David Rothbart

In October of 2015 after returning from a vacation with my wife, I found myself 3 days later unable to get out of bed due to severe pain in my left hip and thigh area. Thinking it was a structural issue, I went to see a chiropractor who treated me for several weeks for structural misalignment. During the next several weeks I was getting worse and spending most of my days in bed or on the couch. By mid-November I and my wife realized that there was a much more severe problem going on.

I went to the family physician and he examined me and ordered a blood test and extra, thinking that I might have a rheumatoid issue. Within 2 days of my PCP visit I became completely delusional and after a call to my physician she was told to get me to the ER ASAP. I was admitted to the hospital and spent the next week NPO and undergoing multitudes of invasive and non-invasive tests. It was determined that I had severe sepsis from a psoas muscle infection that was invading all of my major organs including my brain.

I had a stroke while in the hospital and after a TEE (specialized echocardiogram) it was determined that my aortic and mitral valves were being destroyed by the septic infection that had invaded my body. My wife was told that there was a good chance I would not survive. I was transferred to the heart institute here in Grand Rapids and assigned to a cardiac thoracic team. Open heart surgery was necessary to save my life along with getting the sepsis under control. After weeks in the intensive cardiac care unit I finally had surgery to to replace my damaged valves. In addition I was in congestive heart failure and the surgery could no longer wait. I made it through the 8-hour procedure and spent the next week on a respirator in the cardiac intensive care unit in an induced coma.

After a month of recovery I was finally released from the heart institute to a rehabilitation center where I spent the next month with rehab learning how to walk again along with occupational therapy to help me gain other function. By February I was released to go home where I went through more physical therapy and cardiac rehab. Needless to say I am still making progress toward what I hope will be complete recovery. Although I am doing well physically I am experiencing multiple cognitive issues related to the sepsis in my brain and stroke. (Sepsis and Post-Sepsis Syndrome) I continue psychological therapy and have been told that I could be 2 years before I know if the cognitive issues resolve. My life has been completely turned upside down. I wrote and published a book about my experience called Game Changer that I hope can help enlighten others that have gone through issues with sepsis and give them a better understanding of the physical and mental ramifications of this life threatening illness.

Note from Sepsis Alliance: David has graciously offered to donate a portion of  the proceeds from each book sold from the link on this page.