Blake’s Story

On March 25th, 2024, Blake was complaining of abdominal pain, and diarrhea. We initially thought that he had eaten something that didn’t agree with his stomach as sometimes this happens. A few days later, on the 27th, he continued to complain about his stomach hurting so we thought it may be something like the stomach flu. Our concern escalated when he was still complaining of stomach pain on the evening of the 29th, which made us decide to take Blake to our local Emergency Department. While there, Blake had an IV established with blood draw for basic labs and IV fluids. Blake’s labs at this time were unremarkable so orders were placed for him to have an abdominal and pelvic CT with and without contrast to rule out what we suspected to be appendicitis. The Emergency Department physicians stated that Blake had mesenteric adenitis and colitis. A stool culture was done and sent to the lab. We were discharged to go home and a follow-up via the phone was done the next morning. Two different antibiotics were prescribed (Cipro and Flagyl) for the colitis as well as dicyclomine (Bentyl) for abdominal cramping. Over the next couple of days his symptoms continued to get worse and included vomiting. He was only able to eat a few crackers at a time and a very small amount of liquids. By Tuesday morning on the 2nd of April, Blake was very weak, vomiting often, and almost lifeless. We drove him to East Tennessee Children’s Hospital in Knoxville, TN where he was seen in the Emergency Department and admitted to the floor.

On Wednesday April 3rd, Blake’s labs indicated that his kidneys were failing and he needed hemodialysis. A Vascath central line was surgically placed in his neck around 2pm that day and by 6pm Blake was having hemodialysis. Blake’s first treatment was around 2 1/2 hrs. The next day on April 4th, he had 4 1/2 hrs of dialysis and was given 1 unit of packed RBC’s. His lab values had improved by the next day and he was able to skip dialysis. On Saturday April 6th, Blake’s labs had declined again and he was placed back on dialysis for 4 1/2 hrs and given 2 units of packed RBC’s. This was Blake’s last dialysis treatment in the hospital. He continued to improve a little each day and his kidney function improved daily.

Blake was discharged from ETCH on April 10th 2024 after 9 days in the hospital on lisinopril 2.5mg for hypertension and kidney protection. 

Blake is currently scheduled for follow up visits with a nephrologist in Knoxville, TN for the next year. He is taking lisinopril 2.5mg. He also has a visit scheduled with a gastroenterologist to address GI concerns.

Blake has a job working for a local farmer. Ten days prior Blake had been helping the farmer with all aspects of working some 150 head of cattle. Everything from feeding, worming, to blood draw pregnancy checks. He had just finished working on the 16th and 17th of March and symptoms started March 25th. We suspect his source of HUS was STEC from cattle.

We ask that you pray for complete healing of Blake’s kidneys, his hemoglobin and hematocrit to come up, blood pressure to normalize, to be able to come off the lisinopril, and for Blake to meet his water intake requirement daily.