My Story: When the Signs of Sepsis are Missed

103 comments on “My Story: When the Signs of Sepsis are Missed”

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My mom unfortunately missed the low grade 93.3 and clamy skin. She passed as was to far gone so said. More education has to be done for the public

Reading your stories makes me wonder if they could have saved my dad three months ago. I lost my dad on May 28,2020 on his actual birthday to Aspiration Pneumonia and Sepsis. I had never heard of Sepsis. My dad has been in and out of the hospital for the past two years. (12 times to be exact). He went to the hospital this last time and was being treated by two very strong antibiotics for a severe cough which he developed as soon as he had a kidney failure and required Hemodialysis Dialysis three times a week. He was very weak and had lost over fifty pounds within the fist year of the onset of his illness. I will always wonder if the hospital the dialysis center missed the initial signs of Sepsis. I will never know. I strongly believe every patient needs an advocate.

April 29,2020 is the day I drove to my moms house and told her “let’s go I’m taking you to the ER.” It’s been a LONG time that she hasn’t felt very well, but 3 days prior, she was complained about having the chills. The day I decided to take her, she told me that she woke up with a fever and had threw up earlier in the day. Let’s rewind back a little. Sometime last year, she would tell me how she couldn’t walk for very long, or she would start losing her breath and coughing up a storm, she would also get unbearable pains she would say under her right rib. She was seeing her doctor on a regular basis, so she brought the problems up. First she was diagnosed with MS, (I knew that was a bunch of crap, because there was no testing), immediately after that, they said she probably has COPD. Instead of questioning these diagnoses, it was going to be something she was just going to accept. I said “mom don’t believe that b.s their telling you, because you don’t have either.” October comes, I take her to the ER. They test her for the flu, it comes back negative. They send her home. December, she starts developing the worst cough I’ve ever heard in my life!! It was horrible. She would cough 24/7, couldn’t even sleep at night. Her rib pain would also become more persistent. She would complain about not feeling well but wouldn’t really explain when I’d ask. I took her to the ER. Tested her for strep and flu, both negative,said yeah it’s probably caused from copd, follow up with your dr. I took her to the ER AGAIN January,February and March!! Each time she’s sent home with no answers!! In March I remember her saying, look at these red dots on me, I think I’m getting a rash(they were tiny pin size dots on her chest and arms). Ok mom, come on let’s go. The dr was like 🤔 hmm. Have you used any new soap or anything? Sends her home with no answers(still has the horrible cough,and rib pain and has also lost her voice for a while now, it was gone for over a month!). April 29th comes. I’m terrified to even take her because of covid, but we have no other choice. I can only drop her off at a white tent to be tested for covid, because of cough,fever,confusion,she could barely walk, she said she felt dizzy. I waited in the parking lot for an hour and a half. The nurse calls and says were keeping your mom, her oxygen levels were low. That night, they admit her. 3 days later, I’m talking to her on the phone. Remind you, they’ve done nothing to help her. All they’ve done at this point is the same blood test everyday. She tells me, you know they have me on the covid floor? What??! How do you know? Someone came in my room today, and told me. This was days after testing negative. I call the nurse,she says we’ve had people test negative, but still have it, so we’re treating her as if she does, the dr wants to test her again to make sure. Negative again. They transferred her floors the next day. The dr comes in and tells her, that she has a blood infection, and an abscess in her liver. They waited a day or 2 to finally do surgery. At this point she was there for 7 days!!! She gets out of surgery, I finally get ahold of her and she is in excruciating pain, she’s almost screaming. She’s feeling 100x worse than she did before..I knew something was wrong. This went on for days! She started to seem a little delusional, would say weird things. Just seemed almost totally out of it. The nurse said I don’t know what’s going on, I think it’s the medicine (even though it wasn’t helping her pain at all). Another nurse said she would need rehabilitation when leaving, because she can’t take much weight on her legs (can’t really walk at all), and has lost control of her bladder and bowel movements. I’m thinking, this is enough!! I start googling. I call the nurse and ask her if my mom has sepsis. She said let me check her charts, oh the dr did put she has septicemia. But everything’s ok. Ok??! She’s been in severe pain for over a week, it’s not getting any better! Now she’s losing control of her body something is wrong!!! After 13 days, she’s FINALLY transferred to another hospital, because she needs another surgery. An ERCP to remove a stone from her duct that’s causing the infection to reoccur in the liver. She’s been in the hospital 17 days now. 2 surgeries later, and a chest tube to drain fluid in her lungs, she says she’s feeling a lot better. I can tell she’s still in some pain, but nothing compared to before. This new hospital she’s at is taking so much more care of her, and actually showing that they care. I looked at her online charts today, and realize that the same tests were being administered each day, with the results getting worse every time. By the tests they were running, I know they had to of know the problem the second day she was there. I just don’t understand what took them so long to help her. I’m still so worried, because I’ve spent everyday, researching every test, every meaning, low and high ranges, causes, treatments. Everything I possibly can, so I can help her heal. This whole time I wondered if her pain was caused by septicemia, and I see here that it might be the case. When I ask the nurses, they say it’s from the tube to her liver, but I couldn’t believe it would cause that much pain. I wonder how long this problem has actually been going on, and how so many times it could have been detected!! 6 out of 7 months she was seen in the ER that’s not counting the 5 times between January and March she also went to the urgent care and was put on antibiotics every time. I ran into an article before this, that said the pin size reds dots and constant cough are signs of septicemia..how could this not cross their minds?! I haven’t been able to see her due to the pandemic, I can only pray that she’s on her way to recovery with the right treatment.

