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Debbie Kwitney
Survivor
I am a jewelry designer and in 2010 when I received an order to make antique typewriter key bracelets and necklaces, I jumped at the chance. I’ve always adored antiques and when I was taking the keys off the typewriters, I felt awful as though I was destroying a part of history. But I plucked away at those keys and cleaned each one very carefully and reassemble them. Because of the dirt within the keys of these beautiful typewriters, I was constantly washing my hands. But I was also making my hands more dry and prone to cracking because it was in winter. On my index finger, I noticed I was starting to get a bit of a sore and I completely ignored it, which I had never done before. I was in a rush, a hurry to get the jewellery finished before I had to go to Florida and pick up my mother to bring her back to Pennsylvania to stay for a few months. My finger started hurting more and more and by the time I returned from Florida only several days later, my son drove me to the emergency room because I had flu-like symptoms. I was shivering all night, I had a fever, and my entire body ached. In emergency care, I was tested for various illnesses but all came back negative. I was not tested for septicemia. I was in the hospital for two weeks, I was intubated, and on life support. My family from around the country came to say their goodbyes to me while I was in the coma. I lost part of my index finger and as an artist and jewelry designer, that’s not what you want to happen. But I never asked “why me,” why not? This happened in February 2010 and I still have issues related to PSS. I live everyday the best I can and realize that I was given a second chance for my family, especially my son and grandchildren.
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Rhian Doyle
Survivor
I had only just had yet another hernia op a few days before I was struck. I knew I felt tough after the op – but then I’ve had a few collections post op so put it down to that. (Sepsis and Surgery) However four days after surgery, the day of my daughters 5th birthday party, I knew I was not right. It was the 18th Feb 2017 early that morning I woke up with sever pain in my wound, soaking in sweat but so cold. I wanted to carry on for the sake of my daughters party – but hour by hour I felt more and more unwell. By tea time I had very cold hands, nausea, sweating/shivering, sever abdominal pain , and confusion with severe body aches like I had never had before – everything from breathing to talking was a huge effort. Early evening I gave in and rang the out of hours doctor who told me to ring 999 immediately- I did that and the rapid response paramedic arrived. Once he had checked me over and taken my obs – realising I was seriously ill, he had me rushed to hospital by a code red ambulance. I was taken into resus, given life saving antibiotics/fluids etc., then taken to theatre the next day to remove the infection and infected tissue. Sadly the infection was that deep they had to leave me with an open incision 7cm long 6cm deep that had to be cleaned and packed daily until it healed bottom up. I spent 12 days in hospital on antibiotics having my wound cared for – but it took another four months to fight the worst of the infection and for the wound to close. I’m still going through surgery now – but I’m thankful I beat it as I have a husband and young family
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Mike Allen
Survivor
My husband went through 7 weeks of chemo and radiation for cancer. He had a PICC line placed in his arm for the chemo treatment. He survived his cancer treatment although very thin and fragile from not being able to eat. (Sepsis and Invasive Devices, Sepsis and Cancer) On Tuesday July 25, 2017 we went to the chemo nurse and got his PICC line removed. The nurse never cleaned the area, just jumped right in and pulled the taped off, then pulled the line out of his arm. We headed home all happy that treatment was over and now he could start recovery. WRONG ANSWER. Sn hour after leaving the doctor, we made it home and my husband was freezing. Mind you we live in Florida and it’s July. I didn’t think much of it and helped covered him with blankets. He continued to shake and shake from being cold so I thought I’d just call a different doctor and see if this was normal. They asked if he had a fever. I said I don’t think so, but I checked and it was 102. I was told to immediately take him to the ER. By the time I reached ER in 25 minutes, his fever was 105 he was shaking, fast heart rate, low blood pressure, delirious, confused and breathing fast. The doctor there knew he was in septic shock. They immediately started antibiotics and drawing blood. My husband is still in the hospital today, 4 days later. Sepsis is no joke. I’m still scared weather he’ll be OK. I never heard of sepsis til now. I pray he recovers fine.
