Walter Kennedy

It was Sunday night about 10:00 p.m. when I began having chills and violent shaking. About midnight I began to vomit about every hour. When daylight came I could not move out of bed by myself; I was just too weak. I was having a difficult time breathing to the extent my wife insisted I go to the doctor’s office.

As she was trying to get the appointment I began to breath very rapidly, was confused, was unable to stand up. At that point my wife literally carried me to the car and took me to Baptist South Hospital, Jacksonville, FL. Once I got into the emergency room, they checked my blood pressure 53/49 and the next thing I knew, there were several doctors there: a pulmonary doctor, kidney doctor, infectious disease as well as the ER doctor.

I was immediately sent to radiology and had a very large gauge needle put into my neck (cannot remember the name of it). Once back in the ER my chest x-ray had come back showing I had pneumonia in the right lung and blood work showed a very high level of white blood cells. (Sepsis and Pneumonia)

I was very close to being placed on a respirator but instead they put a mask over my nose and mouth that forced my lungs to expand – thereby helping me breath and get the oxygen I needed. I am telling you this from being my discussiions with my wife and son, West, because I remember very little about it.

The large gauge needle/apparatus in my neck was there so they could get vast amounts of antibiotics and fluids into me. While in the emergency room, before going to ICU, my son took the doctors outside the room and asked how bad was I and would I survive. The doctors told him they had done all they could and gave me little chance of living.

I spent 10 days in ICU where I was given meds and liquids thru the very large instrument in my neck.

I had never heard of septic shock, which is were I was when I arrived at the ER. I can say that without a doubt that the ER, pulmonary, kidney and infectious disease doctors were very quick to realize and begin treating me for septic shock but for them I would not have made it another hour. They explained that my organs were shutting down due to septic shock (sepsis) and had I not gotten to the ER I most likely would have died within the hour.

I have been out of the hospital 4 weeks now. When you have been to deaths door and are blessed not to enter it life sure takes on a totally different outlook. I hope that “Sepsis Emergency” will become as common as “Code Blue”; how terrible to lose a life when timely treatment can save so many.