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Julie B.
Survivor
I had been struggling with urinary tract infections for years. My doctor jokingly referred to it as the “newlywed” disease, but after almost 2 years of marriage, I continued to have them regularly. (Sepsis and Urinary Tract Infections) The previous summer I had a partial hysterectomy due to endometriosis. Unfortunately not everything was removed and a mass formed in my left side, blocking my left kidney causing it to back up and get infected. I went to the ER several times, but it took a while for them to figure it out. By then the infection had spread and I had sepsis. I never realized, at the time, how serious this was. I was in the hospital for a week and had surgery to remove the mass. Even after I came home, nurses came to my home daily to provide wound care and antibiotics through a line in my arm. It was rough. My body has never been the same. Since then I have lived with chronic pain and fatigue. I have the diagnosis of fibromyalgia, but I am beginning to wonder if it is not related to the sepsis.
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David Siedelmann
Tribute
My dad passed away on November 29, 2017, after having spent approximately five months of 2017 in and out of the hospital. He had numerous infections over the course of the year, and it was the last infection, just days after Thanksgiving that took him from me. My dad originally went in for fluid overload due to his congestive heart failure, but developed an infection that turned into sepsis and septic shock. The infection attached to his artificial mitral valve. My dad told me it was his time and while it was hard and still is hard, part of what made it a bit easier was hearing my dad tell me he knew it was his time. He wasn’t afraid of end of life discussions and I’m grateful for that. My dad was my rock and my best friend. I’m so lucky to be his daughter and will always remember him and share his story.
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Craig Johnston
Survivor
Craig had his 34th birthday in a coma after an unknown infection turned into septic shock shutting down his kidneys and liver. Craig spent 10 days in a coma. His wife Claire was pregnant with their 2nd child. He has made a full recovery and ran the Sydney Marathon raising over $7,000 for the ICU unit.
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William Lavelle
Survivor
Writer is a 58-year-old male, now retired /disabled. I am a survivor of two separate sepsis events. It’s no surprise that after 10 years of football into division II., USMC, and giant slalom racing that my knees wore out early. By age 25, I was told the knees are shot and to delay surgeries until I could not take the pain any longer. By 50 years of age, I gave in and had my first left knee replacement. Seventeen months later I had my second knee replacement in spring of 2012. All was going very well albeit my ortho surgeon wanting me to lose the weight that was gained over years of declining activity. In 2015, my right knee began to feel different and painful. In time, I went to my ortho surgeon and upon x-ray review, he informed me that the knee had come loose. The doctor told me that the prothesis losing its adhesive bond happens rarely. We scheduled the surgery date and I began the pre-operative rounds. (Sepsis and Joint Replacements, Sepsis and Surgery) After going in and out of many appointments for scans, check-ups etc., one morning I felt as though I may have caught the flu. I stayed home and worked from the home office. By late afternoon the left leg, unremarkable in the AM, had turned reddish pink. My wonderful wife telephoned the GP and we were told to go to the hospital. We arrived at the ER and was received quickly. I recall not understanding what the big deal was. I’ve endured far worse in my life. When being moved to the ICU, I recall explaining to the nurse that the ICU is for sick people. She told me I was plenty sick and this was the best place for me. I continued to not fully understand the gravity of my situation. It wasn’t long before I topped 105 F temperature with a blood pressure of 55/20. I recall thinking the instruments are not working correctly and they really should remove the dog that is running around in ICU. It was me not working correctly. Most of my stay at the first hospital was in ICU with the exception of a trip to OR for left knee debridement (cleaning). I had a vivid life struggle dream during the procedure that would act as a preface to many dreams and hallucinations to come. On a humorous note, the post-op nurse asked if I wanted a Tylenol suppository. I recall telling her I wanted nothing that ends with the word suppository. I took the medication anyways since it seemed prudent at the time. I came out of septic shock