JUDY !!!! March 17, 2020 JUDY! I hear you ! I am in the same place as you , and I’m just so tired of fighting it. But I will- I have kids, family , pets that I love with all of my heart ! I can not imagine the devastation that I would cause to those precious people in my life! I will take suffering every day above hurting anyone that loves me .
Yes , it is a nightmare living with this pain ‘ and constant tests, scans, ER visits, hospital stays, antibiotics causing nausea and weight gain.
The pain is nearly unbearable, my sides, back , stomach area! The fevers , chills, and constant fear are enough to drive anyone crazy !
But we need to keep fighting , keep praying , keep hoping and pushing our doctors for answers . Hang in there, have faith. Call the person you love most right now and tell them everything .
God Bless you and please believe life is precious , it could be a whole lot worse …

To all of you, I had sepsis and toxic shock in December. I nearly died due to dismissive hospital staff accusing me of pill searching. I finally went to the e. R. At the Mayo clinic. That hospital saved my life. They CARED. They saved my leg, and my life. I implore you all, if there’s any way you can , find a really reputable hospital, like Mayo, and go to the e r. There. I have no insurance so that’s the only way I could be seen. But I was treated with the same kindness and caring that anyone with insurance would be. Please, I beg you all. Take my advice, and LIVE! I thank God for sending me to Mayo. Please do as I did. I’ll pray for you all

My wife went septic after a c-section in 2007. Of course they pumped a ton of antibiotics to help cure. Since then, she has had GI issues. Is there a way to get good probiotics into the system again! She was diagnosed with IBS, but the more I read about this, sounds like something else. No issues prior. Thanks

My mom is 72 yrs old and was complaining of severe stomach pain. She had a bowel obstruction in the past and the symptoms were similar. We went to the emergency room they administered morphine and some nausea medication. The did a CT scan which confirmed the obstruction. I noticed before she had emergency surgery that she was shivering violently. So she came out the surgery on a ventilator, blood pressure very low and heart fluttering. They brought in Infectious Disease Control to diagnose sepsis right away. They had my mom on 3 different blood pressure medications, high dosage of antibiotics. They even told me to prepare for the worse. I cried, called my mom sisters, had the dreaded talk with my brother. I know it sounds selfish and I felt selfish but I wasn’t ready for my mom to die. Asked for prayer from my family and I asked the spirits to give me super powers, so when I touched my mom she could pull my strength. Today my mom is still in the hospital doing okay. No ventilator or blood pressure medication, she is a little disoriented but I will take that. This all started on 3/13/2020 with the COVID-19.

I am in the hospital right now. I am going through most of everything mentioned here and more. I have known something is not right for several years. I am out of doctor options, money, strength, and worst of all, hope. I am being treated for diverticulitis, just diagnosed. As I was being released from the hospital, I was told plans changed. I am not going home. They say I have Sepsis. I am sure I had it when my appendix ruptured and I got gangrene in my stomach, intestines, and bowel. And, when my Gall bladder was removed. And when a metal stake impaled into my leg. And all the other times I was hospitalized. Now, all I know for sure is I am very weak, very tired, can no longer take the pain, I just feel done. I am wondering, am I just going to die after all the painful medical conditions and experiences I have endured? The lonliest feeling EVER! I pray for all of you. God bless you all.

I’ve had sepsis for going on 7 months doctors can’t find what’s causing it I will die soon. Take care

John, we are sorry you are experiencing these health issues. CDC cannot give personal medical advice. We recommend you consult your healthcare provider who can determine the best treatment for you. We hope you feel better soon.

My son was a patient in the a hospital in June 2018 , I noticed his breather was really bad 3 days I asked for a doctor to check him over I was ignored , it turned out he got a hospital infection in ended up going on dialysis 3 days a week, kidney failure due to untreat infection. Then early 2019 he got his neckline removed stitches should of been removed within 7-10 days, once again ignored also pleading with doctors to treat my son as I was sure he had getting another infection where neckline was removed I was told many times I was wrong in he had no infection, may 19 my son was rushed to the rvi hospital in put straight on life support. As infection through neckline removal had went to his heart in brain. Septic shock, meningitis, organ failure, brain damage. My son was a fit young man , all test done as he was getting a kidney transplant middle of June 19 as he had a live donor his sister. Then 1 year later a Pancreas transplant. My son did come home I looked after him 24 hrs a day as he could do nothing at all . They still insulted my intelligence as when asked about his legs not working doc reply are there just stiff with being in bed, also told us he was still having his transplant but in a few months time? He could not have any transplant anymore. In jan 19 they told me there was nothing they could do
For my son he was firing, then 5 mins later came in said they had to operate to save his life as bowel was dead, my son could never survive a operation like they told us 2 weeks earlier. But they took him anyway after operation we never seen a doctor just the nurse looking after him in ccu we got told after 2 days to get all family in as he was brain dead in turning machines off, we went to the hospital his dad came out in said to me your son is asking for you? So he was,my brain dead. 2 weeks later he came home 11-02-19 at 6pm he died 2am 12-02-19 we got nurses out they said just going to the car they never returned all there belongings they had taken all paper work too a hour later police turned up saying they had a call a young man had died in a third party was involved in his death, me or his dad? They had no record of him just leavening the hospital they were told he had never been there. 4 hours of police taken statements then same day nurses rang around 5 pm asking how my son was doing that day. My son was sent home on end of life care that day. In av asked for nearly a year for a investigation into his death in still have,my heard a word. All because doctors would,my take notice or did,my want too my son lost his life. I blame the hospital for murdering my son

I can’t get the doctors to listen to me! I’ve been fighting sepsis for 3 years! I had fistula sergury and got infection. Went to ER for generally feeling aweful. First doctor said all your doing is looking for pain meds! I was pissed! I had swelling the size of a flat football! I tried to show him and he said I’m just fat! I’m not! He gave me antibiotics and pain meds and sent me home! I went back to the same ER and had new doc. He did 2 scans because he wasn’t sure. He discovered I have Sepsis. It was midnight and rushed me to emergency sergury. I spent 2 weeks in ICU! I’ve had 8 sergury since. I feel like dieting!!

Jesus… if I wasn’t scared before, I sure am now with these comment stories. God Bless

I ended up at the ER on 9/22/19. They said I had a stomach bug and were going to send me home. I threw a fit and they did a cat scan and realized my appendix had burst. This was 5 hours laying there before they tested me. After the surgery I got sepsis from the infection and was treated and sent home 5 days later. Its been 5 months andI am still very sick. I thought I had the flu and it’s hard to breathe. My skin is dry, my hair is falling out. I have stomach pain and a horrible taste in my mouth. I have lost 30 pounds and have no appetite. I’m scared after reading these stories.

