Anna MacLean

I first had sepsis five years ago when I collapsed during a meeting at work and had to be rushed to hospital by my boss. Leading up to this, I had been having bouts of shivers, feeling hot and cold and I genuinely believe that I had been fighting the ‘flu. A few months before, I had scraped the back of my lower leg coming off the pavement but never suspected that this would result in me being eventually hospitalised.

By the time I reached hospital, I did not know who my GP was, my address or date of birth. My brain had gone completely foggy. The first few weeks in hospital were a bit of a haze as I slept a lot and was treated with a variety of antibiotics simultaneously delivered by IV. When they tried to take me off the IV the first time, I collapsed and was almost admitted to the Intensive Care Unit. I was discharged four weeks later but could not return to work for a further month.

After this, I thought I was being vigilant but the sepsis came back five years later even worse than before. This happened just after Christmas this year after I had taken a chest infection and had been treated with antibiotics. I had tried to phone my boss to say I needed to go off sick, but I could not remember phone numbers which I knew well. My daughter phoned me just after this and noted that my speech was not making sense.

An ambulance was phoned and I was eventually admitted to hospital. This time they were really worried about my kidneys, blood pressure and heart and a PIC line had to be inserted into my upper arm a few weeks later to allow blood to be taken and for drugs to be administered. At this point my veins were not tolerating needles any more and were collapsing.

It was a very frightening experience and I knew from my family’s expressions that I must be dangerously ill. I remained in hospital for five weeks this time and am still recovering. I am so happy to have survived but must admit that I remain fearful of a further future attack. I completely agree that the public needs to be aware of how to spot the onset of sepsis to allow treatment to be given on time and to prevent death from this most devastating illness that can strike without warning.