Jayce Carty

December 2017, a few weeks before Christmas, we had taken my son Jayce (8 years old at the time) to the doctor on a Monday because of him being sick and throwing up. He also threw up at the doctor’s, but he tested negative for flu so they did nothing except give him Zofran for his nausea.
He started getting worse, weak and throwing up more, I took him back to the doctor Wednesday and he tested positive for flu and strep. (Sepsis and Influenza, Sepsis and Group A Streptococcus) He also had an allergic reaction to the Zofran, which they said was really rare. And that doctor visit, he was looking really awful. I had to help him walk and he was just lousy feeling.

Thursday he tells me he is dizzy and he feels like he is floating, that kinda alarmed me, but I have never had the flu so I was thinking ok, maybe this is just the flu and he has a bad case, and his other symptoms of stomach pain, sleeping a lot, all this I thought was just from flu and strep. But by Friday we realized we need t take him to the ER, he is not getting better, he is severely dizzy, he is in what seemed like constant paint and throwing up. I couldn’t even keep the meds down him of what they have me on Wednesday, or even water.

So we took him to children’s hospital. He was so weak he couldn’t walk. They were quick getting us back where they put him on IV. He was dehydrated and potassium was really low. We ended up getting a room for his overnight stay. The next day he looked like he was getting better, but they couldn’t (or at least made us think they didn’t know) why his blood pressure was so low, but he acted fine, his stomach still hurt and even more when he ate. We had to try to get him to take potassium which is awful tasting and he threw it up. Counter productive.

He went through so many IVs, they kept going bad and would swell his arm, my poor guy. So Saturday night they mentioned maybe going to ICU for his blood pressure, but never heard anything else. Come Sunday he seemed like he was getting better. Then we bathed him, which we shouldn’t have as that room was freezing. It was hard to warm him, and then his fever came back, which he had had on and off. So my husband goes home to our girls, because they didn’t ever mention ICU again until later that evening, maybe between 6 and 9 he got sent to ICUm which was so scary and overwhelming because once in the room, I had to sit on the couch while all these nurses and doctor were crowded around him, checking him out and taking care of him. Come to find out he had sepsis, which I had no idea it ever existed until then. The doctor explained to me what it was, of course it was a big blow as I was crying and overwhelmed and that they had to put him under to put a breathing tube in (I forgot he was having trouble breathing too) which was risky as he already had low blood pressure this could stop his heart. But thank the Lord it all went ok!

My brother came to be with me as that was happening, it was over an hour we had to wait for it to be done. My husband was also on his way back. That was the scariest thing in the world! The next day he was still out, they kept him sedated, but he came out of it either Monday or Tuesday and they decided to let him stay awake (usually they keep the kids asleep) but he did so good, he didn’t get agitated or pull on the tube so he got to stay awake. He had 11 IVs. One was the artery line, a big one in his neck with a few in, 2 at his feet, arms…poor guy was totally wired. I forget how far into the ICU stay it was but he needed a blood transfusion, which of course with our luck he got the risks it came with. He had a reaction from it, just some itching but that means if he ever needs a transfusion in the future he has to get premedicated and other risks are higher now. Oh yes he was swollen all over from the IVs infiltrating, his heart was a bit swollen as well. They were concerned of that spreading to other organs, which luckily it didn’t and the heart swelling went down in time. He was in ICU for nearly 2 weeks. He was such a trooper! And we are so lucky he has no long term affects from this!
I’m pretty sure this was a miracle! God took care of my boy!

I think he had it before we took him into the ER and I just can’t believe how blessed we are this didn’t turn worse, the doctors and nurses were so amazed at how fast he started to recover in the ICU.
He luckily got out of the hospital a week before Christmas!