Camille Baldwyn

1st February 2021 I had severe pain in my flank, I didn’t think much of it. The pain became unbearable so I rang 111 (the number to call for medical advice) only to be told to ring my GP. My GP told me to ring 999. Hours later paramedics arrived. I knew I had a kidney stone, the paramedics however believed it to be a slipped disc. (Sepsis and Kidney Stones) They wanted to me to go an out of hours GP but my heart rate was too high, so they took me to A&E.

I waited hours in A&E, I was given codeine but it didn’t relieve the pain. Tests were being done and hours later I find myself on a ward, with a suspected kidney stone and sepsis. The sepsis was caused by the kidney stone being blocked. I was put on an antibiotic intravenously, but it didn’t work and the infection doubled, so they had to introduce another antibiotic. I was falling asleep every 5 minutes. I went into retention and had to be catheterised. But they didn’t know why. I ended up on oxygen and with a mid-line as I was starting to deteriorate further. They finally found the stone and had to do an emergency nephrostomy.

After two weeks in hospital I was discharged. I was in a wheelchair and on crutches for almost 2 months after as I was so weak and tired. Still to this day I struggle with the aftermath of sepsis. But, I’m lucky to be alive.