Adele Crombie

On July 28, 2016 I had a routine procedure done and was told if I felt better the next day I could resume my regular activities. The next day I felt great! I worked all day long and went to bed late as I didn’t have my kids that night.

The next morning, on July 30, I woke up feeling like I got hit by a car. I had worked a long day before out in the sun and assumed it was a mix of being dehydrated with some heat stroke and maybe a backache from lifting some heavy things from my car. I could barely get out of bed-I sat up and everything hurt from my neck to my feet, especially my back. I took a very deep breath and it hurt at the very end so I thought I must be getting a cold as well. I made my way downstairs and lied on the couch for 5 hours. I could not move; I could barely watch tv. Then I got extremely cold and was sweating profusely. It took me 7 hours and talking to family to realize something was really wrong. My brother convinced me to go to the hospital when my fever hit 39.1 and the only reason I thought I should go was because I found my discharge sheet from two days previous and it said to go-I thought I had a small infection. By the time I was in the car I could barely speak from being so sick and my face felt like it was on fire.

I was given an IV within 30 minutes of getting to the hospital as I kept saying that I had an infection and ended up there for 5 days. They didn’t find out I had sepsis for over 24 hours. I was throwing up for 3 days and very hot/cold nauseous for that time as well. I was put on antibiotics, painkillers, and antinauseants. They drew my blood 8 times and were prepared to give me a blood transfusion if it got worse. I’m so glad they knew what they were doing! Turns out I got sepsis from pneumonia, which I didn’t even know I had and after tons of testing they determined it had nothing to do with my procedure and I happened to get pneumonia that week as a coincidence. (Sepsis and Pneumonia) Because I’m 33 and healthy, I’m sure the only reason I was rushed in was because I kept telling them I was sure I had an infection. They still don’t know why I caught pneumonia.

It took about 8 weeks to recover from; I’d never been so tired in my life but I am so thankful I got and IV as fast as I did. It has now been 3 months and I’m starting to get all my energy back.