Did anyone with septic shock vomit blood, old and new? Please..looking for answers. Doctors say tumor. I say septic shock. Please kindly comment.

Hi my name is Brittany. I am 30 yrs old and had several bad dental abscesses removed. I took the antibiotic and i still had constant headaches as well as diarrhea and abdominal pain. I have 2 5 year old children and live in a rural area with no car. I lost my mom and brother this past teo years and have literally no support other than my dad who works all the time. In my gut i know something is wrong. I have constant headaches and stomach pain as well as now swelling in my stomach that visually noticeable. It’s not period relatedand definitely not pregnancy as i haven’t been intimate in 3 years. I know its related to the dental issues as they were left untreated for years. Im now reaching out for more information in fear. Sepsis? Seems very fitting…but i read it kills quickly. This has gone on for almost a year. What im wondering is if a dental turned whole jaw access can travel ob it’s own outside of sepsis and begin to surface elsewhere because it really REALLY seems to be the case. I have a bad feeling about this but am powerless. I went to the only doctor in this stupid small town and he doesny believe me! He clearly is of the opinion i googled and convinced myself of it..on the contrary i let it go way too far way too long and am in my opinion reaching the dangerous realm and he wont even consider it. Or test it in any way. I feel helpless and powerless and alone.any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time.

I have gone through the same I am at the hospital right now the doctors operated I was with the tubes etc… Right now results shown that I am still septic I have fluid in my pelvis and doctors advice me to take the antibiotics and pain killers go home and see the slow progress I make. I AM EXTREMELY CONCERNED OF THIS DECISION AND I DON’T WANT THEM TO GIVE UP ON ME. Its very sad to see my children suffering seeing me in this condition… I DON’T KNOW WHERE TO TURN FOR HELP💕🙏

My name is Deborah. I went in to have a deviated septum surgery and remember nothing after that. I was flown life flight to a nearby city and my family was called in. I was put on life support and was kept alive on this support for the next 13 months. Two weeks before my sister was scheduled for surgery to give me one of her kidneys my left kidney started working. I started becoming aware of things on month 14 and finally able to come home on month 16, I woke to find I had both of my legs amputated, 1/2 of my arm amputated, 37 surgeries, kidney disease and a destroyed immune system which I now have to do 7 hour infusions twice a month for the rest of my life. Lost all of my body hair and left me deaf in both ears, four auto immune diseases and kidney disease. I feel blessed to have survived but life is hard. I still cry when I look in the mirror. The 35 pounds I lost, I have been unable to gain back. I weigh 72 pounds and I have never grown any hair back. Doctors should be educated more on this horrible infection….

All of you should consider yourself lucky because you all are residing in the West. You all at least had a fighting chance. If you only knew the horrors we face here in South East Asia. I wish I could move to at least get a fighting chance to survive whatever I’m suffering from. By God I would give anything to move immediately as I feel it in my gut that I’m not going to survive this. May God help us all in need.

On Dec. 5th I had my kidney stones removed. Late Friday afternoon my son checked my temperature; it was 101.9. I began to shake. My temperature was going higher. My son called my doctor’s nurse; she said to take me to E.R. When we arrived at the E.R., they took my temperature It read 102.8. They took me to the E.R. immediately. They had code 3 on me. We get there at 5:30 P.M. The doctors work on me until 11:30 P.M. They said I had the beginning of sepsis. My son if I waiting 8 more hours I be dead. I was on my death bed. They put me into the hospital that same night. They kept me over the weekend. I almost died from the sepsis. I pulled through from sepsis. I did survive sepsis. I did scare my son. He thought he was going to lose me. Right now I feel tired and weak. It will take me a long time to get back on my feet again . This is last time for sepsis. It is the number one killer in the U.S. So I am a survivor of sepsis. All of this happened on Dec. 6th 2019.

Hi reading all of this iscary to me I am a type 2 diebetic and have a skin cyst on my armpits and it seems to be getting worse IAM afraid because I want to live I had a tesceduled docs appointment with my pcpnow I got the shakes IAM on antibiotic s but the skin cyst is draining puse with blood ism sick to my stomach my body feels cold I am hbp as well after reading this I am going to call my doctor back to see what he wants to do

I have been nurse for over 40 years .I’m 60 years old I work in a small hospital .I’m a R.N. with lots of experience and one of my roles in my current position is to audit our sepsis charts. Last December a few of the staff became sick with flu like symptoms .I also became sick with what I thought was the flu . On a Thursday I had a headache all day and on my way home from work began shaking uncontrollably .I took my temperature and it was 103 oral that night I started throwing up .I drank as many fluids as I could and took Motrin for the headache my temp went down to 101 oral and stayed that way Friday ,Saturday and Sunday and the vomiting had stopped. Monday I stayed home from work because I was to weak to get out of bed. Tuesday and Wednesday I felt a bit feverish and weak but I went to work. My granddaughter had a Christmas program so I had only planned on working half a day .I found it very hard to walk any distance at all without becoming very short of breath. After the program I decided I might need some blood work or antibiotics because I was so weak ,short of breath, still had a low grade fever and my color started to look a bit yellow .At Urgent Care the N.P. listened to my story thought I should go to the E.D. because she was convinced by my appearance I was very ill .I told her “it’s just what everyone else has “she sent me to lab for blood work .My blood work was not good WBC 28,Bilirubin was high, lactate was high, Creatine ,BUN were both high, GFR was 10.I was in acute renal failure and septic my pulse was 130 ,B/P 88/60,Tempature 101 oral after Motrin. Needless to say I was hospitalized. My blood cultures grew E Coli and I received fluids, antibiotics ,anti- nausea medications , and Tylenol for pain. I had developed a rash on my back and a cough while in the hospital . I recovered and did not have to have dialysis and did not have to have a port .I was very lucky ,currently I have a few small lesions in my right kidney and a few small liver lesions that have shown some improvement over the past year . My labs have all improved and are normal except for my GFR which I can not get over 45.I just want people to know sepsis is a silent killer and if I would have waited another 24 hours I might not be sharing my story.

