M. Waite

I went in on August 18th 2016 for a routine laparoscopic hysterectomy, I was 36 years old. (Sepsis and Surgery) During my surgery, my physician ran antibiotics to prevent infection since I would need a catheter and I am high risk for a UTI. (Sepsis and Urinary Tract Infections) On Aug 19th I was discharged to begin my healing process. For me, I was uncomfortable from the surgery but nothing major and was beginning to feel better as the days went on. However on Aug 22nd I began feeling worse, but there was still no red flags.

By Aug 23rd I was fighting for my life. Up until this point I had, had constant supervision, with my dear grandmother sitting with me each day, when my husband couldn’t be with me, but on this day I was home alone. Luckily for me my dear mother came to visit that day on a whim. That whim saved my life. I was feeling nauseous and feverish but according to my thermometer I wasn’t running a fever (we later learned how wrong it was), and I chalked my symptoms up to the hot flashes from the hormone in balance I was experiencing as a result of the hysterectomy, there was blood in my urine but that was expected from the vaginal incision along with pain and burning when I urinated.

At the urging of my mother I called the doctor who, even though I thought I wasn’t running a fever, asked me to come in. That was a blessing that would save my life. I live over an hour away from my doctor or the nearest hospital and fortunately for me my OB/GYN office is connected to a major trauma center. When I arrived my temperature was 103.9 and by this point, I was delirious, shivering, in pain, heart rate racing, and my blood pressure had plummeted. Because I was so sick much of what happened to me I don’t even remember, I do know that the doctor had his nurse take his credentials to get me down back hallways to the ER where I could be admitted and treated.

I remember knowing I was going to die and being afraid for my husband and 3 daughters that I would leave behind. During my time in the ER my husband told me my BP continued to fall as well as oxygen levels. My fever was still spiking but I was shivering to death because I was cold and all I wanted was a drink of water. The ER doctor at one point told my husband it would be a miracle if I survived.

The challenges my doctor would face is that I am allergic to many antibiotics, penicillin, cephalosporin, doxycycline giving me a limited class of drugs to treat the infections. I was fortunate it had never made my blood stream or else this would be tribute and not a survivor story.

After I was admitted I was put in the ICU and my OB/GYN was able to attend to me. He started a very aggressive 4 antibiotic run to go after the infection and pneumonia along with meds to stabilize my BP. (Sepsis and Pneumonia) The first night was rough, I was incredibly sick and in pain and all I wanted to do was sleep but nothing was comfortable. It took days to break my fever and 5 more days to be 24 hours without a fever. I was unable to eat anything for 5 days but the worst part was the aftertaste on the IV antibiotics were horrible and I couldn’t stomach anything to combat it.

After I was discharged I continued oral antibiotics for 2 weeks, but during that time I picked up every respiratory infection I was exposed to and had to be rushed to the ER 3 times during September because of fever and fear of more infection.

My insurance company had me follow up with an internal medicine doctor in November. This doctor looked at my chart and told me, “how does it feel to be alive, because with these charts you should have died.” She also stated that it was obviously because of the care of the OB/GYN that I was alive. At that moment I realized the magnitude of this battle my body had just fought. To that point I was a healthy woman, I got UTIs frequently and I had OB issues that required the hysterectomy but nothing else and certainly nothing major.

In December I contracted another respiratory infection and my blood pressure and heart rate began to spike again causing concern for infection and blood clots. What they found was that both of the bottoms of my lungs had collapsed because of the respiratory infection. When I followed up with my internal medicine doctor, she informed me that this was a fall out as a result of the septic shock and that I would be very vulnerable for the next year to infection and sickness, and that luckily for me I had been such a healthy person or this would be much worse. (Sepsis and Post-Sepsis Syndrome)

Looking back on the UTI infection that caused the sepsis from the catheter during the hysterectomy, it was hard to see the symptoms because, the hysterectomy masked the blood, and pain that would normally be an indicator of a UTI. I am eternally grateful that I survived and that my side effects have been minimal. I thank God every day that I am here to be a mother to my 3 children, and a wife to my amazing husband who never left my side the entire time I was in the hospital. I am grateful to have my life, even if it’s not exactly like it was a year ago.

Sepsis isn’t a joke and something a lot of people don’t understand. They think infection and that it kills old and sick people. But what they don’t understand is that it can kill young and healthy as well. What is also misunderstood is that just because you are released from the hospital doesn’t mean you are 100% well.