Darryl Chappell

Friday, December 31, 2010, a day when most people are getting ready to celebrate the coming of a new year, I was sitting with my husband in the emergency room watching him fight for his life.

My husband, Darryl Lewis Chappell, age 48, was admitted to the hospital around 5 pm on New Year’s Eve. Darryl was on oxygen at home but he thought he was just coming down with a cold until he lost use of his right arm and agreed to let me take him to the hospital.

I told him on the way that they would give him an oxygen treatment and let him go home. It wasn’t until the nurse in ER handed me copies of the papers that stated “ICU room 8,” that we knew otherwise. That hit me like a brick. I looked at Darryl and told him they were planning on keeping him and will be putting him in the intensive care unit. He seemed ok with that, in the thought that they will get him the treatment he needed and would be better soon.

They led me to the waiting room as they took him to the ICU unit, and said, “Once we get him settled we will come for you.” I waited for what seemed an eternity, but once the nurse came and I entered Darryl’s room, I could see they had already taken blood from his arm.

I noticed at the nurse’s station they had a list of the patients, the nurse assigned to them and their symptoms. Beside Darryl’s name was written: Sepsis/Pneumonia. I never questioned it. I never asked what does that mean. I think I must have thought it was a type of pneumonia. (Sepsis and Pneumonia) The doctor came in his room and asked all the questions we previously answered in the emergency room. They never really explained anything to us. The nurse stated something about being short handed with it being New Year’s Eve. They would be able to do more tests on Monday, and keep him on the breathing treatments tonight.

The nurse came back in Darryl’s room at midnight and said, “Well, Happy New Year.” I said, it is a Happy New Year; Darryl is still here with us. At that point she should have called the doctor back in and said these people are clueless and we need to explain to them what sepsis is. But no, not one time did they explain that to us.

Saturday: New Year’s Day – Darryl was not improving and they pulled me aside and said we need to hook him to the ventilator but we need your approval. I said, you do whatever you have to do to make him better, so they hooked him up to the ventilator.

Sunday: January 2nd – Darryl was very restless. They took him for tests and the doctor came in his room for a short time but still nothing. No word as to his condition. No indication he would not make it. Just that his stomach seemed awful tight.

Monday: January 3rd – he seemed much better. He was of course still on the ventilator but resting, unlike Sunday when he was constantly kicking his foot. I thought, good he isn’t fighting it anymore and now the ventilator can do the work for him and he can get better. I was even thinking about our upcoming anniversary. We would be celebrating 24 years as of January 10th and thought if he is still in the hospital I need to make him a big banner for his room.

Tuesday: January 4th – At 3 am the phone rang. It was the hospital. Darryl had taken a turn for the worst and we needed to get there as soon as possible. I ran through that hospital like a crazy person trying to get to his room. I got in there and there were nurses all around his room. No one is saying anything to me. There was one man there who kept going back and forth from Darryl’s room to the next room, trying to get the doctor to come over and talk to me. Finally the guy said come with me, I will talk to you. He leads me right outside Darryl’s room and explains to me that the oxygen was not going in his lungs and he had been trying for the past three hours but nothing was working. His body was shutting down. All I could do was cry and scream. My husband of 24 years was gone; God had taken him home.

In my mind, he died of pneumonia and no one ever gave us any indication he would not pull through. One nurse even said the day before; we have to get him well to walk his daughter down the aisle. False hope is all they gave us.

A week or two later I received Darryl’s death certificate it read: Cause of death: 1. Sepsis, 2. Pneumonia, 3. Respiratory Failure.

It was at that moment I realized Sepsis was not a type of pneumonia. I got on the Internet and typed in Sepsis. I was in complete shock. Shocked to read what my husband died of, shocked to think of all the doctors and medical staff no one bothered to take the time to explain to us what Sepsis was and how it effects the body. If they had I would have known my husband was not going to make it.

Today, every chance I get I explain to people what Sepsis is and how it is a silent killer.

Source: by Carrie Chappell (Darryl's wife)