Vicky Fleury

My mom’s sepsis story is short and scary. On Sunday, January 31, 2016, she thought she was coming down with a cold. By Wednesday, she was feeling bad enough that she thought it must be the flu. She saw her doctor who ran some tests and told her to call if she started to feel worse. By Thursday, my mom, who was not a complainer, was saying that her throat hurt constantly. She was nauseous and had a fever. She mentioned being unable to sleep because she had the chills. Some of the last texts that my mom sent to me were: “I’m very tired” and “Don’t dare cough.”

“Hope you feel better,” I wrote back.

Knowing what I know now, I wish I would have urged her to go to the emergency room and tell them that she was worried about sepsis right then. My mom had lupus and a history of heart problems (all under control with medications), but she was a tough cookie and she didn’t like to be a bother. I believe she had no idea what was about to happen to her body.

On Friday morning, my dad called to tell me that my mom had fallen down the stairs. He thought she was ok but her blood pressure was dangerously low. He was going to take her to the hospital. It was snowing and I scrambled around calling friends to find someone to watch my kids, who were home from school. I then got into my car to make the two-hour drive to the hospital. What I did not know at the time was that I was driving to the hospital to watch my mom die.

When I got there, my mom was alert but not herself. She was out of sorts but still making some jokes. I assumed she was a little disoriented from bumping her head when she fell down the stairs and I was (perhaps naively) much more concerned about whether my mom may have suffered a traumatic brain injury from the fall than I was about anything else. As it turned out, my mom did have the flu and bacterial pneumonia, but it was sepsis, her body’s response to these infections, that stole her life. (Sepsis and Influenza, Sepsis and Pneumonia)

That whole day was a blur. Nurses. Doctors. My dad. My cousin. My uncle. My mom…looking uncomfortable and asking for a drink of water over and over again. Several phone calls to check on the kids. I was worried, wondering why my mom did not seem to be feeling better with IV medications. Why was she having trouble breathing? Why did it seem to be getting worse? And then there were more doctors and more nurses, but now with concerned expressions, and there was my mom, who now looked scared.

My mom deteriorated rapidly. After being at the hospital for only a few hours, she was moved to the Intensive Care Unit. Soon after that, the doctor told us that her body was not responding to any of the broad spectrum antibiotics and that her organs were starting to fail. We were told to call the family. I watched several of my aunts, uncles, and cousins arrive and say goodbye to my mom, who was now on a vent. They seemed confused, not knowing that my mom was even sick, and they were so sad. The worst part was watching my grandmother. Her eyes were wide with worry when she arrived but still hopeful. We were all wishing for a miracle. And then, the unthinkable.

My mom passed away at the age of 55 years young in the early morning hours of February 6, 2016. This was by far, the most horrible day of my life. I can still hear the shock and sorrow in my friends’ voices as I tried to explain what happened over the phone. They, like all of us, were in utter disbelief. I thought to myself….wait! What? How could this be? How could they not do anything to save my mom with modern medicine? The whole experience was surreal. I kept thinking this can’t really be happening. But it was and my life will never be the same.

I was blindsided by sepsis. We all were. The most frightening part of this story is that I had heard of sepsis before. I had heard of people dying from sepsis and can remember talking with my mom about it. Despite that, neither of us knew the warning signs and neither of us suspected sepsis in her case. It happened too fast. Would the outcome have been different if my mom had gone to the hospital earlier? We will never know for sure but the fact that it might have made a difference will stick with me forever.

Sepsis does not discriminate. Some people are more vulnerable than others but anyone, of any age, can get sepsis and sepsis requires immediate medical treatment. I am sharing my mom’s story to try to help others recognize sepsis before it’s too late. I have also started the #Sepsispieface Challenge to raise awareness about sepsis, in which I have challenged some friends and family members to smash a pie in their face and post it on social media to help spread the word that we all need to know the warning signs of sepsis. I have encouraged participation by kids because my mom adored spending time with her grandkids and loved nothing more than to see them laugh. The sepsis pie face challenge videos have been hilarious. While there is nothing comical about sepsis, I can’t think of a better way to honor my mom than to make people smile. If you have been touched or affected by sepsis and would like to learn more about the #Sepsispieface Challenge and how you can help our cause, please visit RunItLikeAMom.com 

Together, we can make a difference.

 

Source: by Patricia Girard (Vicky's daughter)