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I thought I had the flu. For three days, I ran a fever of about 102 degrees and I felt achy and horrible. Other than the fever, I had no symptoms at all – no pain, no discomfort, nothing at all to let me know that I was as sick as I was. As a stay-at-home mom with a traveling husband, I continued my daily duties in spite of feeling so rotten.

The afternoon of the third day, I remember looking at the clock and thinking that my son would be home from school in a half hour and that I would just take a quick nap. When he walked in and spoke to me, I woke up and found that I was having trouble breathing. I was shaking, too, but I just assumed that my fever was spiking again. I was a little alarmed and decided that if I didn’t feel better in 15 minutes, I would call an ambulance. That’s the last thing I remember until my 19-year-old daughter was standing over me crying and telling me that my lips were blue.

They called an ambulance and the paramedics came and they told me that they thought I just had the flu but that it might be a good idea to see my doctor the next day. They left. Fortunately, my family insisted on taking me to the ER immediately and within a couple of hours, I found myself in the ICU, diagnosed with sepsis.

Apparently, I had an asymptomatic (no symptoms) UTI and a very large kidney stone that was blocking a ureter and the combination had created a massive infection in my body and they thought I might lose a kidney. I was lucky. I was in the ICU for three days (although I don’t remember most of it) and released from the hospital four days later and I’ve have been extremely fortunate that I had no lasting issues at all. I’d never heard of sepsis before I had it and I’m dismayed at how many other people are unfamiliar with it as well.