My 20 year old son was undergoing chemotherapy for rhabdomyosarcoma and was neutropenia. I brought him to the hospital with severe abdominal pain. His heart rate was elevated and he was in so much pain. He did not have a fever so they diagnosed him with constipation! For 17 hours I begged for them to do something, I knew something else was going on with him. He had 10/10 pain and he had a huge pain tolerance. I begged the oncologist on call to come in and see him but she didn’t. His life was basically in the hands of residents. They finally ordered antibiotics after 13 hours and only hung one of the three ordered. He ended up coding 3 times and dying. Doctors need to realize you don’t always have a fever with an infection, especially when you have a .1 white blood cells! Who ever heard of diagnosing anyone, let alone a cancer patient with constipation in stead of ruling out the most emergent differential diagnosis first?!

How are doctors missing this????😡

We just arrived to work today with the news that a fellow co worker had passed away. Many of us were unaware that he recently had stomach bypass surgery. What we have learned is he had complications from surgery and returned to the hospital in severe pain. Since then he had 2 additional surgeries and eventually was put on dialysis due to kidney failure. He died yesterday from sepsis, which brought me to this article. How can a young man (approx. 30 yrs old) suddenly die from something he thought was going to make him healthier ? All this within a 2 week period.

Sure sounds like a lawsuit to me!! My brother in law is going thru the samething I just hope the hospital caught his sepsis in time? Sadly enough he was at the Er the week before then transferred to a rehab center and was diagnosed with a Uti but apparently the wrong antibiotics not given and he went into sepsis… I hope and pray I can report a good ending to this horrible tragedy that people are facing and its Sad !!! The medical field need to get their act together especially the doctors who make the final decisions on the patients treatment. !!!

Mary I am so sorry. Yes you need to contact someone for legal help ASAP. The day that you posted this we were at the doctors office and he didn’t like what he saw. He took blood work and later that evening he called us and said get to the ER NOW!!!!
His vital signs along with the blood results were all signs. The blood count results should have been red flagged!!!
Someone missed these symptoms. He saw multiple people while sick.

Yes Mary you should consult a lawyer right away. Doctors should be recognizing symptoms of sepsis – they are not hard to see. The day of your posting we were at the doctors office and he didn’t like certain things about the way he looked and other symptoms. He took blood and called that evening and said he wanted my husband in the ER immediately due to blood results. The blood work shows wbc counts and it sounds like someone did not get on it for you, nor did they pay attention to his vital signs. I’m very sorry.

do a person that has dead bowels know that it is severe and is the death long and painful.

I wish I could write that my sweet, much loved, 76 year old husband of 57 years survived urosepsis. He had been unable to eat w/o nearly vomiting for about 2 weeks. Meanwhile, he was scheduled for a procedure to treat a growth on his liver by threading a thin tube through the thigh directly to the growth and place radium right into the growth. They assured us it was caught very early and there should be no repercussions. We were so thankful because it was caught by chance: an annual lung x-ray. Because of his symptoms, I suggested his gastro do a barium swallow and endoscopy. Negative. But no urinalysis! Then, the day before he was to have the cancer surgery, he was so sick I took him to the doctor’s office. The doctor wasn’t there, but the PA took charge, examined him, did a complete blood workup, but NO URINALYSIS. I even reminded them he needed a catheter and I could get one from the car, but the nurse said they had some, not to worry. She sent him to the infusion area where he was given an hour of saline drip due to dehydration, and sent home. That was Wednesday afternoon. On Friday morning, he was sicker, so we went to the ER. They immediately admitted him to ICU. He had full-blown septicemia. He coded the next morning and his heartbeat stopped early Sunday morning. I can’t believe he’s gone. We were high school sweethearts and did everything together. Does anyone see a malpractice suit in this scenario?

I went into the hospital delirious,
Couldn’t walk on my own. At home I
Had severe vomiting and direrrha,
And pain! At the hospital they
Determined I had an infected
Gall bladder. I also had the symptoms
Of sepsis, fortunately they
Immediately treated me for sepsis.
Two days in intensive care, on oxygen!
As I appeared to be doing better I
Was put in an ambulance transported
An hour and a half away. I went into
Surgery, recieved a stent or shunt
That would allow gall stones to
Pass while my gallbladder began
To heal from infection. Spent a week
In the hospital, don’t remember three
To four days. I was barely ready to
Go home. Still no mention of sepsis!!
Home, on oral antibiotics, so sick to
My stomach, two days later I was
Not able to walk. A few days later
Saw primary care physican, he ordered blood tests and physical
Therapy. Went home still no
Mention of sepsis. Could not eat,
Could not walk, vomiting and direarra,
Could not write or think for work.
Second or third visit to therapy finally
Found is was sepsis. Now I could educate myself. I was fortunate in
Many ways but it was a long road
Back to some semblance of functioning normally. I would
Consider my self fortunate! I
Dove in to information about sepsis.
Has so many symptoms but I rally
To tell friends and family❤️

In 2009 I had the job of my dreams, a pregnant wife and had just finished refurbishing our lovely family home. I had a minor surgery. It became infected. The following happened every month.
1. I went into septic shock.
2. I was rushed to the hospital.
3. They gave me IV general antibiotics for 10 days and sent me home.
4. 14 days later my fever spiked. My arms began to hit my body uncontrollably.
5. Admitted to hospital with septic shock, severe pain and high grade fever.
Then the following accumulated with every episode if septic shock/fever/severe pain plus:
Month 1 I came out OK.
Month 2 blurred vision then blind in my right eye. IV 10 days…home.
Month 3 left hand stopped working and went numb. 10 days IV….home.
Month 4 my torso felt numb as nerves burnt out. Nurses said I will make the hospital stats look great as they are targeted with patient turnover. 10 days IV…home. made redundant from dream job due to ill health.
Month 5 my legs went like lead weights. 10 days IV…home.
Month 6 my brain became permanently damaged. 10 days IV…home.
Month 7 my bladder and bowel were damaged. 10 days IV…home.
Month 8/9 I purposely lost 4 stone. Added high doses of Omega 3 and D3.
Month 10. Sepsis came back. Nurses couldn’t believe the Doctors using me as patient turnover stats. 10 days IV…home.
Month 11 I got so used to A+E that I knew staff. One junior Doctor thought it was MRSA so gave me very strong IV Vancomycin. After 24 hours the Doc said to stop the Vancomycin as it kills everything known to man. That stopped it.
I was left brain damaged, severely disabled, changed personality, angry, in agony.

