Laura Goodkind

I am 27 years old and in the past three months, have had the run through with the medical system:

In January 2014, after being in hospital for 10 days, I was placed on outpatient status. The first day I was an outpatient, I was re-admitted because my vitals were off. My B/P was elevated, and the low-grade temperature I had been running for about a week rose slightly.

I thought it was ridiculous that I was being re-admitted, yet four hours after being officially re-admitted, I pressed the nurse call button, unable to sleep, and unable to swallow without a lot of pain.

The nurse took my temperature, and my temperature had suddenly spiked dangerously high. A doctor came to see me and couldn’t quite figure out what was wrong. In the middle of our conversation, I coughed up bloody mucous. My breathing began to increase and was a bit shallow at this point.

My blood was pretty much immediately cultured, and after two hours, the doctor came to tell me, “You have a severe infection, but we don’t know where it’s coming from.” Infection markers were elevated. They never did locate where the infection was. I presume it was from improper placement of PPN line (peripheral parenteral nutrition – a special type of IV that provides nutrients in a liquid form), and contents leaking into my bloodstream.

I was on IV antibiotics for about 1.5 days and discharged 3 to 4 days after being readmitted. I think I was fortunate it was caught and treated early on.

The story does not end there however. I was back in hospital about 1.5 months ago for 19 days. A feeding tube was placed towards the end of my stay, in an effort to prevent re-hospitalizations for acquisition of nutrients.

I told the doctor the tube did not feel right. He dismissed my concerns. Long story short, his suturing was too tight and an infection began to develop around 2 of the 3 areas with sutures. 10 days after discharge, I went to the equivalent of an urgent care center and was prescribed antibiotics and antimicrobial scrub.

Two days later, rather than feeling better, I felt worse. I was debating whether or not to return to hospital, because I figured since I didn’t have a fever, the infection couldn’t be that bad. Wrong, this is how I learned even more about sepsis and how a fever really isn’t necessary. I was immediately admitted and placed on antibiotics, and fluids were pushed into me at some points. My B/P was incredibly low for about three days. Infection markers in my blood were quite elevated.

The way I describe sepsis to people is the feeling you have when you have the flu… aches all over, spreading to the outside of the body. Sepsis is an ache that develops at your core and goes deeper and deeper. There’s a reason the condition is often referred to as blood poisoning. I felt nauseated-not from pain or aches but rather because I could feel my blood was “bad” all over.

Be careful, at least one of the times I had sepsis was a result of medical neglect and incompetence. Read up, educate yourself, stay informed, and most of all, I hope you never have to go through this, stay well!

Perhaps as a suggestion to others, I can add that I have a medic alert bracelet, and recently updated the record with “history of sepsis/severe sepsis.