Douglass Clark

In March 2017, I was diagnosed with stage 4 kidney disease with a dead kidney on my right side. The decision to remove the dead kidney was put off as I was otherwise healthy for a 66-year-old. I work in the oil fields of South Texas as an Emissions Technician.

I was working my last hitch in the field around Laredo in July 2017. It was brutally hot. I remember finishing up on Thursday evening and going to work on Friday for half a day. I do not remember anything else until I woke up in the ICU and my urologist asking me if I had been exposed to meningitis. I said yes but 40 years ago when my mother contracted it. I was release after 2 weeks with the diagnosis of septic shock, mononucleosis, and meningitis and fitted with a urostomy bag to drain the right kidney. I was very weak and had lost 45 lbs. (Sepsis and Meningitis)

In October 2017 it was determined that I was well enough to have my right kidney removed. All went well but recovery was slow and was released after 5 days. Then a week later I ended up in the hospital again for blood clots in my left leg and chest. Another week in the hospital. Again in December I was admitted for gallbladder infection for yet another week and released. Two days before Christmas 2017 and the day before Christmas 2018, I went to the ER for inflamed gallbladder.

The sepsis has aggravated other health issues that I have had. In March 2018 I had cataracts in both eyes remove and in September 2018 I had to have tubes put back in my ears which have since come out. I tried to return to work but retired due to extreme fatigue. I suffer from frequent memory lapses. I readily fall asleep during the day and have trouble sleeping at night. I am not able to do any heavy labor such as mowing my lawn. I have tinnitus most of the time. I have been to several specialists in the area but I am not aware of any sepsis awareness groups in this area. I am slowly accepting the fact that I can no longer do some the things I did just two years ago.