I’m 23 years old and I am a postpartum sepsis survivor. (Sepsis and Pregnancy & Childbirth) I was a first time mom and had a healthy pregnancy throughout, although I did find out mid pregnancy that I had strep B. (Sepsis and Group B Streptococcus) My former OBGYN let me know some women just have it in their body and it could be treated with antibiotics so I didn’t think much of it. I ended up switching providers and they never really followed up with it. Right before going in to get my c-section, I got tested for COVID, to …

In October of 2016 I had a non cancerous ovarian mass removed. In doing so, my doctor clipped my bowel. (Sepsis and Perforated Bowel) I was sewn up, no drains and stayed in the hospital a week before they let me go home. Within two weeks of being home, I couldn’t eat, had no energy, was nauseous, and could not breath if I attempted to lie back. They had me come in right away for a CT. From that point I was given a sedation (during the CT), and sent to emergency surgery. The bowel had been leaking content into …

2019 has been overwhelming. My body was telling me something was wrong. I went to the doctor and expressed my concern that I was experiencing symptoms of a UTI. My doctor ordered labs, but I never received a call nor was anything prescribed to me. My white blood count was a little high but my other cultures came back negative, and that’s where it ended. So I thought. (Sepsis and Urinary Tract Infections) A few weeks later, I started having back pain. I didn’t think much of it since I’m always on the go and I had been very busy …

What started as a blackhead turned into an extremely painful chest cavity abscess the size of half a baseball! I thought I was on the mend after my Urgent Care visit to get the sucker removed. Little did I know, this would be the start of a very painful and scary experience – in the middle of a pandemic! 24 hours later, I was in so much pain and muffling my tears as I sought help from an advice nurse. By the time I got to the ER, I had a temperature of 102.9F and a team of doctors surrounding …

I wasn’t extremely familiar with sepsis until I experienced it. One week after having a 25 cm ovarian cyst removed, I began to experience violent chills and a low-grade fever. (Sepsis and Surgery) I wasn’t overly concerned, so I took some Tylenol. However, the symptoms worsened after four days. I had a 104.2 fever and shivering uncontrollably. My mom desperately tried taking me to the ER but since I had taken Tylenol, I got better along the way therefore we drove back home. I went to bed that night but experienced some discomfort around my belly button. It was already past midnight so I didn’t want to bother my mom. The next morning I suffered from raging fever again only this time I vomited and it was not a pretty color. My brother took me to the ER, I went in thinking they would just prescribe some medicine and send me home. Well, that wasn’t the case. The nurse took my vitals and from the concerned expression on …