Linda Buckley

It was Tuesday, November 21st 2017, 2 days before Thanksgiving, and I was working from home. I had been feeling fine, working while talking to a friend on the phone. I remember telling her that I just starting feeling weird and I may be getting sick. A half hour later I’m laying in bed freezing and sweating trying not to vomit, then fell asleep for about 2 hours. When I woke up I felt better and went back to my desk and kept working. I worked for another hour then it all started again. I had typical flu symptoms X 100. I was so cold it hurt, I was shivering so bad that my chest neck and back muscles were killing me. I was so cold I wanted to call the ambulance just so I wouldn’t have to get out of bed and away from my covers.

My husband and son finally got me into the car and we went to the ER. While in triage I told the nurse everything that happened and also told her that I have been septic before (15 years ago) and I feel like I did then. She told me it’s probably the flu, swabbed my nose, put a mask on me and sent me back to the waiting room. By this time I’m now hot, sweating bullets and my clothes are drenched.

So now I’m in the ER as a flu patient which puts me behind pretty much everyone else that walks through the door. 3 hours later the flu culture came back negative. While I didn’t want the flu, I realize now that would have been the easy way out. Thankfully I get to be seen now.

After what felt like 100 sticks, pokes, tests, blood work and a CT scan they tell me I have a UTI, sepsis and would be admitted. (Sepsis and Urinary Tract Infections) I had no symptoms of having a UTI.

I was transferred to the Telemetry unit my first night because my BP was 80/40 with a resting heart rate in the 170s. Watching nurses and doctors get themselves prepared for me to go into septic shock is something I never want to experience again! Thankfully I never went into septic shock.

I don’t really remember much of the next two days but I know they struggled getting my BP up and my heart rate down. My blood cultures came back and showed the bacterial infection in my blood was e coli. The antibiotics they had been giving me were perfect for this strand so we were on the right track.

By Saturday I was feeling pretty ok with the exception of shallow breathing and low oxygen levels. I was in pretty good spirits the last couple days and was ready to be home. I came home this morning, Sunday the 26th.
My husband cooked Thanksgiving dinner, our kids came over and we spent the day together. It was awesome!

Now that the kids are gone and everything is not so chaotic, I sit here and try to wrap my head around everything that happened and I can’t stop crying.