frequent cocaine use with his last use three days ago. He endorses subjective fevers, chills, and no bowel movement for two days. He has had no sick contacts.
A thirty-one-year-old female presented to the emergency department with the complaint of a painful rash for 2 days. She has a history of HIV with a known CD4 count < 200 cells/µL. She states that the rash began two days ago and progressed to the current size. She describes the rash as burning and has never experienced these symptoms before. She has tried topical corticosteroids which did not alleviate the pain.
A forty-nine-year-old male with a history of polysubstance abuse, including methamphetamine and intravenous (IV) drug use, rectal cancer, and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) was brought into the emergency department by emergency medical services (EMS) after he was found down at the bottom of a flight of stairs by his roommate. In the emergency room, he was found to have a Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score of 7 and was intubated for airway protection. Non-contrast head CT was performed. Per the roommate, the patient had been “not himself,” exhibiting strange behavior and weight loss. History and review of systems (ROS) were otherwise unobtainable due to the acuity of illness.
A 14 year old girl presenting from Mexicali with altered mental status. Her mother reports a rash about a week ago following a tick bite. She had been going to school until 4 days ago when she became very fatigued with associated vomiting, diarrhea, tactile fevers, and headache. She subsequently collapsed at home today and was difficult to arouse which prompted EMS activation. Her mother denies any prior complaint of neck stiffness, shortness of breath, cough, hematemesis, or hematochezia.
A 62 year old female with no past medical history presented to the ED with fevers, generalized weakness, severe muscle aches, and a rash. She had returned home from the Philippines 3 days prior to evaluation. Twenty-four hours prior to arrival, the patient noticed a rash on her shins. She denied any nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, chest pain, shortness of breath, cough, sore throat, dysuria, urinary frequency, headache, and neck pain. The patient was in the Philippines for a family funeral and was indoors for most of the trip. She was unsure if she was stung by any bugs or mosquitos.