Of Past Regret and Future Fear
To be honest, I don't know much about hydrofluoric acid exposure, so what I'm writing is basically what was mentioned in the episode, in case it went too fast. With this large exposure to the acid, it goes into the bloodstream and the fluoride crystallizes with the calcium in the body to form Calcium fluoride, and gets deposited into tissues. The importance is that it takes calcium out of the heart, which impairs normal conduction and function, leading to arrhythmia and death. They're trying to give high doses of IV calcium, but it won't be enough. The burns itself must hurt like hell, and thus the morphine.
The old lady came in with a cough, fatigue, weight loss lasting a month long. Now she thought pneumonia, but knowing the show may throw curveballs, I thought it might be tuberculosis, since it may have the same symptoms. So they do throw one curveball--a very clouded x-ray. It's not TB based on that, and an assumption of an atypical pneumonia, namely psittacosis, caused by an exposure to an affected bird. Each of these does need to be diagnosed conclusively with sputum cultures. Then the ultimate curveball--an accidental HIV test came out positive. The xray is also compatible with pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP). And it goes to show you that the same history and xray can lead to several distinct diseases.
That's all from me for this one.