Scott Harrison

My diabetic medication regime was changed by my endocrinologist to include a new ‘wonder’ drug. I am an otherwise fit and healthy 45-year-old man and health care professional. I was warned to return to a doctor if I ever got abdominal pain. A few weeks later I suffered a bad kidney infection which seemed to clear up with antibiotics and I learned this can be a side effect from the new medication. I started to gradually feel more and more tired, flu like symptoms and short of breath. Being an RN, I tried not to bother too much, but finally went to ER when the breathlessness worsened dramatically. Within 5 minutes of arriving at ER, I was in the trauma room, a chest x-ray showed bilateral pneumonia, my blood pressure was collapsing and I needed immediate intubation. (Sepsis and Diabetes, Sepsis and Pneumonia)

For three weeks, I was ventilated and sedated in the ICU, with severe sepsis, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), lactic acidosis and resulting ICU delirium. (Sepsis and ARDS) All due to the ‘wonder drug’ that had put me into lactic acidosis to the point of sepsis. I have been out of the hospital for a month now and am slowly recovering, but my respiratory issues continue due to the ARDS. I am 45 and feel like an unhealthy 80-year-old when I walk even a short distance.

I am lucky to have survived this ordeal and am very lucky that the ER physician immediately recognized sepsis and started me on IV antibiotics immediately. My delirium settled and as an ex-ICU nurse, I was able to make sense of it quite easily – I can only imagine how hard it must be to experience ICU if you have never been there before.

I am so glad for this site and the resources, as it has helped me to make sense of my sudden critical illness and know that others are facing the same road to recovery as me.