and surgical procedure enough to be transferred to my ortho surgeon’s Abington PA hospital. Before leaving my local hospital, I listened to a few doctors tell me their thoughts on how I acquired the cellulitis and sepsis. (Sepsis and Cellulitis) One doctor actually suggested that my dental hygiene was deficient while standing across the room and never coming within 10 feet of my bed. Finally, an infectious disease doctor told me not to think too much about how I acquired the infection because it could drive you crazy. He explained there is so much not understood. After arriving at the second hospital, the diseased left knee was removed and an antibiotic spacer was put in place. I did my best in PT with a spacer in one leg and a loose prothesis in the other. In time, I had the left knee replaced, rehabilitated, and then had the right knee replaced before the end of 2015. My surgeon told me I had a year from hell and let’s hope 2016 is better. At the time, I couldn’t imagine it getting any worse. Medically, 2016 was a pretty good year. Although I had record breaking sales in 2015, my then employer wanted to compensate me ½ commission to compensate for loss of office time. I pushed back and was paid according to plan. However, the employer moved my office into a building a ½ hour further from my home and into a windowless closet where people came in and out throughout the day for filing. I had the oldest office furniture and the least ergonomically considered work space in the company. Eventually I was reclassified as a contract employee. I was separated from that company along with my 10 percent ownership of the LLC at $0.00 in compensation. It appears that some employers will discriminate and move to pressure you when health begins to fail. Clearly employers lack sepsis awareness. After being let go in May of 2017, I began employment with another company as Plant Manager. Unfortunately, I was there just past 90 days when involved in a work-related accident that caused my right knee again to become loose and painful. Before I could schedule the corrective surgery (s), I again contracted cellulitis even though I was showering daily with Dial bar soap and brush. Dial bar soap has an antibacterial and moisturizing component typically not found in other soap. The infection and sepsis were worse than in 2015. While going through the various procedures and medical events, I am unable to recall the first 30 days of hospitalization. This time was different. I felt unsure and isolated. It was nice having my family support as always, but some how I was unable to appreciate fully. I eventually was able to see that everyone cared a great deal about me and this aided my return to what, I was unsure. After 4 months of hospitalization and rehabilitation care, I was able to return home. I learned that my ortho doctor claimed the knee was removed because of the cellulitis and not because of the damage from the work accident. Worker’s compensation is not agreeing with my position and not providing any resources to my cause. I also did not collect unemployment and Social Security Disability seems the option to pursue as I write. I’ve done a lot of research on the subject in the first 30 days home. I do not believe that neither the 2015 or the 2017 cellulitis and sepsis attacks are based purely on the Joe Bazooka explanation that bacteria penetrates the skin and sometimes you get cellulitis and sometimes you avoid the wrath. Personally, I believe researchers who are further exploring Periprosthetic Joint Infection (PJI) with remote instance of cellulitis presentation have the begins of a much-needed awareness for the prosthetic, cellulitis, and sepsis survivor communities. With more implants occurring daily, the data must attempt to capture the reality of the situation and be critical of statistical fudging. I am between stage 1 and 2 of my right knee replacement. This has me at home, in a wheel chair, attempting to improve my immune system. I am petrified of both hospital and community acquired infections. I may go on with stage 2 in fall of 2018 or possibly not pursue completion. I am afraid that a third and possible final round of sepsis shock will be the end of me. I would feel better if the complexities of the human anatomy enterprise were better understood. I’ll do what I can to fight what is right, hopefully we learn the better methods and understandings as soon as possible. Best regards and wishes to all, Bill Lavelle Survivor ’15 & ’17
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Clarence Moses
Tribute
