Age: 84.0
Sex: F
Vaccine: FLU4
Symptoms: Headache, Injection site haematoma, Injection site induration, Magnetic resonance imaging, Pain in extremity
Clinical narrative: My mom, age 84, is currently hospitalized for a thoracic surgery to drain fluid from her right lung. This is related to having a chronic heart condition, including a mechanical mitral valve, but she is still active at her age.  She does live on her own in her own home and does the bookkeeping/ bill-paying so she is still living an active life.  She admitted to the hospital last week on Wednesday Sept 16, 2020. Her surgery took place on Sept. 17.  The night before, on the 16th, she was given a flu shot which I was told was made by  Glaxo Smith Kline "Fluzone Quad" lot B7473  MDC 58160-885-41  exp 6/30/21.  I believe this may be a stronger quad vaccine, using recombinent DNA, with three or four times more hemagglutinin antigen versus standard dose quad activated vaccine, with more reports of adverse reactions in the elderly than normal.  One of my mom?s nurses said her own mother was sick for a day and half after getting her flu shot recently. My mom?s reaction has been severely swollen and black and blue arm including her hand. She complained of pain with the arm during the night before her surgery.  Immediately after her thoracic surgery, her first complaint was the pain in her ?flu shot arm.? She complained she never slept the night of her flu shot due to pain. She complained of headache, back ache, fatigue and weakness. The surgery outcome was bad and she required it to be redone which occurred on 9/24/2020.  I became very concerned when I showed pictures of my mom?s arm to a co-worker (also a nurse) who said her dad?s arm looked just like that after he got a flu shot.  He then started to have fever, weakness, change in level of consciousness and was dead in 2 weeks. Allergy to flu shot was listed as cause of death on his death certificate.  He was doing well before that.  My mom is on chronic blood thinners (coumadin at home and heparin now in the hospital) which the hospital is citing as the reason for the bruising to her arm-- but that does not explain the swelling, pain and other symptoms. The bruising is excessive and not something ever experienced before when she did NOT have a flu shot while on heparin.  She has never had a reaction like this to the flu shot before. I feel her immune response may very well have affected the surgical outcome in which she was left with a full liter of gelatin like blood in the region of the lungs, requiring a second surgery.  My mother only took the shot because it was suggested by the hospital.  I feel this product should NOT be recommended for use immediately prior to surgery.  My mother was seen by a vascular surgeon as a result of the large, hard hematoma to the vaccination injection site. The arm was needed for lab work and IVs (other arm is post mastectomy from many years ago)  but ultimately the flu shot arm could not be used due to compromised condition. It remains darkly bruised from shoulder to finger tips, wrapped with a pressure dressing, swollen and painful. My mother's hemoglobin fell dramatically, at least partially related to this arm, and her ultimate outcome is still uncertain.