I am going to try to describe my younger brother's illness,
as I remember it happening. I have not yet requested his
medical journal, as I have meant to do, (it's not at all
easy), and so this description is based on what I remember
as having happened 57 years ago.
The course of the illness is described by a frightened, thirteen
year-old boy (me), who experienced his brother in the throes
of a life-threatening illness.
The last part, beginning with the brother's admittance to
a hospital upto his death, have been referred to me by my
mother, who has since passed away.
The patient is Søren Lauridsen, born 15.12.1934, passed
away 03.02.1945. His death certificate states the cause of
death to be Poliomyelitis acuta.
The patient was a normal and healthy boy, developing normally.
During the late afternoon on the day he was taken ill, he
was in the process of installing light in his sister's dollhouse
(source: a flashlight battery).
Suddenly, Søren fell on the floor, complaining about
severe pain in his chest and right hip. He moaned a great
deal for about 20 minutes(?), after which time the pain lessened.
We were able to get a doctor after some hours. He observed
lack of reflexes and paralysis of the lower legs.
The doctor had the boy admitted the same evening at the isolation
hospital in Varde(?). The mother and step-father (natural
father died 3 years earlier) accompanied him to the hospital.
The boy received normal care, but it is unknown whether he
was treated in any way (serum or similar products).
The next afternoon, the patient showed signs of distress,
threw his arms up over his head, his lips turned slightly
blue and he died, as his breathing stopped.
The death of my younger brother has, of course, preoccupied
me all my life. While I was at medical school, I began wondering
whether the diagnosis poliomyelitis could be correct: the
illness began suddenly, outside the polio season, without
fever.The patient was in great pain, the pareses appeared
to have been symmetrical and ascending (Landry) until the
respiratory organs were paralysed.
I am now quite sure the diagnosis was GBS.
The family consists of a boy born 30.08.1930, who died about
4 months old, due to whooping cough. The second child is me,
born 18.08.1931. Søren, born 16.12.34, died on 03.02.45.
Karen was born 23.07.39. Later 2 half-brothers, Søren
and Holger, born on 31.01.45 and 13.09.48 respectively.
No inheritable diseases, neurological or otherwise, have been
observed in the family. I was diagnosed with GBS in 1998 and
have since recovered.
Asger Lauridsen [case
history]
Denmark
04.2002
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