My name is Sean Cononie, founder of The Cosac Foundation and The Homeless Voice. We now have founded Educating People About Meningitis Inc because I almost died from being misdiagnosed with the flu when in fact I had bacterial meningitis. Because I was left with many disabilities, I researched the disease and found that many children and adults have died because of misdiagnosis, just as I had been. Many doctors do not think a person has meningitis, because there are not that many cases per year. Figures range from 10,000 to 80,000 cases per year. Because of this, doctors have become a little relaxed and do not run the appropriate tests; they tell the patient that they have the flu and send them home. Meningitis is a medical emergency! This new agency will not be accepting donations because it is strictly a public education project. We will be trying our best to educate families in low income areas as well as organizations so they can teach their members.We are not blaming the doctors, but because of insurance companies and indigents’ healthcare costs, sometime these providers do not opt to run simple blood tests and either send you home with the flu or write you a mild antibiotic because your doctor believes there may be a small infection.In my case the doctor did not run any blood test and my white blood count was 141,000.If my doctor would have done a white blood cell count he would have realized I was really sick and he should have hospitalized me and immediately put me on powerful antibiotics. Yes, there are other medical tests, a spinal tap for instance, (spinal fluid drawn by needle from your spine) to really prove that you have the disease, but the first step should be to at least do a white blood cell count. This is an inexpensive procedure to determine if infection is in the body.
Please remember, when it comes to suspected Meningitis , do not drive far to go to the best hospital , just go to the closest hospital.Time is the most essential part of treatment. Delay of treatment results in being faced with severe disabilities or death.The quicker you get the antibiotics the better chance you or your child will make it. Push the doctors to run test for meningitis. |
Cononie, out sick untill he recovers from meningitis. His thinking is very slow as you can see by this picture. |