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Tracey Sayers
Survivor
I started to feel ill on holiday in Cape Verde in March 2017. By day 4 I was in bed with what I thought were flu symptoms. I was so cold and shivery, I asked for extra blankets for the bed. It was 30°C outside! Managed to last the week but developed what I thought was sciatica on return home. Visited GP firstly I was given anti-anxiety meds (I’d been hallucinating) and then secondly the emergency doctor gave me diazepam. That same night I ended up in A&E and was sent home with codeine and paracetamol. I gradually got worse so back to A&E I went. I was admitted and sent for an MRI the following day. It showed a large collection of abscesses in my pelvis. Nobody mentioned sepsis at this stage. On day 3 I discharged myself out of sheer frustration. 2 days later I was back in A&E, to face a 20-hour wait with no food or water and no access to a toilet (I couldn’t walk at this stage). Eventually admitted once again, there was no way I was going anywhere this time. After 4 more MRI scans and 2 CTs plus 1 x-ray, 1 blood transfusion, many many blood tests, I discovered I was being treated for sepsis. The doctors still do not know what caused the abscesses and I’ve had 2 lots of surgery to get rid of them. I’ve had all of the infectious diseases tests know to man including Zika, Ebola and even HIV. Nothing showed up. I still remain a mystery and my consultant has not yet signed me off but I’m finally home after 5 weeks in hospital. It’s a slow road to recovery but I’m very happy and grateful to be alive. Thank god for my husband, mum and the NHS!
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Kelly G.
Survivor
My story is humiliating due to the cause of the infection, but I’m hoping by sharing it will save someone’s life. My partner, who I thought I was monogamous, infected me with gonorrhea on or around May 7, 2017. On May 16th, I was admitted to ER with extreme pelvic pain, fever, chills, nausea and vomiting. I didn’t know I was in the beginning stages of sepsis that quickly developed into severe sepsis. I spent five days in ICU fighting for my life. I also developed a rare condition caused by gonorrhea called Fitz-Hugh–Curtis syndrome. This caused my liver capsule to become inflamed, resulting in extreme upper right quadrant pain. I was told that my kidney function was diminishing and my other organs were being affected. I am allergic to penicillin, so I had to be treated with other antibiotics. I didn’t know until the 3rd day that this STI (sexually transmitted infection) was the cause, prior the my admission I had NO symptoms. The pain was so severe that pain meds – morphine, oxy, fentanyl – barely relieved the pain. There is a misconception that PID (pelvic inflammatory disease) develops only when you have an STI for a length of time. This is not what happened to me. I’m thankful to have found this site. I just read the article about sepsis and PTSD. I have nightmares and flashbacks all the time and I am going to see a therapist tomorrow. My medical team was were amazing and I am so grateful for each sunrise, sunset and every moment in between.
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Natalia B.
Survivor
On September 2016, we found out that I was pregnant with our first child (have been trying for 3 years). January 12, 2017, I was diagnosed with an incompetent cervix and had a cerclage done (a procedure were they sew your cervix) to make sure the baby didn’t come early. At 27 weeks, my water broke and after spending 3 days at the hospital, had a ultrasound done and we saw on the monitor that there was no heartbeat. A couple of hours later, I was induced and had to deliver my baby girl naturally. During the delivery, my lungs were already filling up with fluid. As soon as she came out, they rushed me to the ICU were they tried to do everything they can to help my lungs while the infection (E. Coli) spread throughout my body, making my organs shut down, creating a sepsis shock . (Sepsis and Pregnancy & Childbirth) While they were trying to put a tube to help with the breathing, I had a heart attack (Takotsubo cardiomyopathy or more commonly known as a broken heart syndrome), they reanimated me for 15 minutes and by the grace of God they revived half of my heart. I was then put into a coma for 5 days. The doctors were not sure if I was going to wake up and if by some miracle I did, they could not guarantee that I would ever be the same. I did wake up, spent 3 weeks total in the hospital without any major complications except that I have chronic pain in my body (mostly bone pain) and the obvious were I have to pay real close attention to what I eat in order to ease the kidneys. I am a survivor.
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Jay K.
