Jean Law
My name is Jean Law. I have been a registered nurse for almost 19 years. I worked in medical/surgical nursing my entire career and thought I’d seen it all. I never saw this coming.
One morning in February of 2010, I woke up not feeling well. I just felt like I had no energy. By noon I thought I should check my temperature. The thermometer read 104 degrees. I thought to myself, wow, I don’t think it’s ever been that high, I must have the flu. I took some ibuprofen and told my husband I was going to lie down. I stayed in bed the rest of the day and the next thing I remember is my husband waking me up in the middle of the night to check it again and the thermometer now read 104.6. I was delirious.
My husband rushed me to the emergency room at the hospital where I worked. At that time I could barely walk. My gut told me there was something wrong. My blood pressure was extremely low and I was tachycardic. I remember saying to my husband, I know I’m going to be admitted. But, the doctor checked my blood work and did some other tests, gallbladder sonogram, chest x ray, urinalysis. He said he couldn’t find a reason to admit me so he sent me home with some medication for nausea. No antibiotics.
I went home and progressively deteriorated. I couldn’t feel my fingers or my feet. I was so scared. I was on my way back to the emergency when a nurse called with urgency in her voice. My blood culture that they drew that morning had come back positive; I was very ill and would need to be admitted to the ICU.
Shortly after I arrived at the hospital I was told that I had disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) and I was in septic shock. (Sepsis and DIC) All my organs were shutting down. It was a surreal experience. My legs and fingers and nose turned black within 24 hours. I was started on hyperbaric therapy to attempt to save my limbs and nose to no avail. I had my legs amputated below the knees, all of my fingers amputated except my thumbs and my nose was badly damaged. I’ve had six surgeries to repair it with total reconstruction. (Sepsis and Amputations)
You need to know that I was a very healthy, active, 39-year-old mother of two young boys. I walked about three miles a day, took vitamins and hadn’t had a cold in about a year. If this could happen to me it can happen to anyone. If you have a fever of 104 and think it’s just a virus but you feel ill enough to go to the emergency room, please throw the word sepsis out there. Time is of the essence. You need antibiotics quickly!
