Nina McDaniel Williams

Nina McDaniel Williams
Survivor

My husband and I married February 25, 2011. He was and still is the love of my life. I thank God for him everyday…

We wanted a baby, both of us loved kids and he just got a terrific job as a permanent welder. We were thrilled. We got our own place and my mother tagged along. I had been diabetic for years and knew keeping my blood sugar in check was very important. In 2011 around September, I found out I was pregnant. We were overjoyed! The first two and a half months, my blood sugar was perfect, the baby’s heart beat was perfect everything was PERFECT. Until December, that’s when things turned for the worst. (Sepsis and Diabetes, Sepsis and Pregnancy & Childbirth)

My blood sugar stayed in the high 200s to mid 300s. NOT GOOD! I was alarmed and directly called my OB/GYN. He told to me come in so I did. I was so worried and so was my husband. He told me that everything should be fine, to just keep watching what I was eating and exercising. He also asked if i had any other problems with my blood sugar that caused a bad reaction. I told him YES, I also had previous experiences with pancreatitis. But hadn’t had one in over a year. They always did X-rays and tests on my stomach and I NEVER had gallstones.

I dieted like crazy. Literally starving myself to hopefully protect our baby. After half a week of this I called my doctor back telling him I was not eating but my blood sugar was still in the 300s. He told me to come in 1 to 2 weeks from then. Three days later, I woke up with a horrible pain, I knew exactly what it was. I went to the hospital immediately. They did tests and clarified the horrible truth. I had miscarried. Me, my husband, and mother were devastated. Everyone told me that it was ok, normal, I could “try again.”

I didn’t want anyone’s help. I wanted separation from everyone, friends, family, even my mom. We moved into a couple’s house who was about our age, thinking it would give me time to heal. Be away from family and friends who had babies and were pregnant. We stayed even though my depression was getting worse. I didn’t feel “right.” My mother didn’t understand me when I would say this. She didn’t believe me.

In all honesty I knew something was wrong. It felt like a hole was ripped from my heart and something was off. The last day I remember before my 2-month coma was cooking for my husband. I made tacos. I took one bite, one single bite of my taco and I was instantly on the floor in pain. “What is wrong with me?” I remember thinking to myself. Something was wrong, very wrong.

I told my husband to go to work, I was fine! I was trying so hard to lie to him hoping it would help me believe the lie too. My uncle brought me to the hospital I normally went too when something was wrong. He left shortly after I arrived. They checked my vital signs and everything was fine. I got in a room and the pain continued to get worse by the second. They drew blood work but couldn’t give me pain medicine until they knew they were going to keep me. I kept asking for pain medicine until the nurse brought it. It was so intense. She finally brought the pain medicine. I asked what was wrong, she didn’t reply.

The next memory was in ICU. I was on a bed, naked and they were putting a catheter in. I didn’t know I had already died multiple times in that hospital or in the helicopter. Then I woke up 3 hours from home, on a hospital bed. I didn’t know where I was or what was going on. I couldn’t move or talk. That’s when they put me in a coma for 2 months. I remember waking up 2 weeks before I was released from the hospital.

I didn’t know my stomach was literally open. Looking under my hospital robe was the last thing on my mind. When they finally caught me up to speed the only thing that stuck was two words “septic shock.” What? How? Why? I couldn’t lift my head my neck had no muscle movement. I couldn’t lift my arms or legs an inch from the bed. The therapist asked me what I wanted to accomplish before being discharged. “Wash my hair!” My long thin hair was in two massive balls on the very tip top of my head. Held up by 6 rubber bands and knots. They informed me it was impossible for me to take a shower with my stomach literally still opened. But they could wash my hair in the sink.

My husband stayed by my side the whole time. He patiently brushed out my very long very matted hair that the nurse didn’t put conditioner in. After 3 hours of brushing, tears, and words coming out of both our mouths involuntarily my husband discovered a huge 2-inch bed sore on the back top part of my head. I was furious he noticed it. I wanted to be out of the hospital. But the even more frustrating thing was the day before they released me I got a UTI, a urinary tract infection. It was taking forever. (Sepsis and Urinary Tract Infections)

Learning to walk again, getting my lungs to work after having a trach, i wanted out of the hospital. The doctors finally released me. Not telling me or informing me of what septic shock was or what to expect. I finally went home! With a bed sore on my head, hole in my throat, open stomach that they would close in a year, numb spots on my back, legs, arms, and head. But I was happy. Happy to get home and start feeling like me again, normal! That’s what I longed for so bad.

Weeks went by, months, more months. Nothing, I still wasn’t me. Why didn’t I feel healthy or happy or alive!? Before my year was up, I found my very first support group on Facebook that I didn’t even know existed. I thank God I found them. I love everyone there and we continue to learn from each other and help one another keep our spirits up. I never knew what this horrible disease was until I got it.

Now I help my family in understanding and realizing what this is. The doctors say I had years and years of build up gallstones in my gallbladder, which is why they opened me and took my gallbladder out. But I had always had tests done several times a year to test for this and never had them. So did they mysteriously appear? It’s been hard to learn how to eat without my gallbladder but even harder to learn how to live after septic shock. The doctors tell me I’ll never be able to have babies. It’s truly heart breaking, but me and my husband have learned all the other options available and how much we love each other. Even if we can never have a baby, we have each other. Which is ok, after all! I don’t know where I would be without this wonderful man. He’s my world!

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