Penny Harris

My Mom was someone that changed people’s lives. She bought Christmas presents for a local home that houses foster children. She was a very funny, witty, quirky lady. She was wonderful, she was my Mom I’m so happy she was and she changed my life. Here is her story.
My Mom was 69 years old, she would turn 70 on August 16. Unfortunately she passed away on August 6, 2016. May 30, 2016 she fell going to bed, now she had a few mishaps where she had fallen but she was always able to get herself back up. This night she couldn’t. She called me for my help to come get her up. I could not get her up, we ended up calling the fire dept to assist us. I told her she should go to the hospital because this was out of character for her. She finally decided to go and get checked out at the hospital. Come to find out she had a mild heart attack. She would spend the next 5 weeks in the hospital for rehabilitation. She was then coming home.

She was home for 2 days and became very ill, with uncontrollable diarrhea. I told her this was not right and she needed to go to the hospital, of course she didn’t want to because she had just come home, she finally went after another day. I get to the er and the nurse told me they were doing a test for c diff. I had no idea what that was but come to find out it was because when she was in the hospital for 5 weeks the gave her 2 different antibiotics in close proximity of each other. (Sepsis and C. Difficile)  She was dehydrated enough where her kidney function was failing so she had to start dialysis. Her liver was also acting up but that was nothing new because she had nonalcoholic cirrhosis. She had that for the last 14 years, she took her medicine and it never really caused her any issues. Finally after 2 weeks she was released again from the hospital, this time she went to a rehabilitation/nursing facility. She couldn’t walk and her eyes were more yellow than they had been before. She was also hallucinating some. I told doctors this was not right, they sent her on her way anyway.
The next week she went to her dialysis Mon, Wed, and Friday. On Wednesday her blood pressure dipped really low, then they stopped taking fluid because of it. She was hallucinating more at this point, her eyes were more yellow. I told the dialysis nurses that I had a concern about this. They said she was dreaming, because she had been taking a nap. Her blood pressure dropped 3 more times. I was concerned but the medical professionals were not. So I let it go. Friday she went to dialysis, this time her blood pressure went to 60/40, 40/20, then 236/186, then back to 70/40. She slept the whole 4 hours she was there and hallucinated the whole time. Her eyes were more yellow, but her numbers were OK;they didn’t check for a fever. They weren’t concerned. So she went back to the home.

At 3:15 am, my Mom called me and said they are taking me to the hospital because my oxygen levels have dropped. I got to the ER and there she was laying there, they ran a bunch of tests on her. The nurse said I think she has sepsis. The liver doctor came in and said her numbers were OK. They said they were putting her on antibiotics. I said where is she going in the hospital. They told me cardiac ICU. That’s where she would spend her last 7 days. They put a central line in her after 2 days. She was coherent off and on. Luckily, she knew who I was and she talked to me. We played games, read the paper together. It seemed like she would forget how to swallow food. She would hallucinate really bad. 3 days before she passed, she was alert, eating, talking and her numbers were better. We had started to turn the corner. They told me she got septic chock from not catching the sepsis. She got the sepsis from a urinary tract infection from having a catheter for 2 weeks in the hospital. (Sepsis and Urinary Tract Infections) The next day I came in on Friday she was out of it and they were putting a ng tube in her. She was mad so they had to restrain her hands, which didn’t make me happy. So Friday she was still talking to me. I stayed a little later than normal.

On Saturday morning I went in just like always, but she was out of it. She didn’t know anyone, she couldn’t really see. She was on the highest dose of nor epinephrine they could give. I knew she wasn’t well, which was a complete turn from Friday. She spit up her medicine and I got the nurse because that was odd since she had a ng tube. They sent the chaplain to come and get me, she was going through cardiac arrest. They told me if they brought her back she wouldn’t have a productive life. She passed away at 12:13 pm.

My life has changed forever because of this. I wish I would’ve screamed a little louder. If you feel or know that a loved one is not right then say something. I want to raise awareness for c diff and sepsis. If this will save 1 person, then I will be happy. This has taken too many lives too soon. My Mom was a terrific, awesome, loving person. I miss her dearly, and I will for the rest of my life.

Source: Holly Harris, Penny's daughter