Robert Peeters

Survivor

I was to have a bowel resection due to a pre-cancerous growth in my bowel. Things seemed to progress well until the day after the operation, when I experienced incredible pain in my abdomen. I was in horrible, screaming pain, and the surgeon and nurses ignored me for hours, shooting me up with more and more pain killers. (Sepsis and Surgery)

 

Thirty-three hours after the initial operation, they finally decided to do an CT scan of my abdomen and, sure enough, where the bowel was suppose to be reconnected was leaking and feces was going into my body.

I was in full sepsis poisoning and was going into septic shock. I went in for emergency surgery and they put in an ileostomy and repaired the connection. I don’t remember all of this.

I was in the ICU for 21 days, six days of which was a drug inducted coma. My kidneys shut down, I was in atrial fibrillation (AF), and I was intubated. Later they installed a tracheotomy to have a machine breath for me. I didn’t recognize my loved ones and was totally confused. I had a temperature of 107*, and my family came in from around the country to say their goodbyes to me. It was looking as if I would die.

Somehow, I finally came out of the coma and started recovering. By the grace of God did this happen. Unfortunately, this was just the beginning of my long journey back to health.

I was transferred to a long-term health facility for three more weeks. I had to learn to walk again and swallow again. I also had a wound vacuum on due to the incision from the emergency surgery, so I needed to carry this with me for three months. I was also readmitted to the hospital three additional times due to abscesses and other infections.

I am getting better slowly. This one doctor’s mistake made my life a living hell. I also had to have a third surgery to reverse the ileostomy in which that surgeon had to cut through five layers of muscles to complete. I am still suffering from those incisions.

I have read all of the stories on these pages and feel fortunate to have survived this disease. For those of you who have lost loved ones due to sepsis, my heart and prayers go out to you.

Thanks for letting me tell my story.

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