Bill B.
Update January 2021:
Bill was in his home, hospital and rehab unit for 48 months. He died February 1, 2020. He had every infection/sepsis that was around. Since his 2nd admission to the hospital, he was unable to walk.
Bill was a very outgoing man and he made many friends along the way.
He started doing freelance acrylic painting. C-diff kept coming around. (Sepsis and C. Diff)
The biggest revelation to me was the amount of pain he was in for 4 years.
Trying to get that treated was difficult due to all the opioid addiction media.
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On June 25,2016, my husband fell down and couldn’t get up. He had been complaining that he felt weak but still was working as an attorney, driving his car etc. He had been to 2 doctors who identified his symptoms as being from sciatica.
I called an ambulance to see if they could help him get off the floor. The EMTs took him to the ER. He was still conversing and not complaining of anything specific. In the ER he was diagnosed as being septic and imaging tests confirmed that he had peritonitis. He was immediately taken to surgery and a colostomy was performed.
Since then Bill has spent approximately 24 months in the hospital or rehab facilities. He is unable to walk, transfer from wheelchair to bed, etc. We tried having him home but 3 times after a short period of time he developed serious complications and returned to the hospital. Life has changed dramatically and every day we worry about new complications. As college professors we would like to share “our story” so that other people can learn from our experience. We have kept medical records, photos and other information.
Source: Nancy, wife
