Linette Chanthavong

I had just graduated from college in Salem, Oregon, in 2016. After graduation, I began my journey of having my own personal business and as an intern in my field of study. Things were going great, I saved up enough money to go on vacation with people I cared about and I was gaining confidence in my work.

Shortly after my trip, I started feeling ill. I thought I might have picked up a flu or something similar while traveling but it became something worse. I remembered lying down having intense stomach pains, my body was achy and cold. I kept drinking as much water as I could, like I was dying of thirst, and I had no idea why this flu was not like any other. Then it hit. I started shivering uncontrollably and I was having difficulty breathing. It was like I was having a seizure but I was still conscious. I had to use as much energy as I could to yell for help then I was rushed to the emergency room. I could barely walk from all the shaking. I was being transported by wheelchair or else I would just fall over. What felt like forever I finally got a room.

Immediately I was being hooked up to several IV drips. Test after test and I was moved into ICU when my body began to calm down. The shaking/shivering was caused by a fever and intense dehydration which dropped my blood pressure to 78. I had to stay overnight for more tests, scans, and to get my blood pressure up. Eventually I was diagnosed with sepsis, pelvic inflammatory disease, and bacterial vaginosis. (Sepsis and Bacterial Infections) There was an infection building up in my right Fallopian tube and it got into my bloodstream. As soon as it got into my bloodstream, the infection spread through my body like wildfire and I was shutting down. The day after I was able to switch buildings since I was recovering more quickly than expected. Several days past and after many antibiotics I was able to go home. I just needed to go to an IV clinic every day until the infection went away.

Then I had to go back. Something was wrong.

The pain was still there. The fever was still spiking. I went back to the ER and they had to do some more tests. Apparently when I was sent home, someone recorded the size of the infection at 0.9cm but the actual size was 9.0cm. Due to the size of the infection, I needed surgery. There was one surgical attempt while I was awake but the puss was so thick they had to try another method. The second method was successful but they were not able to get the entire infection out. The placed a tube where the infection was located and had it drain into a suction vessel which needed to be measured every time it was emptied. I still had the drainage tube after leaving the hospital and I was back to visiting the IV clinic every day.

I was in the hospital for two weeks.
I was on that drainage tube for about three weeks.
I was healing from the surgery after removing the drainage tube for about two more weeks.
I was on IV drip antibiotics for about five weeks after the hospital.

After being fully healed, I did some more research on what sepsis is exactly. I was shocked to hear that I have never heard of this disease before that could take people’s lives.

Everything that happened to me still haunts me to this day. It took a major mental toll from the series of events I went through.

I want to inform people how this disease should not be taken lightly and be aware of its symptoms before its too late.