It has been two years since my husband passed away. Clarence’s death certificate reads multi-organ failure, but I know the true cause of his death was sepsis. One resounding theme I have noticed from testimonies given here, is medical professionals failure to recognize symptoms of sepsis and treat it accordingly. For those who have gone through this terrible illness, and the frustration of misdiagnosis, or early release from hospitals, my heart goes out to you. This is the case for my family, in the loss of my husband, a father, grandfather and former career lifeguard who saved thousands of lives, and needlessly suffered at the end of his. I am thankful for this website, and the information, knowledge and awareness that it offers. My husband had an aortic valve replacement in 2005. He also had an autoimmune kidney disease that was responding well to medication. After his heart surgery, he developed diabetes type two. He had sleep apnea. He was being treated for his issues. (Sepsis and Impaired Immune System, Sepsis and Diabetes) In 2013, he started getting night sweats, so bad that he would soak the sheets. Cognizant of his health, he went to the doctors several times, who told him that night sweats could be a symptom of anything, and sent him on his way. Then he became short of breath, low on energy and lost 30 pounds, this all occurred within three months. Through this period, he was seeking help from his PCP, but was not diagnosed. He went to his cardiologist who did not note the symptoms of endocarditis. Night sweats, shortness of breath, low energy and weight loss. To this day, I feel my husband slipped through the cracks. The day after my husband saw his cardiologist, he didn’t come home at the usual time. I received “that” phone call that loved ones dread, from an officer inquiring how I knew him, he explained that my husband had stopped his truck in the middle of the road and seemed confused and was argumentative. I pleaded with the officer to call an ambulance, thinking that maybe he had low blood sugar. After retrieving the truck and meeting my husband at the ER, he had extremely low blood pressure and a 104 fever. Incredibly, he was awake and a bit loopy. The hospital began sepsis protocol that saved his life. He was in ICU for a time, responded well to antibiotics. They did a procedure checking for endocarditis, and did not note any vegetation on the heart valve. The doctors said that they were treating his illness as a heart infection anyway, because all of the symptoms were there. He was sent home after a two week stay in the hospital, on a six week regimen of vancomycin. Almost a year after the date that my husband first had sepsis, he was feeling ill again, had a high fever and just wasn’t himself. We went to the ER, and found he had sepsis again. This time, the tests came back that pinpointed the infection to a dental procedure. (Sepsis and Dental Health) He responded well to the antibiotics and again after two weeks in the hospital was sent home with a six-week regimen of intravenous antibiotics. Looking back, I realize now that the two bouts of sepsis changed my husband’s health drastically. He lacked energy, his personality changed, he was depressed and grouchy. He had aches and pains in his joints. His diabetes was harder to control. His PCP did not recognize this as post-sepsis syndrome. After reading on this website, I now understand the issues my husband dealt with. 2015 spared us from another bout with sepsis, but Clarence was not himself, I noticed that he was rapidly aging, suffering from severe joint pain and personality changes. 2016, my husband came home early from work, thinking he had the flu. I was alarmed at his color and wanted to take him to the ER. He said he just wanted to rest. His temp was high, 103 but dropped to 101 after taking Tylenol. I had an appointment, which he insisted I go to, reluctantly, I did. Upon coming home, I saw that he was still feeling ill and was nauseous, he agreed to go to the ER. I explained to the registering nurse that he had had two bouts with endocarditis and sepsis. We sat in the waiting room for 30 minutes. It seemed like a lifetime. Finally, we were ushered into a room. They started hooking my husband up to IVs, taking blood draws, and giving vanco. My husband pointed to an area on his head that he said was sore. I looked and noticed a quarter sized spot of blackened skin and told the doctors that it was something new, as I cut his hair a few days prior and it wasn’t there. He was admitted to the telemetry ward, and went through a series of antibiotics. He had the runs, was pale and weak and his legs were swelling. This time was different. He was not responding to the antibiotics. He had IVs in both arms. They had him in a shared room with another patient, then moved him to a private room, because they were unable to detect the source of his infection. They said it was MRSA, then said it was not. He was running fevers the whole time and seemed more confused and exhausted. They tried 5 different antibiotics and said they would not release him