Jose Carlos Romero-Herrera

Survivor

(JC and his mother Edna are featured in our short film, Faces of Sepsis.)

After 9 long months of waiting, my precious Jose Carlos (JC) arrived on 10/10/10. He was a healthy 9lbs. 1 oz baby boy who was giving my entire family lots of joy. However, on Nov. 1, 2010 (at exactly 3 weeks old), my worst nightmare had become a reality.

That early morning, around 3:00 am, he’d been up crying and moaning as if in pain. I figured it was just colic and eventually after an hour, he fell asleep and so did I. About seven hours later, I woke up amazed that he was still sleeping, but at the same time I figured I’d better awaken him so that he could eat. I massaged his legs and back to try and get him to wake up, but I got no response from him. I picked him up and figured that the diaper change for sure was going to awake him, but when I did… I knew something was terribly wrong.

I took his temperature and he had a fever of 102.3 and was extremely lethargic. His tiny body was completely loose like a rag doll and his tiny body was a pale grey all over. He wouldn’t wake up and I wasn’t getting any type of response from him. I called my mother and my husband and then rushed JC to Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas. The minute the nurse saw him, he was immediately rushed into the ER.

He was surrounded by about 15 hospital staff members from doctors, nurses, respiratory, etc. Respiratory team was doing oxygen with a bag, doctors were checking all vitals, and they drilled into his shins in case they needed to resuscitate him. Doctors kept telling me that they did not know what was wrong but were moving as quickly as possible to get an answer. Then, after a few hours, and no possible answer of what was wrong, he was moved into the PICU (Pediatric ICU). He’d received a CT scan on our way to the PICU and his heart rate was extremely high while his blood pressure was very low. That was Day 1 of 30.

JC4Day 2 – Still no answer as to what was wrong but I was told from the doctors that it didn’t look good for him. Blood was being drawn every hour, and blood, platelets, plasma, IVs, and LOTS of antibiotics were being given. He was already intubated and on a ventilator, but then his seizures started. An EEG machine was brought in to the already cluttered room to monitor brain activity and seizures. The doctors’ guess was that the cause of everything was GBS – Group B Strep which is tested on mothers during pregnancy but I’d tested negative and I’d had a normal, full-term delivery. However, once the seizures started, their guess was Meningitis. By that afternoon, Dr. Fernandez (Infectious Diseases) came in to see him and it was then that I heard the word sepsis for the first time. I’d never heard of the word and was clueless but figured it had to be bad.

That night was a touch and go night. Dr. Kerr was on duty that night and hardly moved from the room due to my JC’s tiny body now being in septic shock. His body had already swelled to about four times his normal size. He went from a size 1 diaper to a barely closing size 3 diaper. He was then switched from a ventilator to an oscillator for this breathing, had about 16 antibiotics via IV, blood drawn every hour, still receiving platelets, blood, plasma, seizure medications, and diuretics to hopefully reduce the massive swelling.

My husband and I were overwhelmed at the equipment in the room for such a tiny little person. We were still in shock about how we’d just sat there and enjoyed him a few hours ago and now were being told that we may not be bringing him back home with us. I was constantly being told that the best thing I’d done for him was to think quickly and had brought him into the hospital. One doctor even told me that I’d possibly saved his life because of how quickly I acted.

Day 4 – Some of the swelling had decreased but now the doctors want to confirm the meningitis. Their options to do so are by MRI or Lumbar Puncture. Their guess was that it was Bacterial Meningitis, and not viral meningitis. That didn’t help to the already bad news we’d been given. Multiple attempts were made to confirm the meningitis but throughout the 30 days that we were at the hospital, they were unable to confirm that this was the cause of the sepsis.

Doctors kept telling me “If he gets to go home, it won’t be good.” IF was NOT what I wanted to hear! Then after our first 10 of the total 30 days in the hospital, (Nov. 10, 2010), I was told by his neurologist “…when he goes home…” Those words were the most amazing words I’d heard in a long time! My baby was going to get to go home! To top it off, that day was amazing because his PICC line was finally in so LOTS of pumps (used to administer the antibiotics were removed from the room) and he was also extubated! I felt as if he was being reborn and given a second chance at life. At exactly 1 month old (4:37 pm) I was finally able to hold my baby again! His body was almost back to normal size, his breathing tube was removed, and he cried and finally opened his eyes again after those 10 very long days. The room hardly had medical equipment left in there and the ventilator was replaced by a rocking chair!

My Jose Carlos was a true fighter and according to Dr. Kerr “His recovery has been rather amazing!” Dr. Fernandez from Infectious Diseases would tell me on a daily basis, “He’s going to get worse before he gets better, but we cannot give up because he is fighting for his life.” And indeed he did. On our 12th day, we skipped past IMC (Intermediate Care) and went to the floor into what I called “our new apartment”.

We arrived at the hospital on 11/1/2010 and left on 11/30/2010. His last seizure was in the hospital the day before Thanksgiving! We had the most amazing and blessed of all Thanksgivings ever. We ate Whataburger in the hospital cafeteria with the entire family and it was the best!!!

If you look at my little miracle baby now, you’d have no idea whatsoever that he’d had such a rough and extremely difficult start to life in this world. After one week from being discharged from the hospital, he no longer qualified for therapies like speech for his feedings, since he’d been on a feeding tube the entire month but was now doing great! Physical and occupational therapists did not see a need to continue services either. His hearing was tested and came back perfect! Things couldn’t be better!!!

Right now, he’s a perfectly healthy 9 month old little boy. All I can say to you now, is that my precious Jose Carlos (JC) is a Septic Shock survivor JC1and we are forever grateful to everyone that saved his life!!! We will never know if his sepsis was from GBS or Bacterial Meningitis, but I feel so incredibly blessed that the entire hospital staff did move as quickly as they did. Antibiotics were immediately started as a precaution and if it wasn’t for them, my little miracle wouldn’t be with us today. I was told that if I’d waited a few more hours, he would not have survived. I learned more about GBS, seizures, meningitis, sepsis, and vitals that one month, than I’d ever learned in my entire life. I know that every case is different, but I pray that by me sharing our story will make you a little more aware of the extreme danger of this “sudden killer”.

Source: by Edna L. Herrera (JC's mother)

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