A decade later: brain fried, sepsis still gone, co ordination gone, balance poor, memory poor, anger issues, feeling of worthlessness and being a burden.

My husband of 35 years had surgery on his back on 10/30/17. He walked into the hospital. The surgery was longer than expected. About 2 days after surgery started with a high fever, 104 and up. He remained in the hospital for 7 days and was then transferred to the medical rehab hospital for physical therapy for 14 days. I was told that because this was a medical facility the doctor and staff would monitor the fevers. My husband was 66 years old and had non insulin dependent diabetes. On the 7th day with a temperature of 99 he was discharged to the rehab hospital. He lasted 9 days at the rehab hospital and had to be sent back to the medical hospital confused, back pain and septic. Even his brain was infected but was given a new diagnoses of early onset dementia in the 9 days he was at rehab. He never returned home. He spent almost 5 months in the hospital trying to find an antibiotic that would stop the infection. The infection was called a hospital acquired surgical site infection that they believed happened during the surgery 10/30/17. He had to undergo 3 additional surgeries in the same area in his back in order to clean out the infection in his back before the infection could get to the hardware in his back. The last surgery on his back was 1/13/18 and that surgery left him paralyzed from the waist down, never to walk again. The official response from all the medical providers was that they were so sorry that this happened to him but it wasn’t the hospital’s fault and infection is a risk that you take when you have surgery. His strain of infection was one that antibiotics don’t work. He was discharged to a nursing home under hospice care where he died almost 3 months later. He died July 14th 2018. The cause of death listed on his death certificate was Sepsis. Contributing conditions but did not cause his death were paraplegia and encephalopathy. Enough said I guess. I ask how could a normally heathy person except for diabetes end up this way? What can be done to prevent this from happening to someone else. How can this happen? My heart goes out to the families that lost their loved one and those that survived this are truly blessed to still be alive. There has got to be more of a alarm to sound, we should be screaming concerning sepsis at this point. There is no reason in this day and time that something like this should happen to a person that entered the hospital for an operation and never go home. Somebody needs to help me understand this in 2019.

I went to the local ER with nausea and vomiting and pain in the left lower abdomen. They did a CT and told me I had a kidney stone, I told them I have had that for ten years. They sent me home with a strainer, and instructions to drink and take Tylenol. About 4 to 6 hours later I returned to the ER. I do not remember what happened at the second visit except that I was shivering so bad my teeth clattered. I remember telling the nurse I couldn’t go home, after they told me they were discharging me, I told her I needed to lay down. She gave me a smug look and pointed to an empty cot. I do not recall how long I laid there but I woke with dry heaves and needing to pee. No one paid attention to me and I knew I was in trouble. I’ve no idea how I got to the pharmacy and I had no idea how I drove home, because I had everything I could do to stand upright. When I got home I took one of the pain pills they prescribed and one of the zofran tablets for nausea. I went to bed and around 8:30 ish the phone rang and woke me up ( that call saved my life). Needing to go to the bathroom I realized I was staggering like a drunk and was voiding only small squirts. I called the ER and they said to increase my fluids. I cannot stress that my mental acuity was so bad at this point. I called my primary doctor and spoke to a covering person who told me I needed to get back to the ER. I got off the phone and cried because I knew that ER wasn’t going to help me. I also knew I couldn’t drive! So I called my daughter who lives a half hour away and she brought me to the hospital in her city. The minute I walked in their door, they were on top of me! A central line, 2 IVs and a whole host of other interventions for septic shock. My BP was dangerously low, I had 5 bags of IV fluids and medications. I was transferred to an ICU and then a lower level of care for 4 days. This was over three weeks ago. The day before this started I had been a very active person and swam an hour and a quarter at the gym. Now I am home and I have such extreme weakness and fatigue it makes me wonder if I will ever be over this. The first ER my white count was 16.200 and by the time I got to the other ER it was 32,000+. If they had given me antibiotics things could have been very different! I have lost weight, and as I said the exhaustion is crippling. I just wondered if this will ever get better?

On 10/30/17 my husband, a 66 year old diabetic had surgery on his back. He needed some rods and screws to stabilize his back. The surgery was longer than expected, closer to 5 hours rather than the expected 2 hours. A couple of days after surgery he started having high fevers, was placed on antibiotics and then released from the hospital after 7 days to the medical rehab hospital for 2 weeks and then was supposed to go home. He spent 9 days at the rehab hospital and then on the 10th day, early morning he was sent back to the medical facility emergency room with a high temperature and a fluid buildup in his back, mentally confused and in pain.
The diagnosis was Sepsis, no antibiotic worked on it, he remained in the hospital for 5 months trying to treat it. He had 3 additional surgeries on his back to try to clean out the infection in the surgical site which made a total of 4 back surgeries from 10/30/17 to 1/13/18. The last surgery on his back left him paralyzed from the waist down. He was sent to a nursing home under hospice care for 3 months and he went home to the Lord on 7/14/18. He never came home after the surgery. The infection was called by the hospital a HOSPITAL ACQUIRED SURGERY SITE INFECTION. I will never understand what happened here and why my husband of 35 years is no longer living. I also don’t understand why in situations like infections that attorneys don’t take these cases. I believe that if there was a chance of lawsuits maybe hospitals would take infections more seriously. His death certificate list the immediate cause of death as Sepsis. I am trying not to be angry but I will never understand how this infection was so detailed in his body and no one saw this coming and why there was no antibiotic that would get rid of it. He never went home, he was in the hospital from the day of surgery until he was discharged 5 months later. He also had 2 readmission for 2 weeks each while in the nursing home. I appreciate all of the letters and blessed to see so many survive after sepsis. Something has got to be done with this. God Bless the survivors and your families.

