Vanita

Hello everyone,

I lost our beautiful mum only 62 years old on the 4th of Oct 2016. It all started suddenly with fever, 103.6 degrees, nausea, diarrhoea after that she did not pass urine for a day or bowel movement. She was totally fine except type two diabetes and hypotension.

We were in India at that time and unfortunately there was a dengue and chucungunya epidemic. We went to family doctor he didn’t order bloods and by symptom he told us it sss chucungunya which my aunt recently had. She had a real bad joint pain also which is a symptom.

On the fourth day she started getting worse and had a severe abdominal pain and was short of breath. She did t want to go to the doctor or in emergency.

She was so bad that she could not move we finally called the ambulance who took her to hospital. The local doctor ordered tests on day four and everything was OK according to him, and he now said it was a viral and the only issue was low platelet count. She had stopped eating and drinking water by day 4 – 5. When we reached hospital they said her platelet count was dangerously low 95,000 they ran tests and said her creatinine and potassium were sky high, which meant her kidneys had failed they were only working 10%. They said this was due to some infection but it’d take time to figure out until then she was put on antibiotics, inserted a catheter to measure urine output, and was given meds and food through pipes in her neck. The only way to purify her blood was through dialysis.

On the second day X-ray came and they said she had air leaking out of her intestine. Even when we reached hospital they did tell us she was really really sick, her kidneys were bad, transplant was not an option as she was in poor health. They did emergency surgery to fix air in the intestine and discovered she had a bowel perforation (peritonitis). (Sepsis and Perforated Bowel)

The surgeon told us her chance of survival with surgery was 10% and without surgery she’d not make it either, it was 0%. They removed infected part of large intestine, found 1 litre of pus which they removed and put a temporary stoma in her tummy. My poor mum was unconscious she didn’t know what was going on at all! So we consented. Surgery went fine and at night she was stable but they put her on non invasive ventilator to help her lungs and heart and so she could sleep.

In the morning, we were told her blood pressure had dropped to a dangerously low point. They gave her all meds to pump it up but nothing working she was in septic shock now. Around 5 pm it was almost ok, she was maintaining around 90 but after that it suddenly dropped further. They called us from ICU and said the last resort was a blood transfusion and if that didn’t elevate her BP she would not make it. They tried this but it had no effect on her blood, eventually after a three-day struggle at hospital and a living nightmare she passed away. I could not take the sight of her monitor and her vitals dropping anymore I went out. I told her how much I loved her but I don’t think she heard me. This was the worst day of my life, I would do anything to bring her back but I think I failed as a daughter.

We should have been more proactive but my mum was very weak. She was also overweight, 97kgs, that’s why it was so hard to take her down from a fifth floor apartment in a shitty lift. Her result for chucungunya done at hospital came back positive.

I don’t know what killed her. The doctor said she must have had diverticulitis or Crohn’s which got worse but no one had any specific cause. Her certificate said MOD, (multi organ failure) PERFORATION PERITONITIS ANF SEPTIC SHOCK.

Do not ignore severe abdominal pain. S he fell sick on the 26th with fever only, got worse on the 29-30th Sep and passed on the 4th Oct. I will never forgive myself. I should not have listened to the family doctor. I should have made him order bloods sooner rather than listening to his viral and chucungunya logic. I hope it never happens to anybody’s loved one. I missed the chance to give her life. I hate myself I will never forgive myself me and my brother lost the most loving and beautiful mum within a span of eight days … I wish.. I didn’t say good-bye. I didn’t tell her I love her. I am lost without her. Life has lost any meaning what Devil attacked her. We celebrated her birthday just a week ago and mine too 🙁 It was too late. I am not sure if she would have had better treatment in UK or USA, not sure if the doctors in India treated her properly.

Source: Vanita's daughter