Chelsea

I am not using real names in my personal story for privacy reasons, but the following event is true and happened to my family in 1995. “Chelsea” is my daughter and she was two at the time. She had not been feeling well on the day of her pre-school Christmas pageant and when it came time for her group to sing, she was crying for me. I went up to get her and we took her home early from the play. My husband and I put her to bed, figuring it was just a cold and that she was overtired. We went downstairs to watch a program on TV but kept the baby monitor close by.

About an hour later, I heard her make some odd noises and I said to my husband “She doesn’t sound right.” He thought I was worrying too much but my gut instinct told me to check on her. When I touched her face, arms, etc., her skin was iron-hot. I took her temperature and almost passed out when it read 106°F – I had never heard of anyone’s temperature being that high, so I was terrified.

We rushed her to the hospital and after taking one look at her, doctors and nurses began working on her right away. We could hear them talking behind the little curtained cubicle we were in. Words like “meningitis” and “septic” were being tossed around and we suddenly experienced a whole new level of terror. (Sepsis and Meningitis) The tests came back positive for sepsis and the doctor ordered an IV of an antibiotic that cost $1,000 per bag, so I’m assuming it was the best course of treatment at the time. I’m still not sure how the cost came up in conversation, but the most important thing is that it saved my daughter’s life. (Sepsis and Children)

If I didn’t trust my instincts and rush her to the hospital, our beautiful daughter would have died. The advice I would give to new parents is always trust your instincts and go with your gut, even if you’re worried a medical professional might think you are being paranoid. We rely on medical people and they are a Godsend, but ultimately you know your child the best and if something doesn’t seem right, speak up. It may save their life. Our daughter is now 22 and has no ill effects from this potentially deadly disease.

Source: by Stacy (Chelsea's mother)