For 37-year-old Dana Smith of Hollis, Queens, a spontaneous decision to get a nose ring on a shopping trip last Thanksgiving resulted in a medical emergency that almost took her life.
Just a few days later, Smith, who works as a corporate payroll manager for Northwell, found herself feeling unwell.
A teen’s busy mom attributed it to acid reflux and the stress of the upcoming Christmas break, but as the days turned into weeks, she couldn’t tolerate any more food or water.
“I was just drinking water, I couldn’t stop the water,” she said. “I think at some point I started vomiting blood.”
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Finally, on January 12, she asked her sister to take her to Long Island Jewish Medical Center. At the time, she was so ill that she cannot remember the events that followed.
She remembers an ultrasound in the hospital and then woke up to her doctors telling her she had a new liver.
“That one decision saved my life,” said Smith. “It’s very overwhelming. Emotional, everything, mental.”
Tests had shown that Smith suffered from fulminant hepatitis B, a very rare condition in which the patient develops immediate liver failure.
Smith was then taken to North Shore University Hospital, where she came under the care of Dr. Lewis Teperman, Director of Northwell’s Transplant Services.
The brain swelling resulting from hepatitis B caused seizures, so it was decided that Smith should be placed in a medically induced coma.
She was immediately put on the transplant list and a match was discovered within 48 hours, allowing her transplant to take place on January 17th.
She was able to return home on January 26.
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The mystery of why the otherwise healthy young woman became so seriously ill was solved when doctors took off Smith’s mask to discover the tiny, stud-studded nose ring.
By excluding all other variables, the medical team determined that the disease was an infection of that nose ring that led to fulminant hepatitis B, and more importantly, she waited too long to seek medical attention.
“This was the only unique change that had happened in her life, this nose ring,” said Dr. Teperman. “And now is the perfect time for the virus to breed.”
Smith, who is not yet on the job, wants to share her story in hopes of encouraging people to keep a close eye on their health and not avoid coming to the hospital for fear of COVID-19.
Had she waited just one or two more days to visit the emergency room, her story could have ended very differently.
Smith, who has regular 10-day appointments with Dr. Teperman, says she’s not sure what to say to her daughter if the discussion about a nose ring comes up in the future.
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