Megan Jones

Survivor

In 2004 I had a routine knee surgery to fix an old soccer injury go very wrong. A week after surgery I was rushed into an emergency surgery to deal with a raging and nearly fatal MRSA infection. (Sepsis and Surgery) I had surgery after surgery and spent months on IV antibiotics. In 2007 I had my 18th surgery – amputation. I asked my surgeons to amputate my leg above the knee because I’d been in pain 24/7 for over a year. My knee joint was completely destroyed and the lower part of my leg was essentially at that point, dead weight. I couldn’t walk on it or use it in any way. Ending the pain was my main goal but the hope was also that amputation would end the infections. Unfortunately, the infections continued and still continue to this day.

In 2013 I developed a pseudomonas infection in my stump. That was the first time I learned what sepsis really is. I came out of a surgery in a bad way. I was taken to the ICU and I don’t really remember much about that hospitalization. I scared a lot of people that day.

Due to the amount of abuse my veins have taken over the years with potent antibiotics, they’ve become weak and hard to access so a port was placed in my chest. In August, the port became infected. I found myself freezing cold, shaking uncontrollably, a racing heart (135 bpms), in a lot of pain and with fevers between 101 and 103. I informed my infectious disease doctor and we were working on scheduling a time to take the port out when I had another bout of chills, uncontrollable shaking, pain and a fever.

I was brought into the hospital the next day and put on the emergency schedule to have the port removed. Surgery went very well and I left the OR in good shape. I hadn’t been in the PACU for more than 10 minutes when I began shaking hard and was once again absolutely freezing. I wasn’t breathing well and given nebulizer treatments. They kept taking my temperature and at its height, I had a fever of 106 with a heart rate of 142. I don’t have much memory of it, just glimpses. They managed to break the fever. I wasn’t sent to the ICU this time because I also suffer from severe PTSD related to medical things, as well as the fact that my oldest sister had passed away from brain cancer not even a full year earlier, and when I thought of the ICU, I not only thought of my own time there but of seeing her there and my PTSD went into hyper drive. I was kept in the PACU where ICU sends its overflow when there aren’t any beds available.

A few hours later I looked at my amazing nurse and told him to please tell me that I was feeling cold because the PACU was cold. Of course, the PACU wasn’t cold. I was sliding back into sepsis. My BP bottomed out and my fever rose again and I began to shake. They again got it under control and things began to turn around for me. I didn’t know until later that a number of doctors and nurses I know from having had over 60 surgeries had come through, seen me, heard that my temperature was 106, and thought for sure that they’d come back to the PACU after their next surgeries and I’d be gone. Later I was asked if my head hurt and when I said it did I was told, “Well Jesus Meg, you boiled your brain!”

I’d known what sepsis was and that it was something everyone feared would happen to me at some point because I do my research and I’d been battling infections for 11 years. I hadn’t known just how scary it is. When they removed the port, all of the manipulation sent bacteria rushing into my bloodstream causing the septic reaction.

I blew 6 different IVs, including one that had been placed in my external jugular in my neck. The reason behind my going septic after the removal of the port is that it was extremely colonized with bacteria that was seeded into my system and into the port from the leg, and when it was manipulated to remove it, bacteria was released into my entire system. I’m just lucky it happened in the hospital or else it would have killed me. I’m just so thankful to still be here and so thankful to the amazing medical team I have, who were on top of things immediately and helped me pull through. I’ve had one or two wonder out loud if I’m even human because I continue to pull through surgeries and infections and now have survived a 106 degree fever and sepsis.

You don’t walk away from a 106 fever without some lasting damage. I’m just glad that my sense of humor wasn’t damaged since humor is a big part of my being able to get through everything that has happened. When it was all over and we knew I was definitely stable in the morning I was able to joke with my nurses that if we had it on video we could make our own version of the old drug commercial with the egg: This is Meg. This is Meg with sepsis. Any questions? They hit me but they laughed and knew I’d be alright if I could make jokes like that.

 

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