Caitlyn W.
In June of 2016 I was 17 years old and about to go into my senior year of high school. I was out on the lake with some family having a normal summer Saturday. That night we went to my cousin’s house to hang out more but I felt exhausted so I went to bed around 10:30 PM. Around 3 AM the next morning I woke up sweating and vomiting like crazy. My family took me to the local hospital in our small town and they “diagnosed” me with dehydration. They gave me some bags of fluid and sent me on my way.
Later the next day I went to my house in Dallas, TX. I was still feeling sluggish, hot, lethargic, and I couldn’t carry my own body weight. So I went to bed early and around 1130 PM I woke up sweating, starving for ice and my temperature was 104. We went to the emergency room in Dallas where they ran multiple test even a spinal tap. My blood pressure was 80/40 and my heart rate was 160 laying down. Nothing came back on the test except a very minor UTI. (Sepsis and Urinary Tract Infections) Since I was 17 I couldn’t be admitted to that hospital they had to transfer me to a children’s hospital.
Right away they were pushing antibiotics in my body. About three days later my cultures came back and it was shown I had the infection in my blood. I was scheduled for a PIC line to be inserted the next morning. On to the next day I was prepped and ready for them to insert the PIC line when I’m not even kidding you the most dramatic doctor scene ever happened. The doctor came running in saying STOP WE DON’T HAVE TO DO THAT. I was lucky enough that the type of infection I had was curable by oral antibiotics. I went home 2 days later. That’s the most important story of my sepsis survival but the most unfortunate is when I flew out of state for my grandfather’s funeral and ended up back in the hospital with sepsis yet again. This time we caught it earlier so I was only in there for 3 days. I’m very thankful for all my doctors and nurses and my family. Never in a million years did I think I could possibly lose my life at 17.
