Colleen Freese

In the fall of 2005 I became very sick with what I thought was a bladder infection. I went to the doctor to make sure and to get a prescription for an antibiotic. (Sepsis and Urinary Tract Infections) While I was there, I was informed by my doctor that the infection had spread to my kidneys. She wrote me a prescription and told me to have it filled immediately and start taking the pills as soon as I picked them up.

I followed her orders, picked up the antibiotic, took the first pill and went home to rest. As the day progressed, I became progressively worse. I was dizzy, faint, had a fever of 103 degrees. I could barely walk myself to the bathroom. I dropped to my knees and had to crawl. All of my muscles and joints became incredibly stiff, almost frozen and I couldn’t turn my head from side to side, my neck was completely frozen stiff.

I called my mom at work knowing that something wasn’t right. I explained my symptoms to her and she told me to call 911 right away. While I was waiting for the ambulance, my mom arrived and took my temp. It had reached 105 degrees. Finally the ambulance arrived and took me to the hospital.

When we got there, the doctored suspected meningitis due to my symptoms. I was given a spinal tap that came back negative for meningitis. At this time, we received word that in addition to my kidney infection, I also had e. coli in my urine. Due to all the infection, the sepsis had worked its way through my entire body and was working its way up my spinal cord to my brain. My parents were told the doctors would do everything they could to control it and stop it, but that there was no guarantee. (Sepsis and Meningitis)

Luckily, with a combination of intravenous antibiotics, multivitamins, fluids and pain meds, they were able to kill the infections, fever and ultimately the sepsis. The doctors said that if I had waited any longer to call 911, I would have surely lost against the sepsis. Thankfully my mom and I trusted our guts and called the ambulance as opposed to waiting it out. If we had, I may not be here today.

My recovery took months before I was back to my normally healthy self. Visits to doctors and naturopaths became normal for me until my immune system was back to normal.

Thank God for early detection and trusting our intuition. It saved my life.

I am now 28 years old (21at the time of my story). Thank you!