until he was 72 hours fever-free. I was working and going to school during this time and my daughters and I were taking turns visiting him. We became alarmed at his “care”, as we would find him with stains on his clothes from the runs, as well as stains on the sheet and bed. At our insistence, they finally got him a commode, as I explained that it was difficult for him in his condition, with IVs in both arms, lugging the machine around to make it to the bathroom in time. I had to point out the lesion on his head to the hospitalist and asked about getting it biopsied. After five days, they finally had a dermatologist come and look at it. He removed the lesion, without shaving the area. When I visited my husband, I was shocked to see the wound, open and matted with his hair. I called the nurse and she said the doctor left no orders for wound care. I cleaned out his wound, shaved the area around it and requested neosporin. To this day, I feel badly that I was not more assertive about this lack of care for my husband. I urge anybody who has a loved one in the hospital to have someone there 24/7, to advocate for them. Hospitals are overcrowded, understaffed and nurses have way too many patients. The scalp biopsy came back positive for staph. My husband was still running low grade fevers, had extremely swollen legs and hands, was pale and exhausted. He was in the hospital for about two weeks when I got the call at work that they were going to release him. He was still feverish, swollen and ill. He also had the chills and rigors. I asked the doctor why he was releasing him when he was still running fevers to which he responded that he was “no longer septic.” My husband just wanted out of the hospital. His legs were so swollen, he could barely walk. They released him with yet another, different antibiotic, daptomycin, which I later found out is extremely hard on the kidneys. We had an intake at home with a nurse for the home meds service and she remarked with concern at my husbands pallor, his low-grade fever, chills and increasing shortness of breath. We had to go to get a blood test, and he could barely make the short walk to the lab. The nurse said that we should see his cardiologist. We went and the cardiologist said my husband was strong, and it was probably the extra fluid retention that was making him feel so ill. I wanted him to go back to the hospital, because he was so ill, but the doctor just prescribed him medicine to eliminate fluids and sent us back home. My husband became more agitated, could not sleep in a prone position and had extreme chills. He woke the next morning with an excruciating headache, I called the doctor who just said to give him Tylenol. By that evening, my husband couldn’t breathe and his fever shot up to 103. We called an ambulance. He was rushed back to the ER. I found out by overhearing the doctors that he had bilateral pulmonary edema. They gave him oxygen. The lead ER doctor came in and told me my husband would be admitted to ICU. They ended up putting him back in the telemetry ward. Things continued to go downhill from there. My husband was delirious at times, but was able to answer the routine questions of name, date and year. They restricted liquids, due to the water retention, he had gained 30 pounds. He was still short of breath. I asked why he wasn’t in ICU. No response. The nurses seemed more concerned with entering info into the computer. At one point, a nurse asked me if I thought my husband was agitated. I looked at her incredulously and told her that he had a hard time breathing and was in pain, who wouldn’t be agitated? She remarked that his oxygen stats looked fine, but I later learned that finger pulse oximeters can give false readings if extremities lack blood flow and are cold, and a good reading does not indicate whether a person is in respiratory failure. I pleaded with nurses to just look at him, not the readings. He was not getting any better, and was showing signs of kidney failure, couldn’t get in a position of comfort and at times was in agony. Still, no ICU. No explanation from doctors as to what was happening. That evening, after going home to shower, I came into my husbands room to find a team of doctors checking his heart. They said he had had an “incident”, wasn’t breathing well, and they were going to intubate him and put him in ICU. FINALLY. Something. At the same time they performed another test to see if there was heart infection. The next day, the doctors explained to me that my husband was gravely ill, but still strong, they wanted to put him on a slow 24-hour dialysis for his kidneys, but he would need open heart surgery because his aortic and mitral valve were infected. I explained that my husband wouldn’t want to undergo surgery if it would leave him debilitated. I wondered to myself how