Julius Thompson

My father Julius Thompson was a hard working man who raised 5 children, me being the only girl. He worked all my life I never seen my dad mad or angry. He retired in 2015. He was on dialysis for 8 years and in 2015 he got an exciting breath taking call from Legacy. His name came up on the list for a kidney transplant, which he got in 2016.

He had a procedure done before his transplant that required him to have this object inserted in his groin area, which he didn’t know had taken place (maybe forgot due to the medication they gave him) but a couple months after that is when he mentioned the word sepsis.

Shortly after his transplant he got sick with h-pylori which is a bacteria that grows in the digestive tract and attacks the stomach lining. He was admitted into the hospital where they did numerous tests and he took lots of medication for the kidney to survive this bacteria along with medication to fight off this bacteria.

After all had settled down my dad mentioned sepsis to me again. He said keep it a secret because its not a good word to use in the hospitals. At that point I was confused but my father was a very smart man. so I knew this was something I had to keep my eyes and ears open for.

I came home from work in July 2017 and my dad was laid out on the floor. My mom was on the phone with 9-1-1 . M dad was struggling to breath. He was limp and unconscious. The ambulance came took him to the ER where they put a breathing tube in him. My mom thought he had passed. The doctor said “we’re not sure if he’s awake but you can talk to him to see if he responds”, so that’s what I did. I said “DAD!” “DAD!” and he woke up looked around but couldn’t talk. I was so happy. After that he stayed in the hospital for about 2 weeks. They said he had a heart attack that day.

July 2017 my dad developed cellulitis in his stomach. He said it felt like shingles, really tender to the touch. (Sepsis and Cellulitis) He had to get surgery because it got inflamed with fluid and started to pus up. After that procedure he had a home nurse come to the house to help take care of his stomach. He got a wound vac that he didn’t like because it made too much noise. The doctors said they wanted him to heal from the inside out. He was at home with an open abdominal wound from left to right no stitches or staples.

On September 19 2017, my dad was outside doing a little yard work, as little as possible because his feet were swollen like bowling balls and couldn’t stand for long periods of time due to his kidney function and potassium levels, he retained a lot of fluid in his feet.

I came home from work around 630 pm that day and noticed he was in the bed already. I thought that was early for my dad to be in the bed so I asked my mom what’s wrong with him. She said, “his leg hurt and he felt tired”. I was ok with that.

September 20th in the morning I got a call from my daughter saying “grandpa is sick,” and my mom was taking him to the doctor. I thought this was another one of those visits where he couldn’t eat or had taken his medicine wrong because there was so much.

That after noon I get another call from my daughter. “Mom you need to go to the hospital grandpa isn’t responding.”

When I got there he was up and alert. My mom said the doctors said he had a seizure. My dad couldn’t believe it, that wasn’t normal for my dad. He said, “look at my leg it hurts.” I did. It was swollen and it looked like he had a rash. They took him to get a CT and I went along. He fell asleep on the way down there and was snoring very loud, I didn’t think anything of it but when I looked at him one time, he had thick saliva coming out of his mouth. I asked for assistance because when I wiped his mouth he wasn’t responding to my touch. The nurse said he might be having another seizure. which could last up to any where from 10 to 45 minutes. I was scared because he wasn’t responding at all but still breathing.

They took my dad to ICU where he got a breathing tube. My dad was unresponsive on the 20th and 21st but on the 22nd he opened his eyes to his name being called, responded to the doctors a little bit. He tried to talk but couldn’t. I was happy and excited to see his eyes. I thought he was in a coma. I stayed 3 days and 3 nights with my dad my mom was there of course in ICU and I watched him pass away on September 23 2017.

His legs were swollen like tree branches and blisters formed they called it necrotizing fasciitis. (Sepsis and Necrotizing Fasciitis)
His kidneys and body shut down.
He had sepsis/septic shock and pseudomonas.

I find my self asking questions now but to all the families, stay aware of what is going on with your love ones and educate yourselves. and always ask questions and never give up.

God Bless

Sincerely,
Confused and Heart Broken

Source: Lakeisha Thompson, Daughter