Medical Mystery: Woman Dying for Diagnosis

She Turned Yellow and Doctors Didn't Know Why; Dr. Lisa Saunders Tells How One Physician Cracked the Case

(CBS)  The Early Show"'s "Medical Mysteries" stems from the book, "Every Patient Tells a Story: Medical Mysteries and the Art of Diagnosis," by Dr. Lisa Sanders.

The story below is the introduction to Sauders' book.

In December 2006, healthy 22-year-old Krista Lesinski suddenly fell ill.

Lesinski was in bed for three days. She covered her windows with blankets because the sun hurt her eyes.

When she did make it out of bed to try to shower, she looked in the mirror and was stunned -- her skin had turned yellow.

"I ended up passing out," Lesinski told CBS News. "I threw up in the toilet and hit my head."

Read about another solved medical mystery, involving brain swelling

Lesinski eventually made it to New York's Nassau University Medical Center's emergency room. She was immediately admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU).

Dr. Sandeep Mehrishi, the director of the Intensive Care Unit at the facility said, "I had never seen a yellow patient like this in my life."

Mehrishi and his team ran countless tests and determined that her liver wasn't working. Lesinski's kidneys were beginning to fail and her red blood count was dangerously low.

"We knew that we were losing her fast, and we needed to do something really fast," Mehrishi said.

Lesinski was seen by several doctors, but nobody could figure out why she seemed to be dying.

"There were tons of doctors that kept coming in," Lesinski said. "I don't even remember their faces, there were just so many of them."

Dr. Steven Walerstein, the medical director of the medical center, said Lesinski was examined by gastroenterology, nephrology, and infectious disease specialists.

"We really had all our special services seeing her," Walerstein said.

To find out how Lesinski's medical mystery was solved, go to Page 2.

[jaysan07]

i thank god every day for my babysister to still be here i wish she has went earlier to the doc but she can be stuborn. we are just glad that they found out what was wrong before it realy became too late she has to live up to her title of being an aunt of 7 for me 4 are mine 3 from my husband but my son is very close to her and when she waas sick he had a very hard time handling everything and he til this day makes sure she is ok and that everything is good with is aunt we love her very much and couldnt live with out her

[brianbwb-2009]

Something is odd about this story, when a doctor sees obvious jaundice, the first suspect should be the liver, I wonder why it took so long to figure out this case.

No matter what has shut the liver down, a quick test of function, and when it is known that it has failed totally, the organ should be transplanted. Odds of it spontaneously restarting function again once it is shut down totally is probably nil.

Why the doctors were as confused as the story implies is the odd part.

Later the docs can dissect it, and find out what caused it to fail.

[incog-nito]

"Lesinski didn't have health insurance at the time. She said when she saw her skin and the whites of her eyes were tinted yellow, she didn't think it was such a dire situation."

Three words: universal health care

[mmbaylor]

I also have Wilson's Disease and was diagnosed when I was 17 years old. Once I was admitted to the hospital tt took my dr's 1 week to figure out what was the matter with me and it was a miracle (as my dr's and family state ) that I did not have to have a liver transplant as I was in the same state as the girl above - near death. Also, my sister was diagnosed with the disease as well while I was in the hospital.

[sam-kiley]

bonjour

bonjour
je comprend le calvaire qu'elle a du vivre, elle a été sauvée in-extrémis, je suis contente pour elle et bravo aux médecins..et au hasard aussi..qui lui a fourni un foie..au revoir

[tlaw9804]

I am so glad this story came out. My husband has had the same symptoms and we could figure it out, his doctor had told my husband of this disease. Now we know what lies ahead of us if this is th case of him having this disease. Thank you for sharing this information.

[florenzaknows]

I think it?s awesome that some rookie doc was able to make a name for herself finding an ovarian cyst that saved a woman?s life. I thought it was odd, however, that the graphic of the cyst was an identical replication of the Public Logo of a children?s hospital in mesa Arizona. That recently got a 10 million dollar donation from a family member that looked remarkably like herself.. interesting. Anyway - Perhaps the next medical miracle she finds can resemble the logo of a major metropolitan newspaper ? not that they are soliciting for donors or anything.