a man so ill could make it through open heart surgery. The doctor said he felt my husband could withstand the operation, to give them, and him a fighting chance, but he would need the dialysis. I signed the paper in hopes that this was true, but in my heart, I knew he was very ill. They told us he would be moved to another ICU and that we should go to that waiting room. It took them six hours to move him and put him on dialysis, they kept saying there was no room for him. I got more information from the ICU nurses, than I did from the doctors. I told them that I thought my husband might have suffered a stroke when he had the extreme headache a few days prior. They called in a neurologist, who ordered a CAT scan of the brain. That took hours, as the machine had to be brought up to ICU. The nurse told me the technicians didn’t want to bring the machine, she had to threaten them to get it up there asap. The findings were not good. My husband had an aneurysm right around where the lesion was. They were concerned about it bursting. We spent another night in the hospital, praying and wondering if we would bring my husband home. The next morning, the doctor came and told me that the nurse had allowed my husband to wake up a bit from the coma inducing drugs, to test his response. It wasn’t good. They said he only had brain stem function, meaning he was brain dead. We were in shock. Just two days prior, doctors were assuring us that my husband was strong and would pull through. To this day, I have issues with the lack of care afforded my husband, and the lack of information given us. Though the outcome may have been the same, I feel he suffered needlessly. I asked the doctors why they released him when he was still so ill, why did they wait so long to get him to ICU, to put him on dialysis. The answer was that “sometimes we wait to see if the body will recover on its own.” I have spoken with doctors who are appalled by that remark and by what happened to my husband. In the extreme anxiety and tension of a loved ones illness, it is difficult to sort things out. We are taught to listen to what doctors are saying and trust them. After this experience, I know better. Listen to your gut. Insist on proper treatment. Go to the nurses station and ask for a supervisor, anybody, to explain what is happening. Doctors and nurses are people too, and make mistakes. I hope that this information on sepsis will reach medical professionals so they are better informed about the signs of endocarditis and sepsis and act quickly. I feel that my husband should never have been released from the hospital. He grew gravely ill those few days he was home. I spoke with doctors involved in his care, who should have known that his chills, rigors, swelling and shortness of breath, were all signs that he needed prompt medical attention. Instead, we were told otherwise, to stay home. In retrospect, I should have taken initiative and brought him back to the ER. I will have to deal with that guilt for the rest of my life. I feel my husband suffered needlessly, that at the very least, he could have received some palliative care to relieve his pain. I have come to terms with his passing, but not with how his illness was handled. It is difficult to look back and write his end of life story. I do so in hopes that it may help someone who experiences a similar ordeal. I hope that doctors peruse these testimonies to get a better understanding of this devastating illness and take the proper steps necessary to save lives, or give comfort care to those who succumb. It is tragic irony, that my husband was a career lifeguard, saved so many people, yet ended up slowly drowning in his own fluids, feeling every bit of the pain of sepsis and organ failure. I feel that my husband was “triaged” to the low point on a waiting list, because of his age and pre existing conditions. I can’t change what happened to my husband. Though it is painful to look back and remember the cascading events that led up to his death, maybe, just maybe someone will read this and learn from it. Don’t just rely on information from doctors, they don’t know everything; ask questions, insist on answers and better care. Go with your gut. Advocate for the patient. If nurses are not listening, go to a supervisor, or higher up. If your loved one, or you have had sepsis once, odds are you may get it again. Each bout is more difficult to recover from. Treat every fever, or other symptoms, as a possible relapse.The doctors were looking at high fever as an indicator, and missing the other signs. Learn about post sepsis syndrome, and educate yourself about sepsis. My husband was a strong and stubborn yet loving man. He worked hard for his family. He was looking forward to early retirement. He passed just five months shy of 62. We all miss him very much.
