Marcia Casey

In 1994, a 10-minute surgical procedure was performed for a lump on my left breast. (Sepsis and Surgery) For 2 years prior to my surgery, I had been getting frequent colds. Over time these colds turned into sinus infections with fevers.

On one occasion after cleaning a friend’s house, I became so sick I was out of work for 2 weeks. Never completely recovering and remaining run down, I started cutting back on activities and started to focus on getting myself better. Three months later, they found a lump on my breast. Surgery was scheduled.

The surgery went off without a problem. Sitting up from the operating table, I felt sick to my stomach. The nausea passed and I went into the locker room to change. Again I was nauseous and ran to the ladies room to be sick. Once again it went away. Thinking it was just the stress of being concerned about possible cancer and tired from my period starting that day, I ignored it and drove back home, a 2-hour drive. That evening I really have a spotty recollection but I know I passed out on the floor several times on my way to the bathroom to be sick, never reaching my goal (the toilet). I recall seeing the red rash all over me. It still bothers me that I was unable to understand that something was seriously wrong but as it was explained my endorphins were creating a sense of euphoria.

The next day my mother checked on me. She called the doctors several times telling them I was running a very high fever. She was told I had the flu. She called my regular doctor and again was told I had the flu. I have no recall of that day at all. On Saturday at about 1 AM, my mother came up again to check as she had been doing all day and she says I asked her if I could come down stairs and sleep with her. I still don’t remember the conversation.

Around 2:00 AM I became ill again and went into her bathroom but fell in the walk-in shower. It’s amazing I didn’t go through the glass. At that point my mother called 911. Our local rescue squad came and called the paramedics. From reading my records the paramedics tried 7 times to get a blood pressure reading. Upon arrival to the ER it was 60/0 and I had profuse disseminated clotting. My lips and toes were black. Cysts were popping up around my eyes as the doctors examined me. The good news was I was responding to their questions and told my mother she needed to get me clothes to wear home after they cut my nightgown off.

Heparin was given to counteract the clotting, which created the opposite effect. Creating a critical state with no clotting ability. In addition, I developed acute respiratory distress syndrome (Sepsis and ARDS) and lost function of my kidneys. I was on 100% life support and no one knew the source of the infection (the wound on the breast showed no signs of infection). It was touch and go for a while and my parents were told that they needed to seriously start considering my funeral arrangements. Eventually my breast wound showed signs of infection and after 3 reentries in to the wound my infection finally started to clear. Twenty-five blood transfusions eventually helped me get my blood back in order.

Two years later it was discovered that I suffer from a very rare blood disorder called Severe Chronic Neutropenia. The symptoms of this disease are obvious. They range from gingivitis and mouth sores to sinus infections. These infections become very serious with high fevers. Idiopathic Neutropenia affects 1 person in 1.2 million people.

I am very lucky to be alive. It’s wonderful to see support for people who have survived sepsis and septic shock.