Caitlin C.

In late October 2016 I was diagnosed with hypertension. It seemingly couldn’t be controlled with medicine, and continued to rise to near stroke-level. My nurse practitioner ordered a CTA of the abdomen/pelvis to see if any stenosis had appeared in my kidneys, as kidney function and hypertension often are correlating issues. Thankfully, no stenosis was detected, but two kidney stones were visible on my scan. My NP said not to worry, and that unless they drop into the urinary tract, there isn’t much that can be done for them.

Approximately one month later I began having spontaneous bouts of chills and pain in my lower back. I attributed this to an oncoming UTI, of which I had several per year. I took OTC medicine, and waited to see if antibiotics would be necessary, as I had come to be very familiar with the series of events that accompany any time I have a UTI. (Sepsis and Urinary Tract Infections) The Monday morning after Thanksgiving I awoke with the worst pain I had ever felt radiating through my lower back, and uncontrollable chills. I couldn’t sit or stand from the pain, and quickly the pain and confusion were overwhelming. My husband managed to rush me to the ER where they immediately took blood and urine samples, and offered morphine to help with pain.

My white blood cell count was 24, and my right renal function was 38, and I was declining quickly. I was rushed into an emergent procedure to stent my urinary tract and help flush the infection that had quickly turned to sepsis. I was on 24-hour constant IV Vancomycin for three days, and finally became stable. I had surgery in January of 2017 to remove the stones from my kidney and remove the stent from my urinary tract. (Sepsis and Kidney Stones)

I was incredibly lucky that the ER staff recognized my symptoms to be as serious as they were, and that they chose to act quickly. I could’ve lost my life at the age of 30 over what I assumed was a standard UTI.

I am still recovering from surgery, and gaining my strength back has been an uphill battle, but my life has been forever changed from sepsis.