Matt Turner
On Dec 27, 2014, I felt pain developing in my left hip while at a movie. By the time the movie was over, I could barely walk to the car. About 2am on the 28th, I went to the emergency room. They could find nothing then and sent me home with pain meds. Two days later, I went to another doctor and he sent me home with anti-inflammatories. A few days later on Jan 2, 2015, after extreme pain and unable to sleep much or scale our stairs, I told my wife, “I’m going to the emergency room and I’m not coming home until they find out what’s wrong.” Finally, they found an infection in my left hip implant. A few days later, our local hospital in Prescott Valley sent me by ambulance to a hospital in Phoenix. By the time I got there, my arms and legs were swollen twice their normal size and bluish-purple in color — the infection had reached the blood stream and my body had reached the second stage of sepsis, severe.
After several emergency surgeries to drain and flush infection on the arms and legs, remove hip implants and replace with antibiotic spacers, having to be intubated, blood pressure problems and transfusions, I ‘awoke’ in February and found myself disoriented, disabled, and still in the hospital, lucky to be alive. After just over 2 months in the hospital (a month in ICU) getting IV antibiotic therapy and 3 weeks in a rehabilitation hospital, I finally got to go home in a wheel chair at the end of March in 2015. I would see two more surgeries for replacing both hips with permanent implants and two surgeries to address the nerve damage in my left leg which has “foot drop,” an after effect of sepsis and life-saving procedures from the hospital team. I also have a couple of fingers stuck at 90 degrees from the damaging effects of sepsis. The nerve surgery has not worked yet as nerve regeneration takes time. I endured approximately 12 – 14 surgeries in 2015, the first 8-10 in January and early February.
Life is quite different for me today because the everyday mundane little tasks to just simply get up and get ready for the day is a challenge. Through hard work, determination, and several months of outpatient physical therapy, I graduated from the wheel chair after 6 months and went to a walker and now I walk with 2 canes. My walking distances are slowly increasing. I exercise 3 – 5 times a week to get my muscles in the hips, legs, and arms, which were weakened/damaged severely from sepsis, stronger.
My road has been long and I still have a ways to go. I thank God for everyday and for all the prayers from family, friends, and people I don’t even know. The power of prayer is amazing! I am here determined to be the victor and not the victim.
