Patricia Taylor

It’s been 5 years, but I can remember most of it like it was yesterday. It started out after dinner on April 21, 2011. I started getting pain in my back on the left side. I was guessing it was my kidney because at a doctor’s appointment I had, the doctor said I had kidney stones. (Sepsis and Kidney Stones) For awhile I will admit I wasn’t taking very good of myself I was so dehydrated. My month was so dry and I was so thirsty, and my urine smelled I knew I had a UTI. (Sepsis and Urinary Tract Infections) I get them all the time still do. But I never get pain when I have a UTI and I really don’t know why I let it go on for so long. But I learned my lesson now. I had a toddler and I just had a baby at the time so I didn’t have much time for myself.

But the one night I started to get pain in my back and didn’t feel good. I remembered debating if I should go to ER. But the pain was starting to hurt really bad and late at night I had enough and told my husband I had to go to the ER. Even when I got there, I was still debating if I should go in, maybe its nothing. But I glad I did. I didn’t know that it was a start to a nightmare.

When I went in I was shaking so bad and they kept giving me shots to help with nausea and vomiting. I felt so sick And they sent me home gave my a prescription that I couldn’t fill until morning. I couldn’t believe they sent me home. Thank god my mom was with me because I couldn’t drive so she drove me home and I was shaking unbearably.

In the morning was the start of the nigthmare. My husband was gone, my car was gone, my mom was working. I just remember posted on Facebook I wasn’t feeling good but I had no pain just felt sick. I gathered my kids with me to my room to lay down and I started shake violently. I couldn’t get warm. I had my baby in bed with me. Gosh I was go scared my oldest daughter was going to hurt her. Than I started getting up because I felt like I needed to vomit, but I couldn’t. I was so scared to fall asleep. I knew something was wrong. In the bathroom I kept passing out while my daughter destroyed the house. I barely could walk. I kept trying to get help on my phone, which wasn’t easy because of the shaking. No one could come for awhile. Finally my sister-in-law came to take care of my girls and finally my dad came to get me an took me to the hospital. During that time I was having hot flashes.

I think it was mid-afternoon I got help. I should have call 911 but I was worried about my kids. I remember barely being able to wake inside and just sitting down in the waiting room. I told them something was wrong. I kept passing out in the waiting room. I eventually got in to be seen after what seemed like hours waiting. They don’t know how I walked to the stretcher. Once I hit the bed, I passed out. Nurses kept probing at me but I didn’t feel a thing. I remember them calling my name when I woke up for a few seconds but couldn’t respond and passed right back out.

I remembered late at night I fought to stay awake. And when I finally came to, I was hooked to everything, my mom and husband calling my name trying to talk to me, asking me questions. They looked so scared even the doctors my blood pressure was so low I was almost dying. And my temperature was 108 they said. But when I came to, it started to go down. I kept complaining about a really bad migraine that wouldn’t get better. It hurt like hell, so they admitted me to a hospital 2 hours away to an intensive care that had better doctors and technology. I was there for 9 days. It took like 6 days to when I felt better to even stay out of bed. I was that sick. It was awful. I had a really bad UIT and huge kidney stones I had to have surgery for. Also I had pneumonia. (Sepsis and Pneumonia)

I just have say I am lucky I survived The doctor said if I didn’t get help and care I needed when I did I would have died within a hour. My body was shutting down.

Please if you have an infection and a fever, please don’t wait to get treated. Not many people survive sepsis shock. It’s a low number to the people who have survived this infection. My experience was a wake-up call to take care of myself and drink more water, and it really has scared me for life I don’t think I’ll ever forget those days. And now every little thing now I am constantly worrying.