Melissa P.

I started feeling sick on a Saturday. I vomited and my heart started racing. The next day, I felt worse. My fever started rising, my blood pressure went up and I was panting more than breathing. When my fever spiked at 104.3° I decided to go to the ER. By the time I got there, my fever had gone down a little, but blood pressure was 193/119, respiration was 23, heart heart was 133 and fever was still 102.8. I was moved ahead in the waiting room. I didn’t know it, but the doctor put me on a sepsis protocol because I scored 4 of 4 for indicators of sepsis. My white blood cell count was 18.8 which further confirmed how sick I was.

I was given two course of IV as well as fluids to hydrate me. Despite this fluid, I had no need to urinate. Despite being diabetic, I wasn’t given any nourishment not fed even after nausea passed. (Sepsis and Diabetes) My husband went home and went to bed at 2 in the morning. The nurse decided I wasn’t sick and told him I only had a bug. She told me this too, many times. After being there for about 15 hours, little sleep and no food, she had me sign a paper so I could go home. I didn’t know I had been diagnosed with sepsis or that the doctor admitted me. The next day I ended up at urgent care with severe sepsis, near septic shock. The doctor spoke to the hospital and found out about the diagnosis and told me. She prescribed me the strongest antibiotic and made me promise to go back if not getting better in 2 to 3 days. Fortunately, with the combination of the IV antibiotics I received at the hospital and the ones the doctor gave me, I improved. I hate to think what would have happened had I not gone to urgent care.

Source: Melissa Page