Jerry Dority

My father was 54 years old. He worked very hard everyday. He traveled on the road. At some point, he developed pneumonia and was not aware. (Sepsis and Pneumonia) On Friday, September 22, 2017, he visited my business and was coughing bad, he kept laying his head down on the table. He went to the restroom and spent a considerable amount of time in there. I was not there until that afternoon. He didn’t stay long, as he didn’t feel good and went home to lay down.

I went by his home that night. He was on the couch resting. I didn’t stay long. He had food, drinks, seemed to just have a bug going around. He continued to lay on that couch the entire weekend. His complaints were that he couldn’t breath and had bad heart burn. I talked to him about going to the doctor or emergency room throughout the weekend. He became agitated about that. Didn’t answer questions I was asking to try to figure out what was wrong. Sunday, September 24, 2017, I took him food because he wasn’t eating. He did eat that night. I had a conversation with him. I cried, told him how worried I was and asked again for him to go to a doctor. He told me he had to work, could not miss. I never heard from him Monday as he worked all day and went straight to bed. His drive was a 2-hour drive back and forth to work. He was an operating engineer for the union.

On Tuesday morning, September 26th, he called me at 8 in the morning asking if I’d make him a doctor’s appointment. In my mind, by then, it was too late. His regular doctor had me drive him to the emergency room. I then requested he be transferred as no trauma unit existed at our small town ER. We sat there for hours with no IV fluids or anything. He was finally admitted into ICU at 8pm Tuesday night. He had all signs of septic shock but the doctors kept pinning it on other previous health issues.

He was shaking, very upset that the sides of his stomach were hurting so bad. He was hungry but could not eat. He was thirsty. He could not breath. His belly was filled with liquid. He didn’t know the date or year we were in. He kept telling me to take him home. In less than 24 hours, his kidneys were not functioning. I asked of we could try a kidney transplant with one of my own. They told me it wasn’t that bad yet. On Wednesday, September 27th, less than 24 hours, he would die. He slept most of Wednesday, people came to see him. At around 8pm on the 2nd night in the ICU, he declined swiftly. His blood pressure was in the 50s, his heart rate was high, low or off, his heart finally gave out. If I had known what sepsis was, if I had known the signs and symptoms, he would still be here today. I am not sure if he ever knew what was happening in his last hours here on Earth.

Source: Adrienne, his daughter