I am currently in hospital for the past 13days I want to get up and walk but can’t breathe and no energy any tips

I am a sepsis survivor. The first week of April 2019 I came down with Type A flu and strep. I ended up in ICU four days later with double pneumonia. After a six day stay in the hospital, I was sent home with four days of antibiotics. After a couple weeks I went back to work. I was still exhausted all the time and some days I couldn’t go in. I had a short period of maybe three weeks where I felt better, but it didn’t last. I made multiple visits back to my primary care dr complaining of extreme exhaustion, blurry vision, joint pain and aches… I told him I felt this way ever since the pneumonia. He ran tests for arthritis, lupus, and who knows what else. On May 24th, I came in for a follow up visit. He said my inflammation levels were very high and incorrectly diagnosed me with Epstein Barr Virus. I told him I felt like I was dying. I knew something was very wrong with me. I went to work and later the same day I began to have excruciating pain in my left side chest. Thinking it may be my heart, I went to the ER. Turns out I had Pleurisy, still had pneumonia and now sepsis! I don’t remember much from the first few days in the hospital. They started several IV antibiotics immediately while they waited for the blood cultures. Luckily the blood infection was MSSA staph…one that responds to antibiotics. I spent 8 days in the hospital and came home with a PICC line to receive 30 days of IV antibiotics at home. I’m still very tired all the time. My hair has come out in handfuls, but I feel very blessed to be alive. My advice is trust your body! I literally told my dr I felt like I was dying. I should have gotten a second opinion.

My mother awoke on July 3 during the middle of the night with excruciating pain, while on vacation. I took her to the local ER where they gave her IV ibuprofen and a leg brace, then sent her home. Told her to follow up with orthopedic doctor. The next day, July 4, she was still in pain but thought she would be okay; however, by that night she and my dad had decided to return home to go to the ER but due to traffic and their age they waited until morning. They had a three hour drive and she was in so much pain she was constantly screaming help me. By the time she arrived at the ER her blood pressure was low and oxygen low. She was eventually admitted, had surgery to remove fluid and given IV fluids. She was discharged from the hospital on July 13 to be taken to a rehab. A PICC line was placed in her arm so she could continue to get IV antibiotics. She is also receiving pain meds every four hours and PT daily. It is now July 23 and there is not much improvement. She still cannot put weight on her leg; although she can move her ankle around. There is severe pain in her knee area when the pain meds wear off. Her doctor in the rehab came to see her today and was surprised by the little improvement. She follows-up with the infectious disease doctor tomorrow but I am so worried about her. Any advice? Anyone know of someone having IV antibiotics for three weeks with little improvement?

Good information on health care. We have given very good information. Thank you so much.

My sister died on May 24th of this year 2019. We still don’t know the official cause of death. She was 48 years old and has 3 children under 16. The week prior to her death she was being treated for pneumonia. At her funeral I noticed her distended abdomen. I believe she died of sepsis. She wasn’t a sickly person, I can’t even recall her ever having anything more than pollen allergies before this pneumonia , and she never stopped moving except in the few days before she died. On her last day “she felt better” she died in her sleep at about 2 am that night.

I also had sepsis. Went to have staples taken out at my doctors off by the nurse. She called the doctor to take them out because it was red around the staples. sent home with no meds. The same night I got very ill. sepsis was coming from both ends mouth and rectum. I was taken to hospital next morning admitted and had to have 3 surgery’s. Of course nothing can be done to the doctor that sent me home with this. It was August 2018. I am let with pain in my stomach, a horrible scare down my stomach, no belly button and still I have a prolapse rectum. This is so painful at times. Please keep in touch with me about this. I am so angry and I cant get it off my mind. How can the doctors get away with what they do. The doctor said a script was called in but it was not. Thanks to whom ever reads this. I just cant get over it. A reminder everyday with pain. My brain will not let me forget it. I was on my death bed not that the doctor cared instead he told not the truth and can get away with it. I still have restrictions because my problem never went away. Thanks for listen.

I have a UTI that the hospital was not concerned about. I went to the Dr. and found I am septic. I can not say I am a survivor because I only have a 40% chance of surviving.

I once contacted sepsis after having a surgery and they cut my colon . my blood sugar got down to 39. Went to emergency room and was diagnosed with sepsis spent time in icu thought i was dying this is a very. Scary time for me

I took my husband to the ER on April 18, 2018. He was having severe abdominal pain, nausea and diahrea. They gave him pain men’s through his arm. Then sent him home with a prescription for 10 antibiotic pills and pills for nausea. Then 2 months later my husband fell on the floor. I did cpr while calling 911. He was gasping for breath for 5 minutes. The doctor in ICU said he had a massive heart attack and he was on life support and they were monitoring his brain, due to him falling on the floor. Then 2 days later, the doctor said his brain was bleeding and we had to take him off life support. Then I got his medical records. In April his records showed he had character is of pancreatitis and they would correlate with lab results. His June records said that he had severe sepsis and septic shock. They covered it up. So I have been to four lawyers and no one will take my case. They said it couldn’t be proved that the doctors were negligent and one lawyer said the case didn’t have enough merit. I am furious that no one will help me! All the lies in his medical records prove that they were negligent. They didn’t bother to do an ultrasound in April and I think he had acute pancreatitis that turned into sepsis and shock.

I had been suffering with low-level fevers, excessive cold causing goose bumps even at 80 degrees, short of breath, etc. I also thought I had a UTI from my wife who was fighting a series of infections. I had spent a lot of time since early August to around the time this started for me in October at a local hospital, where my wife had major back surgery with complications including several infections of various types.

I went to the Dr. who prescribed various things for the UTI, but I am not sure it completely went away. I was fatigued, loosing strength, slurring speech, and just feeling awful, but I kept up appearances and also needed to assist my wife on and off for months until her strength returned. I stumbled through the holidays and into December. I still was not feeling well, and went to another doctor who said my blood pressure was too low and that I needed more Vitamin D. He took me off my BP medicines, but by BP shot up with no relief. I went to other doctors who thought is was the flu (with no tests), etc. The the first hospitalization happened. I was at home alone and my wife said I was slurring my speech. A neighbor who I knew for years said I looked bad. I was sweating and stumbling. The neighbor went with me to the hospital and the Dr. thought I was either having a heart attack or stroke. They ran tests, did more blood work and eliminated this as a cause. They even had me do the running heart stress test. At first they wanted to induce the stress with chemicals, but I told them I wanted to do it muscularly and ran on the treadmill to test completion. I was winded for sure, but they still marveled at how well I did — better they said than most men my age would.