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Kathleen Hickey
Survivor
16th February 2017, I was sent into hospital to be induced for my son as I was 13 days overdue. The pessarie didn’t work so the midwife tried to pop my waters…. this is where the nightmare starts! (Sepsis and Pregnancy & Childbirth) As soon as she popped my waters, my baby’s heart beat decreased suddenly and I had a lot of blood coming out. Then all the midwives were rushing me into another room, strapping me to all these monitors and I had to have a canula put in my hand and on a drip. When I got to 3cm I decided to have a epidural so a urinary catheter was fitted. The midwives did not keep emptying the bag of urine, which caused me a great deal of pain in my pelvic area and I had a lot of blood going into the tube. Hours later I could feel myself getting very ill. I had more drips. It was only after I had my baby, I found out I had contracted an infection in labour and had maternal sepsis and so did my baby. We were both put on antibiotics and stayed in hospital for 5 days. It took me months to feel like myself again and even now every little pain I have, I am so scared that I will end up with sepsis again and not be so lucky this time.
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Valarie E.
Survivor
The nurse was supposed to be the first face I saw when the sedative medication wore off. Instead, my gastroenterologist stared at me and said “I found something. A tumor was spotted where the small intestines and colon meet.” It was a carcinoid, a neuroendocrine tumor (NET), a slow growing malignant tumor. It could have landed anywhere in my body, but I was fortunate that it was detected during my colonoscopy, the colon cancer screening test for 50-year-olds. After consultation with an oncology surgeon, the plan of action was removal by surgery. As a woman juggling Mom duties to two teenage boys along with a demanding career position with a major health insurance company, I deliberately and promptly scheduled my procedure and recovery to accommodate work and personal commitments, including preparing for the upcoming high school senior year activities for my eldest child. I didn’t want to miss a thing and at the same time, I wanted to immediately get rid of the cancer in me. On April 1st, I was admitted to the hospital for the tumor removal procedure, a right hemicolectomy. It was successful. I had to pass gastric milestones over the next 3 – 4 days and then I could go home for the rest of my recovery. (Sepsis and Surgery) Instead, I experienced abdominal pain, elevated white blood cell count, sluggishness, and hallucination with incoherent speech over the next week. Initially, I was told I was not walking enough, even though I walked the halls constantly. Then pneumonia was suspected but I was not given antibiotics. (Sepsis and Pneumonia) Many clinicians checked in on me, but no one put 2 + 2 together. As my condition worsened, on Day 9, finally a CT Scan of the pelvis was ordered and it revealed a septic leak in my staple line from the surgery. Sepsis had invaded my body all while I was in the hospital. I was rushed into surgery to repair the leak. Following the surgery, I was admitted into ICU having septic shock with major multi-organ failure, acute renal failure and a stroke. I was put into a medically induced coma. This is usually fatal. Nothing but God! Two weeks later, still alive, I came out of the coma and eventually on to physical rehabilitation. I later had additional surgery, frequent reoccurring hospital stays, mental therapy and chronic ailments, some of which continue to this day. The delay in originally diagnosing sepsis led to my compromised condition. That was in 2010. Now, I’m an advocate to educate others about sepsis and to recognize the early signs of sepsis. I missed all that I had planned during that time, including spending Mother’s Day with my family and witnessing my son’s commencement ceremony. Although, my journey has been full of hurdles, I am truly grateful to have survived this horrendous condition. I’m still making plans while asking for God’s blessing that I will be successful in carrying them out.