Survivor
One Friday morning I skipped breakfast and headed off to work. By lunchtime I still felt “full” even though I did not have breakfast. By about 2:30 I was starting to feel a bit nauseous and warm. I made it to the men’s room where started sweating heavily and became very very ill. By three pm, I told my supervisor I really needed to get home. This is where my story gets a little foggy. I remember getting to my car and getting sick again and that is it until Tuesday. I do not remember the drive home, the ambulance ride to the ER, or the 7 hour surgery that followed. It seems that my colon had ruptured and had folded over on itself. (Sepsis and Perforated Bowel) meaning the section of large intestine normally on the left side was now closer to my right side. The surgeon had removed two sections of my large intestine. Having severe sepsis and a 104.1 temperature was causing my kidneys and heart to fail. As I wrote earlier, it was Tuesday night before I realized where I was and what had happened. I continued with antibiotics, morphine, medications for my heart and kidneys and multiple drains, tubes, and oxygen. my total hospital stay was 13 days. Oct 13th will be two years since my surgery and since then I have had a colostomy reversal, a hernia, a hernia repair with mesh/ I had a problem with the colostomy reversal site leading to another week long stay with 104 temp with the cause being “sepsis.” Since my body is rejecting the mesh and causing me not to completely heal along with my kidneys being damaged from the severe sepsis and and high fevers, I will have the mesh removed, this procedure should this procedure should take place in August. I have mixed feelings about this surgery but It is necessary. Since this is a sepsis site and not a medical history site, I will end with the thought of my wife and family hearing the surgeon tell them how very sick I am/was and that now we just wait to see if he wakes up, something he made very clear may not happen. Sepsis did not take me, but, it will and has changed me and my family
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Donna Kiess
Survivor
I went in for a knee replacement surgery 18 months ago. The second day the surgeon did a second surgery a “scrub.” (Sepsis and Surgery) After that I developed high temperature, vomiting and, unfamiliar of my surroundings, falling out of the hospital bed. The third day they had me up and when I was to attempted to walk I fell. A nurse slapped me across the face. That night a nurse came in to turn my light off, she listened to my heart and I remember her running from the room. The next time I woke I was in the heart unit. They told me I had three large blood clots in my lungs and I had a heart attack. I was never told the word sepsis. They put a PIC line in and started large doses of antibiotics. I continued having severe diarrhea all the time. I was there three weeks, not three days, and my surgeon left for four months the day after the scrub surgery. After home three weeks still on antibiotics, she mentioned I had sepsis. I told her I felt the antibiotics were making me worse. She said they were very strong as I had to take them twice a day for an hour. She said they could destroy the good bacteria in the stomach as well as the good. I was still having diarrhea and vomiting. It has been 18 months and I still have vomiting and diarrhea. Yet doctors tell me the sepsis is over.
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Colleen Summers
Survivor
On March 18, 2015 I had surgery to remove 90% of my stomach due to a condition called gastroparesis. (Sepsis and Surgery) Over the next few weeks I got sicker and sicker and all the doctor kept telling me was that we “needed to let my bowel rest.” Finally I got him to put me back into the hospital where I spent 9 days before being transferred to Chicago. When I got to Chicago I was extremely ill and they had me in emergency surgery by the next day. They didn’t think I would make it and told my family that the next 48 hours were critical. I ended up spending 6 months in Chicago (UIC) and having sepsis twice, MRSA, VRE along with c-diff. I am very grateful to be alive! (Sepsis and MRSA, Sepsis and C.Difficile) At one point my white blood cell count was 48! I was having wash-outs every other day. And before I was sent to Chicago they thought it was all in my head. A nurse even told my wife not to be surprised when I got to Chicago if they didn’t call psych on me! And not only was I septic but I had pneumonia as well! (Sepsis and Pneumonia) And here I am 2 and and half years later with my abdomen still open! I suffer from horrible PTSD, depression, anxiety and I could still be left with a colostomy and needing TPN nutrition when I have my final surgery soon. I’m ready for surgery but still scared of developing sepsis again. (Sepsis and PTSD)
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Janice Baird
Tribute
My Aunt Janice Baird had been diagnosed with a hernia a few years back. She never mentioned it much and we didn’t worry about it. She was on the waiting list to be seen by a surgeon as her doctor had referred her. He said a close eye should be kept on the hernia. My aunt hadn’t been feeling well for a few days. She seemed to have a virus. She had stomach pain and felt warm and cold. She was admitted to hospital on the Wednesday and diagnosed with a urine infection and released. Her pain got worse and she was seen again on Sunday by a doctor who didn’t seem too concerned as her blood pressure and body temperature were normal at that time. The following day she felt worse again and another doctor came to see her at her home. He suggested she may have a bowel blockage and she was admitted to hospital. She was given a CT scan and diagnosed with an incarcerated hernia. Her bowel had become caught and the Doctor told us they may not be able to operate as she was now in shock. Her blood pressure was very low. They said if they put her under she wouldn’t survive so they had to try and get her blood pressure back up before operating. She was talking to us and laughing a little and joking. We told her we would wait at the hospital all night until she had her surgery. A few hours later the doctor and nurse came to the family room and told us they wouldn’t be able to do the surgery as her blood pressure kept dropping and she would pass away within hours. Less than an hour later she passed away and she seemed peaceful and didn’t seem to be in any pain. We spoke to her and held her hand. We thanked her for being so great with us when we were children and told her we loved her very much. How can someone pass away so quickly like that, it doesn’t make any sense at all. Her death certificate said, incarcerated Hernia, septic shock and multi organ failure. It’s almost 3 months on and I’m still so angry and confused about it all. We can send people to another planet but we can’t fix something that seems so simple. I met with the surgeon who would have seen her when she reached the top of the waiting list and he told me because she had so many risk factors (weight, poor mobility) he would never have operated on her because there would have been no way to know this would have happened and the surgery could have killed her. She was 66 years old. I miss her terribly. Screw you sepsis.