After I night, I took a cab home but knew no more about why I had been so tired. I finally found a doctor who ran a series of blood tests and urine. Everything looked pretty good, so they thought maybe I was allergic to something I ate. I was still weak and felt weaker and more tired every day. Spring was hitting and I was cold outside even on warmer days. I had been sick for four months and everyone’s effort was not helping.

Then the unbelievable happened. I was home, but still feeling weak and generally sick. I went out and through the ball for our dog and went back in to take a nap — something I rarely did before this sickness hit. When I got up, I headed to the bathroom but didn’t make it. My legs grew weak and I eased myself onto the hall floor. I rested a moment and then realized I couldn’t get up. It was like someone turned on a switch. I became incontinent and my wife called the rescue squad. They assumed I had a stroke or heart attack (sound familiar) and took me to the hospital. The doctors had some preliminary blood work, and started an IV with saline solution.

I spent the next 10 days in the ICU, getting various antibiotics and more and more IV fluids. They were having me drink constantly and this with the IV was making me urinate many times more frequently than usual, but the doctor told me that kidneys would help flush whatever I had out of my body. By day 3 I was able to stand a little, eat more normally, and sit. By day 5 I was up and could stand and do simple exercises. They continued to try to find my trouble. I was told it “might” be my brain, my spinal cord, my liver, my gall bladder, my kidney’s my intestines, my heart valves, my teeth, any cut or scrap that bleed, and they seemed to test for many of these things.

Eventually after 7 days, they got an answer to the specific type infection I had, and used a combination of two antibiotics that I completed at home. I left the hospital 10 days after going in and while tired (can you get rest in a hospital? Of course not!) I was feeling better than I have for months. My constant chill was gone. My appetite seemed to be getting better. I was drinking and peeing normally again. And this is where I am now.

Nobody can explain why I was sick for months on end before the infection flared up. Still, I am going to a specialist in infectious diseases and will be asking the following questions. 1. Is there any signs the infection was not totally cleared up (nobody did any follow up blood work previously, and I would think this is something that should be monitored for some time. 2. Are there any issues with my auto-imune system that might be letting me get sick when others are not. 3. What warning signs should I look at to stop a similar infection before it becomes a sepsis nightmare.

I feel lucky — I seem to have made it through. I just hope others get good care too.

I woke up at 3am on Sunday with what I thought was the Flu- constant vomiting, and nausea… was able to make it through the day Sunday ok. 1am Monday morning, it started up again… this time adding high fever and shivering…. passed out a couple of times… Monday at noon, I had my son call my wife, who was able to get me in at the doctor’s office 2 hours later. My Doc was amazing- took 1 look at me, did a quick exam, and had me taken to emergency- he prepped the ER doctor with his suspicions, and made them push me to the front of the triage line… my bp was 71/58. The ER did xrays & a cat scan to determine a bowel blockage (a blood culture they did found E. Coli infection in my bloodstream). My kidneys and liver were in danger of shutting down- they inserted a NG tube, and I was sent by ambulance to the ICU at the main hospital, where I was for the 1st 3 days… 12 liters of fluids later, I was moved to a stepdown unit, and the NG tube removed. It was a bit close to mortality, and the damage to my kidneys pushed me to become a type 2 diabetic. Additionally, I have some cognitive damage- I am finding words difficult to recall and use, and my judgement was somewhat impaired- I am more emotional, and have to take medication for anxiety.
If not for the excellent care of my family Doc, I honestly believe that I would not be here.

I am a survivor of Sepsis. I went to work January 20 ,2019 ( I worked nights) and came home Sunday morning on the 21st. I wasn’t feeling well but couldn’t really pin point what was wrong. Later that night I messaged my supervisor and asked if I could come in two hours later. I remember my roomAte coming in their asking if I spoke to my supervisor again. I told her I didn’t know but at that point I didn’t care. I had no energy. Monday night she placed the phone to my ear to talk to my supervisor and I remembering saying..”I don’t know what’s wrong but something is seriously wrong.” January 24,2019 at 3:30 am I was asked my roomAte to help me to the bathroom and my pee looked red (extremely dark) she said when I was talking to her I wasn’t making since. She was worried then something was seriously wrong. She came back in a couple hours later and I was just laying in my vomit. She calls 911 and they rushed me to local hospital and they said I was septic . They placed me on a ventilator and an induced coma. The careflighted me to another more advanced hospital. My body was Sepsis and I had 1slighly large stroke and 7 mini strokes as well. I’m so thankful for the medical team and my family that helped me survive. If my roommate would have waited til morning the doctor said I would not have made it. I had all the same signs just about so please be aware it’s very serious.

I’m a surviver of sepsis. I have been out of hospital 3 weeks . I have a ovarian abscess that I thought I had a water infection. 3 days rolling in pain at the house til I thought I was going to dye couldn’t breath properly. I was hot on arriving at my local a and e I was 39.6°c and had a heart rate at 180 I was triple my white blood cells I felt so bad when I heard them say the word sepsis…
I seen things in hospital that werent there. People shouting at me but they weren’t and was snowing outside( it wasn’t). The hospital lights were screaming at me and my heart was pumping out of my chest. 6 days admission . I was out and whent straight to stay with family. I still dont feel myself atall. Tired all day. Can’t sleep at night. Stomack cramps all day and its hell to pass motion ( go to pooh) my bowel just isn’t working properly. So after pelvic inflammitory disease then a tubo ovarian abscuss then sepsis as. a result I’m happy to be here but I’m not in the clear yet. Until I have my ovary drained I will be in pain daily stomack cramps its hell. But sepsis honestly scares the life out of me and I think has changed me as a person

