JoAnn Floyd Pike

First if all, I’d like to say thank you for everyone sharing their stories. It lets me know that I am more normal than I feel. My story started out in the year 2015. I had a recurring bladder infection/kidney infection that I was treating myself. (Sepsis and Urinary Tract Infections) See, I worked in a dental office and had prescriptions of antibiotics available to me. I had experienced these infections for most my life and the pain from them did not effect me as it does others. I continued to work this way for 7 months , on and off it would come back. By the time November rolled around I found myself at 43 expecting a baby and knew I would most likely miscarry, as I had in the past due to fibroids.

November 7, 2015, I woke with a fever and felt pain in my side. I went to my medical doctor and explained I was pregnant. They took urine sample and she came into my room with a look on her face of worry. “JoAnn, I want you to come back for more test. I want to test your thyroid …..” She went on about my urine counts and how off the charts they were. She gave me antibiotics and was only able to give penicillin because of the baby. I believe that was a Thursday and by Sunday, I was in hopes of returning to work. But I started bleeding and notified my employer of the situation. They were not pleased. And sent me an email laying me off “due to my health.” How devastated I felt! Nine years and that’s it.

I became very depressed. Here it was Christmas and I’m a single mom of 2 very understanding teens but still felt so guilty. Never had I gone without Christmas from my parents. I still felt so bad medically and had not returned to the doctor but I did go to hospital after I miscarried. They were able to give better antibiotics to treat the infection.

So here it is January 4, 2016, my 44th birthday. I’m hanging out with friends. And again no pain but I wasn’t sitting at home alone as I had the last 2 months, depressed. So I went to hang out with friends. Only a couple hours of having “fun,” I turned to my friend and asked could she drive me home. I was then in so bad pain, I could barely sit up and I could not sit still. Moving back and forth, screaming with pain, I got home and asked my son to drive me to the hospital. What a champ he was. I was screaming and his first time driving on interstate.

We arrived at the ER and they assessed me, and I sat in waiting area for 3 hours screaming for my life, which I had no clue how serious my situation really was. People were coming up to me in ER, that were waiting to be seen themselves and were praying for me. I was shivering so badly that I couldn’t stop. I had never felt anything like this ever. And I had kidney stones in the past and this was far worse. I remember asking my son to take me to restroom for the last time in the ER before they called me back. My urine was clear. I became scared. I had no had clear urine in almost a year. I then told him to call my mom and dad and tell them what was going on and that we weren’t sure what was wrong just yet. The nurse then called me back and I remember them poking me and asking me questions and me begging for a drink of water. I had never felt so thirsty. They would not give me anything. I was angry!

The next thing I knew the nurse came in and said I was in septic shock and a code was announced over the speaker and hospital staff came running. My BP was 50/30ish and blood sugar in the 30s. I still at this point did not know how serious my situation was. The next thing I remember was thanking the urologist for coming in on his night off “to save my life” and I stated this to him, not knowing that’s exactly what he hoped to do.

I woke up from surgery from having a stint placed in my right side to drain my right kidney. I had developed a stone. (Sepsis and Kidney Stones) There is no way I had this stone the entire 7 months to a year with no real significant pain until now. I believe God allowed this stone to get me to the ER with acute pain. When I woke from surgery I was told they would place a port in my aorta in my right side of my neck and a straight BP line in my left arm to monitor my BP at all times. An IV “power wand” was placed near the left upper arm to shoulder and then the sitting and waiting began.

The next day my skin was so tender to the simplest touch. I hurt to be touched even when someone just tapped my shoulder. My lungs hurt to drink fluids and my mom would try and drop water on my tongue with a straw. I felt I was going to drown with just that little effort. As the days passed and the poking and all the test and exams done on me. They discovered my right toe had turned black. And they kept a close eye on it. My family prayed and people who did not know me were praying for me. My toe became better and color returned. I was in ICU nearly a week and hospitalized 15 days.

For a month or more after returning home, I felt my lungs were filled with “junk” and continued coughing up the strangest color mucus. I was still depressed but yet I knew I had to snap back into things and return to work to take care of my family. I tried to go back into the field I had practiced for 20 years. I felt as if I was no longer the “star assistant” as I once was and would go home crying daily. I feel like my life has been flipped upside down since sepsis but at the same time feel very blessed to have all my limbs and my life for others aren’t as fortunate as I am.

I feel I survived for a purpose and I am continuing to search for my purpose in life. I feel really drawn to share my story with almost everyone I come in contact with and also have a passion for pointing young people/women on the paths of loving themselves and not living the life of a co-dependent person and in abusive relationships. I feel so positive that I am here to help if not just one person and maybe more with this story and my past testimony of learning how to break the pattern I kept repeating in my relationships. How loving yourself first is ok and noticing these flags prior to being in a relationship that is harmful. I thank God for giving me my second chance at life on my birthday January 4, 2016. Please share your story, it really matters!