Stephen M.

It was December 27th 2022 and I was in Dublin, Ireland, to visit my family. I am Irish, but living now in Berlin with my wife and 2 children. In my brother’s home I noticed that my left knuckle on my index finger was red and swollen. I figured I must have banged it. An hour later I was shivering, it was so sudden. My wife advised that we should go back to our hotel. That night, I developed flu symptoms and diarrhea along with vomiting. My wife had similar symptoms so I figured we both had the same bug.

On the 28th my wife was starting to feel better but I was getting worse. We called a doctor to come to the hotel, he came to the conclusion I had an insect bite (wrong diagnosis!) and prescribed antibiotics. On the morning of the 29th we were due to fly home to Berlin. My symptoms had not changed and my hand was swelling more. We came to the difficult decision that my family should fly home and I should go to a doctor. Before she left, my wife urged me to go to hospital as she thought it might be sepsis. An hour later my father arrived at the hotel. It took me 2 hours to get dressed and check out of that hotel, I felt so weak. A normally 5 minute walk to my parents house took about 30 minutes, with me leaning against railings etc for support. When my brother arrived at the house, he seen that my face was a bit jaundiced and immediately brought me to hospital.

Staggering into A&E which was really packed, I told the woman at reception that I may have sepsis. I didn’t know much about sepsis but when she rushed me into the doctors in the back room I realized I was in a serious situation. I had tubes stuck into my arm and neck whilst the doctors asked me what seemed like simple questions. I was quite lucid throughout this so had no problems answering. I remember being so thirsty at this stage. I was put on various different antibiotics and placed in ICU.

It was determined that I had sepsis/Strep A. (Sepsis and Group A Streptococcus) Somehow it got into a cut on my finger; I usually get cuts due to the hard water in Berlin. Over the first week my arm had swelled from the fingers to elbow. Around my knuckle and wrist it looked like a large ugly scab. It had also affected my kidneys so I was on dialysis for maybe 12 hours. My liver was also impacted but luckily both the liver and kidneys returned to normal. I was in ICU for 3 days, followed by high dependency unit for 4 days and another 7 days in the general ward. I was bed ridden for the first 5 days and it was really difficult to walk even to the nearby toilets. But by day 8 I was walking around the hospital grounds getting a bit better each day. There was some liquid on my lungs as a result of being in bed for 5 days but this eventually cleared too.

Whilst in the general ward, a heart scan suggested that there may be vegetation on one of the valves. Thankfully this was a false alarm after getting a more detailed scan. After 2 weeks I was allowed to leave. I booked a flight home for the next day and I have to say I felt exhausted on that plane. Once home I embraced my wife and both of us cried. I had never been so long without her.

I know I am so lucky, each day my virologist would tell me this. I am sure that being relatively young(43) and a regular runner helped me in some way. The first few weeks were so emotional at home, just trying to process what had happened. I can say that I was not the same person for a while. After a month my arm was back to its normal size and now in June I am mentally in a better place. I have started running again which has really given me a boost. I am forever grateful to all the hospital staff who cared for me and to my parents and brother who visited me each day. To my wife, thank you for taking care of our 2 children under such horrible pressure and for video calling me each day to give me the strength to get through.