Harley G.

Right around my 12th birthday, so 2013, I developed a fever that progressed so rapidly my mother took me to the emergency room. I was there the whole day, they took my blood and a urine sample, told my mother I had the flu, and sent me home. I got worse at home and Tylenol stopped working to lower my fever at all, but the next morning we got a very panicked phone call telling us to come back. It turns out I had salmonella growth in my blood cultures.

I had an incredibly traumatic 20-hour stay in the emergency room until they found me a bed to admit me. Once I was admitted I was put on an IV drip of Cipro for a week and then sent home with a very long course of the antibiotics. After I was done with that course I got my blood tested and I was still septic. I went on a Cipro rollercoaster for a little over a year before being fully in remission. I’ve had terrible mental and physical health issues ever since, but I was already a sickly and mentally ill individual, so it took me a very long time to understand that the increase in symptoms could be related to the sepsis.

I had about three years of the worst insomnia I could imagine, there was a month where I was sleeping about 45 minutes a week. I stopped eating, my body felt like it was on fire all the time, it activated my already present OCD to the point where I was engaging in very dangerous compulsions, I was physically weak and exhausted, I kept passing out, and I lost a huge amount of weight for a growing child. But now, with time and coping, I’m doing a lot better, I’m still mentally ill and sickly but when that’s what you’ve known you create your own sunshine. I have a lovely partner and several lovely pets to share my sunshine with, and in return they shower me with affection and support when I need it. Life can get so much better.