Jim Warren

Tribute

My dear husband, Jim, passed away January 15, 2011.His diagnosis was complicated but a large part of the diagnosis was sepsis and septic shock. Jim was diagnosed in August of 2010 with myelodysplastic syndrome, which is pre-leukemia. The supportive care for this syndrome is immune suppression drugs so his body was compromised from taking these drugs. (Sepsis and Impaired Immune System)

I had the paramedics take him to our hospital after he became very lethargic and could not even stand up. He was first in a regular room after ER and although many tests had been done on him I did not know that he was becoming septic…I had never heard of sepsis or septic shock.

In the room my son and I witnessed the speed at which sepsis can take over the body. We had noticed a change in Jim and the nurses came in and scrambled to get him to ICU once they saw that his fever was spiking and his blood pressure was dropping fast. While in ICU he became confused and hallucinogenic and had formed a clot in his arm.

He was in ICU five days and then was in the hospital for five weeks. Our birthdays came and went as well as Christmas yet there was no recognition of either from him. Although he never had a complete organ failure and was not on a ventilator I realize now that the MRSA probably entered his spine and made his whole body septic.  (Sepsis and MRSA) He was in and out of confusion for five weeks after being on antibiotics…nothing was working. My feelings all those weeks were that this whole situation was surreal….thanks for reading my tribute to Jim.

Source: by Carolyn Warren, Jim's wife

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