Deena Star

Deena Star
Survivor

On September 24, 2015 I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. My husband, myself and our extended family were delighted. We moved into my parents’ house for what we decided would be several weeks so I had some time to recover and adjust to my new life as a mother.

On Friday night, only 3 weeks after I gave birth, I woke my husband up in the middle of the night telling him I needed to vomit. He ran to get me a bowl, and from that moment all I was doing for the next 30 hours or so was vomiting and diarrhoea. I kept running from my bed to the toilet, thinking it was just a terrible stomach bug and it will pass. On Saturday evening my husband decided to get our doctor to pay a home visit. The doctor had noticed my blood pressure was rather low but it didn’t alarm him. He told my husband to get some coke for me, shake it so it’s flat, and I should sip from it to help my stomach. I kept throwing up, including anything I drank.

On Sunday morning I collapsed on the stairs between the toilet and he bedroom. My husband and my father helped me get back to bed. I complained I can’t see, everything is black. I told my husband to take me to the hospital so they can hook me onto an IV and get me hydrated. My husband called the doctor again, who said that if I want I should go. Then my husband noticed my hands were turning purplish blue. I was beginning to pass out. He immediately called an ambulance. I do not remember anything from this point until 11 days later, when I awoke from my induced coma. (Sepsis and Pregnancy & Childbirth)

My husband later related that when the medics arrived they realized my blood pressure was close to nil and were working hard to keep me alive. They had also called the fire department to get a crane to get me down from my parent’s attic. They induced me into a coma. My organs were failing: my lungs, my kidneys. I was put onto life support and dialysis. As soon as they got me down and into the ambulance we were raced to the hospital. As soon as we arrived I was whisked into the hospital where they ran a battery of tests. They discovered I had a septic shock but could not find the cause. The next 48 hours were spent on various tests to try to detect the cause. They found some staphylococcus in my breast milk but could not work out the cause. To this day we don’t know what triggered the septic shock.

During the first night in hospital my husband was waiting on one of the chairs in the waiting room right outside the ICU. At one point a doctor came out and told him the situation was bleak, they had just had to perform a mini-CPR to keep me alive. They also had to keep my blood pressure going by boosting me with medical adrenaline. I was hovering between life and death. Thank God by the morning things were slowly stabilizing.

The adrenaline is what saved my life. However, it came with a price. Since the purpose of adrenaline is to get the blood to support the inner organs, it drains the extremities of blood. This resulted in my arms and legs turning black. During the next few days the colour subsided a bit, leaving only my fingers and toes with permanent damage.

Over the next few days they removed the dialysis as my kidneys were once again functioning and were slowly decreasing the amount of oxygen the life support was sending. Then they started taking me out of the coma.
During all that time, the doctors were highly pessimistic. Firstly they said I might not survive. Then they said that even if I woke up, they could not guaranty I would not be brain-damaged. After I awoke, my parents and husband sat themselves near my bed and carefully asked me if I recognized them. I answered in a whisper (as a result of all the antibiotics I had completely lost my voice): You think I am stupid?? They were so relieved when they saw I was my former self!

My husband and parents were extremely supportive during this difficult time. There was always someone sitting next to me during visiting times. They spoke to me and tried to explain to me as much as they could. I could hardly talk so it was hard for me to ask questions. The nurses also tried to raise my spirits and would come in and chat. They would look at all the photos my mother had hung, asking me lots of questions about them.
My baby was placed in a foster home, as it was simply too difficult for my husband to juggle everything together. My heart went out for my baby. Every time I looked at the photo my mum had hung I would cry. I asked the nurse to take it down and have it in my bed. The foster family were extremely kind people and took amazing care of my baby. My husband would go see him every day. The hospital gave my family permission to bring him to the baby into the ICU so I could see him. It was an incredibly emotional moment.

When I was able to talk again, I started telling them what I had experienced during the days that I was in a semi-awake state. Turns out- some of the stuff was true and others were completely hallucinated!

When I woke up I could not move. All my muscles had been put to sleep and it was only through intense physio that I would be able to move again. It was extremely frustrating, but slowly I was able to move my hand a little, and then my feet. It took me several weeks to get to walk again.
Although the doctors estimated several weeks in the ICU and another 6 months in rehab, I recovered a lot faster than that. On the one hand I was extremely down. I cried a lot and was very bored. But on the other hand I was extremely determined to get well as soon as possible. I spend 2 weeks in the ICU and another 6 weeks in a regular unit. I lost 6 fingers but no toes. I am now looking into getting real-looking silicone prosthetics so I can look regular again.

Now that a year has passed, I reflect on everything that has happened. I have a lot to be grateful for. God has spared my life and I have my full strength back. I have an adorable one-year-old son who is the sunshine in my life. I have some dark moments when I still cry over my lost fingers. I miss playing keyboard and many tasks are difficult, such as buttoning my baby’s shirts.

The septic shock has definitely changed my life, but I try to continue being the cheerful person I always was. One day at a time.

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