Earnestine Burden

My mother was a hard-working, high spirited, loving lady. She was a joy to be around. On Friday, November 3, 2017 I received a phone call from my sister saying our mother, Earnestine Burden had fainted on the bathroom floor. The ambulance was called and she was taken to the nearest hospital. After about five hours at the first hospital, her condition didn’t improve with treatment and she was now considered critical care and needed to be placed in an Intensive Care Unit. The hospital she was at was not equipped to handle critical care patients so she needed to be transferred to another hospital.

I arrived at the first hospital as the transport ambulance arrived to transport her. I was able to speak with her nurse and she told me everything they had done and where she was now and she needed Intensive Care. As the transport ambulance arrived as well, her breathing had become a problem for her as well. When she arrived at the second hospital and placed in ICU, they started her on all kinds of medicines and breathing treatments for all issues and started tests. By that time it was getting late and the doctor had advised us that we could go home and get some rest and come back in the morning, they would have some answers for us.

The next morning about 6 am, we received a call from the hospital stating that Mother’s breathing issues did not lessen with original treatments and she further required to be on a ventilator. We immediately get back to the hospital and was immediately summoned by the intensive care doctor. He explained to us that our mother was suffering from sepsis and had gone into septic shock. At that time she was requiring all medicines available, at maximum dosage to raise and sustain her blood pressure. With those types of medicines and dosages there were a book of concerns and after effects. Because she was requiring so many drugs at high dosages her heart could give out at any moment. They were treating her with heavy antibiotics to find the source of an infection. Her kidneys at that time had little to no function but they couldn’t focus on treating the functionality of the kidneys without her sustaining her blood pressure and being taken off some of those medicines.

With the last medicine administered for the low blood pressure she began to sustain a low but steady blood pressure. The intensivist still told us to prepare for the worst. Broken-hearted I chose to sign a DNR. Mother was severely medicated and sedated and she was declared in a coma requiring full life support. During the septic shock she was connected to all machines to monitor brain activity and waves for signs of seizures and strokes. The hospital intensivist worked bi-weekly shifts and we were introduced to a new doctor that Sunday. He presented us with all of her medical conditions and the likelihood of her survival and or waking up and all the options available for treatment.

My sister and I made the medical decisions to agree to proceed with further treatment in hopes that it would help. We agreed to proceed with further treatment, heavy dialysis and a feeding tube which she was given a diabetic shake. The dialysis worked in relieving fluid and waste but it did nothing to help the functionality of the kidneys. While the shake only caused her sugar levels to rise (diagnosed as a Type II diabetic 10 days prior) and eventually her bowel became blocked and did not pass the shake. So it was in-turn being sucked back out while also dealing with the side effects of the medicines administered for the low blood pressure, loss of circulation. Circulation issues presented in two of her limbs. Clearing up the waste that is circulating the bloodstream is impossible without functionality of the kidneys or permanent dialysis.

After about two weeks of being in the same state, we were faced with new options yet none of them seemed to be in reality a cure or of any help. We also informed that in her state, death is eminent and there’s a thing called dying with dignity. Because she was still requiring full life support we could withdraw care and let her pass in hospice or we could do other procedures that won’t extend quality of life but her time of life. Faced with some of the hardest decisions ever, we decided to withdraw care and let her die with dignity. After all necessary paperwork was signed to withdraw care it was time for a new intensivist. When we met with him to confirm withdraw of care he explained that she no longer needed full life support and was actually showing signs of waking up. He decided she could come off the ventilator. After almost three weeks my mother came out of her coma and was taken off the ventilator. It was a true miracle that she survived through the sepsis to wake up and talk to us again.

The doctor believed that due to her recent conditions and treatment she had developed signs of early dementia. She was still requiring dialysis and some days her body couldn’t take the dialysis treatment. Having been on the ventilator for so long she had developed pneumonia as well. We were just happy to hear her voice again and see her smile. After she woke up we thought that would change things about her initial prognosis but it didn’t. We were informed that her liver was damaged during the septic shock and once it’s damaged there’s only time before the other organs shutdown as well. After coming out of her coma she was informed of the circulation damage from prior medicines and agreed to amputations of the affected limbs. After all care was given she was moved to hospice where she received comfort care until she transitioned December 2, 2017. Her story is somewhat a survival and tribute story. We were told to prepare for the worst but she fought 29 days before ultimately transitioning due to acute renal failure with sepsis. I’m ready to tell her story and help spread awareness on sepsis.

Source: Ashley Burden, Daughter