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Richard Meier
Tribute
Death within 6 hours over night Our son Richard has always been taller, stronger and more persistent than other children of his age. He walked – no, he ran- by 12 months. He was continuously searching for new adventures and discoveries. We cannot remember a single day that he wasted by being unhappy or tired. Going to bed was never a problem. Richard was rarely sick and if so, he never complained, he never cried, he simply slept and got well soon. His life was cut short over night at 22 months. No one will ever put more joy and happiness into life than Richard in only 22 months. Shortly before midnight on the 21st of September, Richard woke up calling for me. I took him out of bed and we realized a temperature of 104. He had vomited so we cleaned up his bed. Since my husband was not at home I took him into our bedroom where he actually never had slept before. However I wanted him close to me to keep an eye on him. For the next hour he continued vomiting three times and started to breath faster. He became sleepy. Being sleepy was nothing that worried me after midnight. He used to simply sleep whenever he had an infection before and also when he had high fever. We never ever had trouble during the night. He was such a good sleeper. Having high fever was also something normal for him. Nevertheless something in my mind pushed me to call for a doctor. It was after midnight when I made the call and only one and a half hours after symptoms onset. He told me to wait and to continue to give Richard medicine that should lower the fever. And indeed the fever sunk. He also drunk half a bottle of water. Than he fall asleep. I continued to measure his temperature. Everything seemed fine to me. He stopped vomiting for a while, his fever sunk, he drunk water and now he slept. However, one hour later I woke up because he started to wheel from one side to the other. We took him out of the bed, realized that he was not responsive, his higher body was hot while his legs were cold. We immediately called the emergency. While having the emergency central at the phone he got seizures and collapsed. While waiting for the emergency I had to undertake the cardiopulmonary resuscitation gladly with the help of the doctor on the phone. It took four minutes until the ambulance has arrived. Nevertheless Richard died three hours later at the hospital. After his death we learned that Richard was born without spleen (congenital asplenia). (Sepsis and Impaired Immune System) People without functioning spleen are at high risk to develop infections that turn fast and easily into sepsis. He showed all symptoms of sepsis (high fever, vomiting, fast breathing) only within a few hours before he died. He developed the so called OPSI syndrome which is a special form of sepsis that only people with asplenia can develop. Furthermore, he was diagnosed with the Waterhouse-Friderichsen syndrom. A rare complication with a mortality rate of nearly 90% despite agressive therapy. He became infected by pneumococcus though he correctly received vaccinations. This special serotype that he had is not part of the vaccinations. We did not know that Richard was born without spleen. But there are people out there who have lost their spleen due to surgery, sickness or accident. These people must be alarmed that any kind of fever can turn into sepsis and becomes life threatening within a few hours. Please spread the word in order to help people with asplenia. Many of them have not been instructed about preventive measures. Any fever could be the first sigh of sepsis for them. It’s not always treatable but the chance is better the earlier. (our Story in German: www.pid-erkennen.de)
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Brooke Strong
Tribute
On Thursday, December 31 2015, my mom complained to us about her back aching. She had thought maybe she had injured it the week prior when she fell snow shoeing with my dad, sister, and brother-in-law. She didn’t think very much about it when it was still hurting on Friday, January 1, 2016. I talked to her on the phone and told her that she needed to rest and be better for our weekly shopping date on Saturday. Saturday came and she was worse. She had started throwing up and told me that she didn’t know if it was from the pain in her back, or if she had the flu. She was figuring the flu though, and stayed home to rest more. Sunday came and she still wasn’t feeling any better and ended up missing my daughter’s 2nd birthday party. For my mom to miss one of her grandkids’ events was huge. Her grandkids were her life and she loved spending every moment she could with them. She took my oldest son to school every day on her way to work, had lunch with me and my 2 girls every Monday, and watched them for me on Thursdays and Fridays. Every Saturday we spent the day shopping and hanging out with each other. She wouldn’t miss any chance to be with them. She was feeling so horrible though, that she just could not come to the birthday party. My dad decided to take her to urgent care. At the urgent care, the doctor took her blood pressure, which was around 80/40, gave her some pain meds for her back, and sent her on her way. He completely disregarded her symptoms and complaints. She was in so much pain and still