Fiona Gray

I gave birth to our daughter in Sept 2014. Apart from the usual challenges of a new baby, everything was going well. Our little family was living life to the fullest and life was good. Then, 10 months later in July 2015 our world turned upside down.

I’d been suffering a recurring sore throat for months. I thought I was just run down being a new mum and didn’t think much of it. Little did I know, a storm was brewing inside me.

In the early hours of 12 July 2015, I was settling my daughter after she’d woken. As I left her room I banged my elbow quite hard but gave it a rub and went back to bed. An hour or so later I awoke to golf ball size swelling on my elbow and extreme pain. Within two hours I was shivering uncontrollably and rocking back and forth screaming for my husband to take me to hospital.

I spent 12 hours in the emergency with staff checking me for a dislocated elbow and various other ideas. No one knew what was wrong. My heart rate kept increasing and my blood pressure was dropping. Mid-afternoon an orthopaedic surgeon drew some fluid from my elbow and decided it was bursitis, and to admit me for surgery the following day as he thought there might be an infection present.

I arrived in a ward in the evening and my blood pressure was routinely checked. It had hit 60/40. The nurse advised she needed to call a team from ICU as I was in septic shock. That nurse saved my life.

While I was prepped for emergency surgery, they put a phone to my ear and asked me to quickly let my husband know what was going on. I then signed forms to agree to the surgery even though I had eaten only an hour or so earlier. They let me know I was very, very sick and this was very serious. It then hit me, I might not wake up. A sudden calm came over me. I told myself there’s nothing I can do. If I wake up I’m going to make it.

I woke up in the early hours of the following morning on a ventilator. Immediately I wanted to fight. I was moaning and breathing around the tube. I knew then I was alive and was going to make it.

I spent three days in ICU. After a brief scare of necrotising fasciitis on the second day that was thankfully cleared, it was confirmed on the third that my infection was group A strep. My antibiotics were then more targeted and I spent a further three days in high dependency (that included a diagnosis of pneumonia) and then several more days in a ward. (Sepsis and Pneumonia) I was still breastfeeding at the time and also suffered an interesting PIC line complication that resulted in a burst milk duct. I had milk leaking near my collar bone! It turned out to be very intriguing for the doctors and nurses. We just found it funny.

It took me a good 3 months to feel remotely normal and now at the 12-month mark, I can say I’m almost back to normal. My ongoing side effects are memory loss and brain fog, weakened immune system, fever and chills (I say I have a broken thermostat). My biggest challenge has been others’ understanding. At work I was asked “when will your arm be better”? My arm was the least of my worries.

Today almost 12 months later, I’m just so thankful to be alive. I count my blessings daily and don’t sweat the small stuff so much. I have an amazing husband and beautiful daughter plus the love and support of our wider family and friends.

I want to do whatever I can to increase sepsis awareness – particularly here in Australia. I’ll be making a big effort in September for World Sepsis Day, but I try and spread awareness any way I can, every day. Hearing other sepsis and septic shock stories has been therapeutic for me and I encourage anyone that would like to make contact to do so.