Marissa Bridgeman

My story with sepsis began in the fall of 2017. At the time I was 22 years old and taking classes to apply to get my masters in speech language pathology. I have always been healthy and active, but I was about to find out that sepsis just doesn’t care.

I was having severe lower back pain prior to going to the doctor. I remember feeling sick, but I figured I was just constipated or coming down with the flu or something. I never thought that this would happen to me. I have never been afraid of doctors, I just didn’t think what was happening to me needed medical attention. I was in a new relationship at the time, and I remember having my boyfriend go and buy me Miralax, a heating pad, and Advil to try and get the pain to go away. That night I remember waking up in a pool of sweat and then all of a sudden shivering because I was so cold, it was like that all night. Looking back now, that is when I should have gone into the emergency room. The next morning, my boyfriend went off to class, and I told him I wasn’t feeling the best still so I was just going to stay home and sleep it off.

After he left, the pain in my lower back started to become unbearable. I decided to call my sister who lived an hour away, and I remember just sobbing because I didn’t know what was wrong. I debated on just going to get some Metamucil to help get my digestive tract moving, but thank goodness my sister urged me to go to the clinic. I drove myself to the clinic to go and see a walk in doctor. When the nurse came up to me, I was hunched over in pain and she asked me if I was Marissa, and I just started crying even more. They brought me back to the room and the walk in doctor just so happened to be one of my sister’s good friends, and I remember being so thankful because whatever was going on with me I knew she would get to the bottom of it and not just tell me this was a virus.

I have never been so scared about what the results were going to be. My temperature was extremely high, my heart rate was crazy fast, the only good thing was that my blood pressure hadn’t dropped, which I soon found out was incredible. My sister arrived shortly after I had been given a bunch of tests and was waiting for the results; the nurses gave me an ice pack because my fever had broken and I was dripping in sweat. I soon found out that my kidneys were infected and starting to shut down, which explained the severe lower back pain. I had been diagnosed with pyelonephritis and sepsis.

I remember being so scared, because anytime I had heard the word sepsis it was because someone died from it. I was then admitted into the hospital for five days, being pumped full of fluids. I was lucky enough to not have to go to the ICU, but if I would have waited one more day, the doctors said that’s where I would have been. I had the most supportive boyfriend and family during this hard time, and I still think about that time in my life quite a bit. We have no idea where the infection started; I still get flashbacks, and every time my back hurts I always wonder if it is happening again. I was definitely one of the lucky ones, and I am so happy that I can share my story in hopes of teaching someone about the warning signs of sepsis.