Judy Aldana

My mother had back surgery for 2 herniated discs on June 16th, 2015. Her surgery was suppose to be a fairly simple surgery with minimal risk as we were told by the surgeon.  (Sepsis and Surgery) My mother was so excited to finally get her back taken care of so she could live the full life of a very active, young and healthy 61-year-old.

I took my mother to the surgery center for her procedure and the surgery lasted several hours it seemed until it was time for me to pick her up. My mother came home with me where she had lived with me, my husband and her grandchildren since my father had died many years prior. Of course I wouldn’t have it any other way. My mom was the center of my children’s and my world. Needless to say the next few days she began to complain of severe pain in her legs and we did what anyone would do which was ring the doctors phone off the hook. Unfortunately we received no reply for quite some time and when we did it was just for a narcotic which did not help.

My mother continued to complain of unrelenting pain for days so I called 911 and had her taken to the nearest hospital and they listened to us in regards to her having a recent back surgery for the herniated disk and how she was having back pain along, stomach distention and low platelet count but to our dismay she was sent home. That first ER visit was 5 days after her original surgery. Her pain never let up and she was during all of this time very lethargic and unable to walk without assistance.

I again 3 days later called 911 because my mother on the morning of the 911 call was unable to tell me anything but her name. She was not oriented to place to time and was unable to get up or move. Her decline in mental status was staggering. This time I requested she be taken to a different hospital due to the fact I felt the last hospital did not listen to my concerns. This time my mother was admitted but originally they though made she had been over medicated and then they re assessed and realized that was not the case and decided she has a severe case of sepsis and by this point things, seemed to move at such a fast pace I could hardy catch my breath. I could only hold my mothers hand and watch her slowly die in front of my eyes.

The more meds they gave her to infuse her vital organs the less she received to her fingers and toes and I could only watch them lose their color and turn so blue. This was such a horrible thing for me to experience. My mother began to run a extremely high fever of >104. Nothing about sepsis is forgiving and I was told they had no way of finding it in time. My best friend, my mentor, my children grandmother, my MOTHER was taken by this ugly ugly thing only 11 days after her minimally invasive back surgery.

Source: Jennifer, Judy's daughter