Teresa McCormick

Teresa McCormick
Survivor

On November 1, 2013, I had my left hip replaced at a leading hospital in Boston. At the pre-op screening they tested for MRSA and I was clear. (Sepsis and MRSA) The surgery went well and being only 53 and in good health, I expected no complications. (Sepsis and Surgery)

My home nurses and physical therapist were great but less than a week after leaving the hospital I felt unwell and the PT thought I might have overdone things. When the nurse removed the staples, the site was tender and red, and blood and fluid started to come out of the site. I started running a temperature and my doctor prescribed antibiotics via telephone.

The next day the temperature was even higher and the drainage continued, and my visiting nurse wanted me to go to the hospital and the surgeon agreed. After many hours in the emergency room, I was admitted and surgery was scheduled for the next morning. Almost two days later I learned that the infection was MRSA and I was assigned an infectious disease doctor.

I was on an IV antibiotic and oral antibiotic and was allergic to the Vanco, so another IV antibiotic was tried. When stable I was discharged with a PIC line and daily IV antibiotics for six weeks, as well as oral antibiotics. The PIC came out on New Year’s Eve and I was finally getting back to work when again I started to feel “off” – very tired, difficulty concentrating, and as if I was coming down with the flu. Again, I thought I had merely overdone it at my physical therapy appointment (I was finally at outpatient PT rather than home care!).

The next morning I woke with intense pain and was unable to move my leg forward on my own, and my temperature climbed to 103. Less than a month after having the PIC line removed, I was readmitted with an even higher temperature and terrible pain. The entire artificial joint was removed this time, not just the ball and socket substituted, and a cement spacer was inserted that was infused with antibiotics, and the PIC line was inserted when I was stable. This time I had daily IVs for eight weeks. My blood work indicated that I couldn’t handle the rifampin so that was stopped temporarily then restarted when liver functions were not so compromised. I also had blood transfusions. It was awful not knowing whether things were going to work this time or when I could have the hip replaced. The pain was much more intense after three surgeries and I was in the hospital much longer before going home. I ended up in a wheelchair for this phase and was appalled when a week later I woke to unexpected drainage.

A wound vac was administered and it took months for the incision to heal. I had originally been told I would have the new hip in three months but it was closer to six months before the wound fully healed. Finally in June of 2014, I had my fourth surgery. An incision vac was used for the first time following this surgery and the incision was not uncovered until the day I was discharged. Thankfully the infection has not come back.

I am more fatigued than normal and every time I feel “off” I fear a recurrence of the infection and I wonder if that feeling will every go away. So many things take longer to accomplish and I don’t fully feel myself, but am grateful to be alive. I still need a cane and my strength has not fully returned. I work at my physical therapy but things are slower going than I would like. I received so little information about sepsis and MRSA.

I still can’t believe that I contracted this infection at a world class hospital. I wish I was given the option to have the entire artificial joint removed the first time rather than merely the substitution of the ball and socket because I believe it would have been best to treat it more aggressively in the first place and therefore avoid a fourth surgery. I didn’t even know that it was an option to replace it all or replace only part.

I love to read and with all that time at home it would have been the perfect time to do that, but I could not concentrate and had difficulty sleeping. I could not find information about what to expect and would have liked more information. I noticed that each time I left the hospital that more and more rooms had precautions meaning that the person had an infection. I am honestly afraid of ever having to go to the hospital again for fear of what one can contract in a hospital.

I felt horrible that I was in a shared room and that it took almost two days to know what type of infection I had and that during that time the extra precautions were not followed. Counseling was never offered or suggested and that might have helped. I had to ask for information and even when I did, it was very sparingly given. Internet searches regarding hip replacements and MRSA and sepsis resulted in very little usable information.

I think it is wonderful that the Sepsis Alliance is trying to raise awareness for this disease. People need information! I was very fortunate that I was in a good hospital that had a wonderful infections disease department. (My surgeon performed operations at two Boston hospitals and although the initial surgery was at New England Baptist, the subsequent surgeries were all at Mass General at his suggestion). Perhaps I wasn’t well enough to be given a lot of information. I have very little memory of the days surrounding the second and third surgeries but asked my husband about the amount of information given and he said it was minimal. But it seemed that very little information was given or offered. People need more information! I am so fortunate that the visiting nurse that came to my home was so dedicated and insisted I contact the surgeon and told me to go to the hospital. She also insisted I go to the hospital when my calf pain that I was experiencing after the third surgery, that I didn’t think was significant, ended up being a large blood clot that took months to dissolve.

When it comes to infections (and particularly MRSA), it seems that doctors and the hospital staff don’t want to discuss it and give very little information. I feel patients with an infection should be in private rooms for their sake and for the sake of others. The precautions that are taken when a patient has MRSA should be done for everyone so that infections (of any kind!) are not spread from one patient to another.

Although the word “sepsis” was not used my doctors to my husband or me, clearly they were on top of it or I would not have survived. My official diagnosis was sepsis.

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