Jamie McNeal

My story started with me having a fever of 100 degrees. It was a hot day and I was working all day. By the time I got home from work, my fever was 104! I called my brother who is a medical professional and he told me to get to the ER fast. I went to the hospital and they told me I was septic and needed antibiotics right away. They put a line in my jugular and started giving me antibiotics.

My blood pressure fell to 60 over 48. I didn’t realize how sick I was until the admitted me to the ICU. I was calm as could be for some reason. The next day my temp got up to 105.3. I had to be out on a cooling blanket and be packed with ice! I was miserable. It was so cold my teeth were chattering and I was shivering. My temp finally broke sometime in the night and I was sent to a regular room. In the mean time my left leg started developing these big blisters full of fluid. They were huge. I had never seen anything like it. Turns out I had strep throat and coughed in my hand and then picked a scab the bled and strep was able to enter my blood stream. (Sepsis and Bacterial Infections) My leg looked terrible. I thought I was going to lose it being diabetic and all. (Sepsis and Diabetes) I had an 8-day stay in the hospital and then had home health nurses coming to my home. I started going to wound care the following week. Luckily the infection was only between my first and second layer of skin. I’m still going to wound care, but they think it will be healed well enough in 2 more weeks. Being that sick was a very scary event. I’m just glad I listened to my brother and went to the ER when I did. It saved my life.