After 76 days in the hospital E. coli victim, Regina Lassiter is home
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Steve Doyle of the Huntsville Times does a great job of giving life to how horrible an E. coli O157:H7 illness can truly be.
Weeks in hospital 'blur' after E. coli hit
I urge everyone to read the full article linked above. Some of the points that hit me hardest:
- It began with lunch - Lassiter's rough time began innocently enough: On June 29, a Friday, she had the chicken fajita wrap combo for lunch at Little Rosie's Mexican Taqueria on Whitesburg Drive.
- For 76 long days, Lassiter endured a medical nightmare - ventilators, feeding tubes, bleeding kidneys, dialysis, even chemotherapy drugs - as doctors tried to stop the infection.
- She was among 18 Little Rosie's customers who later tested positive for the dangerous E. coli O157:H7 bacteria. One customer died; three others, including Lassiter and 5-year-old Samuel Coggin of Meridianville, suffered kidney failure and needed dialysis. Public health officials traced the outbreak to shredded lettuce served between June 27 and June 30.
