Alexandra Foxhoven

On the morning of July 18th, 2016, I woke up with some pain in my left breast. I had a nipple piercing (which had been healed and was pierced in January of 2016). I figured maybe the pain was just because my nipple ring was getting infected so I cleaned it as I normally would for an infected or irritated piercing. While sitting up watching TV with my roommate, the pain was pretty bad so I went back to bed with an ice pack.

I woke up a few times throughout the day and it hurt a bit more each time I woke up. Towards late afternoon I texted my mom and she said I should head to our local convenient care. I was very lethargic and in a lot of pain. I tried sitting up to go use the bathroom but nearly passed out each time I tried to sit up. I knew this was not right and I was very frightened. I called my grandpa and told him to come get me to bring me to the emergency room. I found the strength to get up and walk down my stairs in my loft without passing out.

The doctor took a look in the ER and diagnosed me with mastitis, (I don’t have kids so no breast feeding). He was sending me home on an antibiotic and topical bacitracin. I felt very weak so my grandpa was pushing me out in a wheelchair. As we were just about to the waiting room I became extremely dizzy very suddenly and then began vomiting. My grandpa went to get stuff to clean me up and then the nurse coordinator came to ask me if I wanted to be seen again and I said yes.

I was given Zofran and started on fluids in the room but the Zofran didn’t help. When the nurse ran my vitals I had a fever, a BP in the 70s-80s and a HR in the 100s. They did an ultrasound, CT scan, and EKG to rule out myocardial infarction or pulmonary embolism. The doctor then determined it to be sepsis and suspected the mastitis was the culprit (it was later determined that Strep A bacteria caused the mastitis). I was immediately started on vancomycin and levophed and admitted to the ICU.

I was aware of what sepsis was because two years prior to this, my grandma who had stage 4 lung cancer developed pneumonia which caused sepsis and she passed away in the ICU–I was admitted to the same room she passed away in. (Sepsis and Cancer, Sepsis and Pneumonia)

Those first 48 hours in the ICU were probably the scariest hours of my life–I had a Foley catheter, an arterial line, central line, and two IVs. At 19 years old I never would have thought this could happen to me, especially from a piercing. A few days later I was transported to a city with a larger hospital. The sepsis was under control but the mastitis was worse and causing me pain that was still unbearable. Four days later I was sent home. I stayed with my parents instead of going to my apartment so I didn’t have to be alone while my roommate had to work. Those days at home were miserable. A week later I was readmitted to the hospital because I clearly was not getting better. I was there for about 5 days before going home. Some other complications I had were cellulitis of the breast and a blood clot in my leg causing pain and weakness. (Sepsis and Cellulitis)

 

When I look back on my hospital reports/lab tests/etc., I actually grasp how sick I really was and what all was going wrong with my body. At the time I knew it was serious but my only concern then was getting better and getting pain under control. A couple months later I started losing my hair (I probably lost about 70% of it). I have also noticed my anxiety and depression is a lot worse. But these minor issues are nothing when I look back at my whole ordeal. There is not a day that goes by that I don’t think of everything I went through, and at the same time, everyday I reflect on and thank God for how lucky I am to be alive.

Sepsis has forever changed my life and has inspired me in different ways. I want to get the most out of life every single day. I am grateful for my good health. I want to help people as I was helped by so many.