Todd Beard

My husband Todd started complaining of flu-like symptoms around Dec. 14th 2013. He just said he didn’t feel well and was having pain in his abdomen. Todd’s appetite was down and all he wanted to do after coming home from work was sleep. On Christmas Eve, two other family members were having respiratory problems and decided to make a trip to the local clinic. We persuaded Todd to go along as he was not feeling any better. He struggled to even have the energy to get to the car.

Todd was given a injection and antibiotics, and sent home. He went to bed when he got home. Because the pharmacy was closed by this time, we were unable to get his antibiotics until what would now be Dec. 26th due to the pharmacy also being closed on Christmas.

On Dec. 26th we had a huge snow storm preventing anyone from getting out and most businesses in town were closed including the pharmacy. Todd did manage to get out to check on the outside water faucet to make sure it would not freeze. While out he said that he thought twisted his ankle. He thought too he had gotten frostbite so when he got in he ran warm water over his feet. (Now I know that more that likely he was losing circulation to his feet.)

On Dec. 27th I went to the pharmacy only to find out that they had gone out of business and did not inform the community or the clinic that had called in Todd’s meds. I finally was able to run down his prescription 3 days later. Todd began the dose pack and by the 30th, he thought that maybe he felt a touch better. On New Year’s day he just sat in his chair watching TV, covered with a blanket. He was not feeling well at all he said. “I just feel like I did when I was little and had severe mono.” He just could not get his energy back.

Todd still did not want much to eat, but I carried water to him all day as he seemed to be thirsty. At the time I did not notice nor did he tell me that he was not having much output, despite all the water he had been drinking. This was not at all like Todd to be this sick. He never let anything get him down. I could count on one hand the number of times he had missed work in the 33 years we had been married and he just did not know how he would be able to return to work the next day. I, at this point, insisted that he go back to the doctor. Todd said he would go first thing in the morning when they reopened after the holidays.

Later that evening, I was up and down the stairs doing laundry and putting it away. My last trip down I found my husband laying in the floor just outside the downstairs bathroom. I said what are you doing, what is wrong? Todd said he had gotten up to go to the restroom and he just did not have the energy to get back to his chair. He could not lift himself out of the floor. It was at this time I noticed that the end of his toes were turning black, something I did not notice earlier due to the fact that he was covered in a blanket all day. I insisted we go to the hospital and he agreed. We both thought they would admit him and keep him a few days and that he would get better. I called my son to come help and when he could not get his dad off the floor we decided to call the ambulance.

After we got to the emergency room, it was not long until they came out and said Todd was very sick and that he was septic. Within the hour they were rushing him to an intensive care unit in a hospital 50 miles from our home. At 9:30 and by midnight he was admitted to an intensive care unit in Evansville IN.

Todd’s blood pressure was down. His heart was only functioning at 20%, is liver and kidney’s began to fail.

On Jan. 2., the doctors decided to put him on a LVAD pump to help his heart pump off the toxins. Remarkably, when they took him back, Todd was still sitting up talking to all of me and our two children (which the doctors were amazed at). That was not to last long because when they laid him to insert a areterial line in his neck, his breathing became labored and Todd had to be put on a ventilator.

After the procedure even though he was still extremely ill and could not even open his eyes most of the time, Todd was still able to communicate with us by squeezing our hand in response to questions.

At this point he was on dialysis, the LVAD pump and hooked up to so many IV pumps I could not count. His blood pressure was still low but when family was in the room his heart rate seem to improve. We had still had a glimmer of hope even though they told us to prepare for the worst.

On Jan. 3rd ,with the doctors sitting vigil outside his door, we felt as though we were on a episode of “House.” Doctors decided to take him back to surgery and install a bigger LVAD pump hoping it would help his heart pump off more of the toxin as we had seen a little bit of improvement with the smaller one. We had to wait until a bigger pump was found, but it was located and rushed from 100 miles away.

Todd was taken to surgery around 3pm on Jan. 3rd. It was not long after that the doctor came to the waiting room to talk us. I knew something was wrong as it had not been long enough. Shortly after in surgery, my husband and father of my children lost his fight. Todd’s heart was not strong enough and they said they lost him on the table.

This was heart wrenching. Todd was 54 years old.

I was not aware of sepsis until this horrible event brought it to our attention. I now am very proactive when I have a family member or friend is admitted to the hospital. The first thing on my mind is SEPSIS. I know not to wait for the doctors to suspect it. I start asking questions immediately. If you wait it could be too late. If I had know what to look for earlier Todd might still be here today.

Source: by Candace Beard (Todd's wife)