throwing up the following day, Monday, January 4, that my dad decided to take her to the orthopedic doctor. He took some x-rays of her back, but didn’t see anything, so scheduled her for a MRI on a later day. My dad called me concerned because my mom was acting very loopy and wasn’t any better. He told me that he had tried to cut back on her pain meds because he thought that was the cause of the odd behavior, but when he did that she was in excruciating pain. I told him to take her to the ER and they would get the MRI done right away. That night my mom started coughing up phlegm. She was sleeping in the other room on a lower bed as the pain had made it impossible for her to get in their normal bed. My dad checked on her a couple times but she said she was ok. Finally she told him that she thought she better go to the ER because she had never felt so horrible. At around 3:30 am on Tuesday, January 5, my dad took my mom to the emergency room. She was really out of it and kept telling my dad that she could hear me in the waiting room and to let me back. She also kept saying she just wanted to go home and to please take her home. The doctors found she had pneumonia and decided to intubate her and try to give her lungs a little break and some help to get her better. (Sepsis and Pneumonia) My dad called me around 10 am to let me know that mom was in the ICU. I rushed up there and saw her covered in tubes and IVs. The doctor was not sure what was going on with her, and whenever I asked about things, he answered me with “your mom is just really sick”. Her kidney function was being questioned, but unable to get any answers or even be treated like an adult from her doctor, I called the doctor I work for. He accessed her records and told me the only thing in there was her chest X-Ray and that it showed severe pneumonia. He also told me that some kidney failure could be a result of it, but once the pneumonia was taken care of the kidneys would come back too. My mom continued to go downhill fast. Although her doctor only came in the room to check on her a couple times, he finally told us that she had sepsis and that we might want to call my sisters who live in different states. My middle sister’s plane arrived around 3 pm and my mom’s health continued to decline. Her oxygen levels were extremely low despite max oxygen being given. Her heart was tachycardic the entire time and her kidneys had shut down completely. She was slowly dying in front of us and the doctor was no where. Shifts changed at 7 pm and her doctor never even stopped by before leaving. A nurse took over her care for the evening and at 9:30 she asked if she could talk to us. My husband stayed with my mom and we went into a room next door. The nurse asked us how much intervention we wanted because my mom was not going to make it through the night. She didn’t know how much longer we had but she did know that by morning my mom would be dead. How do you wrap your head around that? How did my mom, who took such good care of herself, ate right, worked out daily, be dying? How could my best friend, and children’s hero, only have hours left to live? Where was the doctor? Why didn’t he communicate more to us? Why didn’t he even check on her or give her the time of day? Didn’t he even care that she was the rock of our family? We went back to my mom’s room and held her hands, rubbed her back, and cried. My oldest sister’s plane hadn’t landed yet and we begged my mom to hold on for her. I started to read to her a book from a series that we loved and her heart rate started to drop. At first we thought this might be a good thing, maybe she was coming through. We quickly realized that it wasn’t. Her heart rate kept slowly dropping. My sister and I clung to her hands, begging her to hold on. Pleading with God to please save her. At 12.53 am on January 6, 2016, my mom’s heart stopped and she took her last breath. My oldest sister walked in about 5 minutes later. If the first doctor my mom had seen at urgent care had given her the time of day and a second look at the red flags presented to him, she might still be here. Had he just ordered a blood draw, he would see that something was wrong. Or if the orthopedic doctor had thought that her odd comments during her X-Ray was maybe something more, she might have been seen earlier. I really believe that if we had known about sepsis and the signs and symptoms, my mom would still be loving life and enjoying her days with her family and grandkids. Her autopsy showed that she died from ARDs, due to sepsis which was a result of a staph infection that had ended up in her heart. (Sepsis and ARDS, Sepsis and Bacterial Infections) We have no idea where or when she got the staph infection. All we know is that our days are harder, our lives less bright, as my mom is missing.
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Ashley Pacheco
Tribute
My mother, 54 years old, was diagnosed with septic shock after a abdominal surgery! (Sepsis and Surgery) She fought for 19 days and at one point we thought she was going to make it. But unfortunately the horrible infection sepsis came back and took her from us! But she is resting peacefully now. Sepsis is a life-changing illness for the patient and the family. I hope doctor start finding out more about it and better ways to treat it. RIP MOMMA JETT