Erin Wilson

Erin Wilson
Survivor

I would like to start out by saying before all this started, I had been a recluse, never went outside, did not eat right at all, had COPD and had never recovered fully from several bouts of pneumonia over the past 3 years. (Sepsis and Pneumonia) I had a history of severe depression and the Zoloft, an anti-depressant, I was taking I felt helped, but it was still there. I also had been diagnosed with congestive heart failure (CHF) and my edema was at its worst at the time. The doctor at a clinic I was going to told me to take Lasix, a “water” pill, and return in month. The Lasix didn’t even come close to any relief.

On May 31st, I had an “itch” between my third and fourth toes on my right foot, not unlike the itchiness that comes from athlete’s foot. It was so intense, I broke the skin from scratching and asked my son to get some foot spray for this kind of thing. I’ve used it before and it usually provided relief, but this time it was intense pain.

erin_wilson_legI got up the following morning and did not feel well. My foot was beginning to swell on the bottom. I went back to bed and thought nothing of it, and just figured I had the flu. The next day I was so much worse. Diarrhea set in and I began vomiting. I was so out of it, I did not notice that my entire lower leg was a beet red. It wasn’t until the next day, June 2nd, that my son saw my leg and drove me to E.R.

While sitting in a wheelchair waiting for admissions to do their thing, one of the questions was what was I in for. I don’t remember saying anything but my son said, “her leg,” and just at that moment the E.R. doctor just happened to pass by. I don’t know if it was coincidence or someone had already called him, but he said she has sepsis, no time to waste, let’s get her started on antibiotics right away.

I remember waking up in CICU, intubated and about to fight the biggest fight of my life, ever. I didn’t want to fight at first. My youngest son came in and made me promise to fight it. Unfortunately things don’t always go the way you want them to. The antibiotic was not working. Redness was traveling up over my knee. My son said my lower leg was now as large as my thigh. They told my son the only other option was dialysis and the first one they did not work. One of the dialysis techs came over to me to tell me he was sorry and that there was no hope.

My kidneys began shutting down, pneumonia was setting in and my blood pressure was almost nothing. The doctor told my son to call family members as I was in septic shock and probably wouldn’t survive that night. My family came in, my brother and his wife and my oldest son. I remember one by one lifting my head and cradling it and talking right into my ear. I felt all their love, but especially my oldest son who was not there to say goodbye, but to tell me to fight it and be strong.

I made it through the night and the team of doctors decided to continue with dialysis. By the next afternoon, I woke up to a lot of smiling, happy and victorious faces! It had worked! My body had shed 20 lbs of water and continued to do so. I remember looking at my hands and they looked like someone else’s hands…they were thin! I could breathe better, my lungs were improving and my BP was back up. Remember those little Lasix pills I was taking? Well, its a diuretic and shouldn’t be taken without a potassium supplement. My potassium when they first admitted me was down to 1.0!

I was in CICU for 20 days. I don’t remember the exact timeline but I had a few days of paranoia and hallucinations. No one is sure if it was caused by the morphine, the dialysis or the sepsis itself. That was terrifying and I feel bad for the nurses taking care of me of what they had to endure. They were a terrific bunch of professionals who knew their stuff and all were surprised at how quickly I was recovering.

On June 19th, they gave me a tracheotomy. The following day, I was transferred to a complex acute care facility, where I learned how to walk again and eventually taken off of the trach, which I also healed quickly from. Being able to eat and drink after 3 weeks was exquisite. No more tube feedings!

This ordeal of being so close to death cannot be described in justice unless you yourself have survived it. How lucky am I? I did not need amputation. I will have permanent scars on my foot and leg like 3rd degree burns, and that’s it. Some damage to my kidneys, but in time I think I can beat that too. I have a new love for life now and can’t wait to be able to get more strength to walk outside and maybe even go fishing again!

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