Back in early March of 2014, I went in for surgery to get my C-section done to have my set of boy/girl twins. Never did I know that I would be setting myself up for failure.
Not only did they go fishing around in my spine trying to give me a local after I told them I was born with congenital scoliosis and they weren’t going to find my spine, but then they weren’t even able to use it and put this face mask on me to give me anesthesia and gave me too much.
My heart stopped pumping, my breathing stopped. They ended up having to resuscitate me and deliver the babies and then put two blood transfusions two bags of iron and a bag of platelets into me to keep me alive. They had me so doped up on these medications they were giving to me intravenously that I really don’t remember too much about what exactly went on, but I would say about two weeks after the surgery everything seemed to be getting worse.
I wasn’t able to keep food down or water, not even crackers. I was disoriented, getting dizzy all the time, confused, not really remembering much of anything and my stomach was starting to swell up like I was pregnant again but I hadn’t had any sexual intercourse to get that way. From the inside I felt like I was growing fire. I kept telling my gynecologist that my stomach felt hot but no matter how many times I tried to tell him all of my symptoms and explain to him I didn’t feel right, he kept blowing me off. He even went so far as to tell me I was being a hypochondriac. Well nevertheless, from the day of my c-section on March 18th 2014 until April 9th 2014, I was filling up with infection and became septic.
April 9th I woke up in the morning or early afternoon to what I thought was my kids having a dirty diaper and ask for someone to check them. When the response was there isn’t any poop in any of their diapers, it had never dawned on me what else it would have been. I asked my kids’ father to help me get up to go pee. He lifted up the blanket and immediately said oh my God and I was all like what’s wrong? Suddenly he pulls the pillow out of between my knees which puts me in immediate pain I’m screaming at him, asking him why the hell he pulled this out of between my knees, when he completely uncovers the bed from the blanket and we both see the entire bed blankets sheets pillows and all, all the way down through the mattress have done been completely submerged in this dark brown and red nasty worse than a porter potty smelling stuff.
I’m freaking out, like what the heck is that and my kids’ father goes to lift up my stomach and I’m like, no don’t touch that and before all of the words could come out of my mouth, he had lifted up my stomach and I immediately started gushing like a waterfall. Automatically I think I’m dead, that I’m going to bleed out this way and die. They had to call an ambulance. About 15 to 30 minutes later the ambulance arrived. The whole time I’m freaking out thinking that I’m going to die before the ambulance even gets there. They had to pick me up ever so slightly and roll me on to this big orange tarp looking thing and carry me out of my apartment complex to put me in the ambulance and get me to the hospital.
When I get there the doctor took one look and immediately told the doctors to prep me for surgery. I’m like what?! I don’t even have anybody here with me, I can’t have surgery. And the doctor said otherwise you won’t make it. That was the last of our conversation. Next thing I know I was being prepped for surgery they put an IV in my arm and knocked me out. According to what they told me, I had flatlined during surgery and they had to resuscitate me, and remove all kinds of infection but they didn’t tell me exactly what all they removed inside me but they did say not to remove the bandage. At this time I didn’t have any strength so I wasn’t going to try to even move.
I ended up being doped up with a bunch of medication again. Apparently they gave me a bunch of antibiotics and something called liquid Dilaudid 4 mg into my IV, and pills that were called percocet 10mg, and they did this every 4 hours. Although I could still feel quite a bit of pain, it made me so drowsy I would fall asleep. I had to stay in the ICU for about a week all by myself, miserable thinking that I was going to die and no one was going to be there with me.
I only got two visits the whole time I was there and that was my kids’ father once, and my grandfather which also brought a brand new outfit for me to wear when I went home because I didn’t have but a pair of underwear and a t-shirt on when I went to sleep before I woke up like that. According to what I was told, they had to leave my abdomen wound open and that it was 6 inches deep, 8 inches across and 3 inches open. They told me that it was a miracle that I even survived because if I would have showed up 5 minutes later I would have been dead. Apparently my body went into shock because they told me they didn’t think it was as bad until they went and opened me up.
When they sent me home I had to have this machine called a wound vac, it’s where they cut a piece of foam to the size and shape of your wound fill it in with it, this certain kind of tape over it pinch it, attached a tube that went to the actual machine itself that was supposedly supposed to suck the infection out. I had a home nurse that came out twice a week and cleaned it up but I wasn’t able to do anything at all by myself. I had to stay in bed not move for over 4 months other than for someone to help me go to the bathroom. At this time I lost almost every bit of my muscle. I looked like a bag of bones because my body had so much skin with no actual meat in it, so sickly. I have gained fat and very very little muscle since then, but at this point in time I can barely even handle holding a gallon of milk out for my body without my arm giving out and my elbow looking like it’s going to bend backward. I can’t sit in one spot for a very long time I cannot stand for more than 40 minutes without my back going out and fainting from pain and I can’t even sleep fully because I’m in so much pain. I’m constantly having to shift positions to alleviate some of the pain, muscle spasms and twitches sharp stabbing feelings. I honestly think I have a few pinched nerves, one of which in my hip and a couple of them in my back somewhere.
My lower abdomen where the C-section and sepsis surgery was, is now a really hard thickened dipped inward scar that honestly kind of feels like it’s attached to an organ or maybe intestine or something inside. I have no actual feeling other than pressure or if it is really hot or really cold touching me. It kind of feels like it is burning me from my scar all the way to the middle of my belly button. My belly button is kind of sideways now too. Ever since this is happened, I have had some of the worst most horrifying horrendous nightmares. I freaked out easy. I’m scared to go to doctors. I haven’t gone to a doctor since 2014, honestly I’m too scared to go. I would rather die from a natural cause than for a doctor to chop me up and leave me for dead. Honestly I wish they would have told me what I was getting into before I ever even let them cut me open to give me that C-section because if I would have known this would have happened, I wouldn’t have let them do it.
I lost my ability to take care of myself. I lost my kids I had to give them up for adoption because I couldn’t take care of them. I lost my housing because I couldn’t make any income to pay my rent. My kids’ father left me, I had to try to take care of myself the best I could not being able to do much. Thank God for giving me the strength I did have until I found the love of my life, my fiance. If it wasn’t for him I probably wouldn’t be here. Ever since I gave my kids up for adoption I’ve been having to pay child support for them for when they were in Children Services in the beginning before they were adopted. They still expect me to work after all of this but I don’t have any actual proof or any income of my own to get a lawyer to try to get my disability because I’m only 26 years old now, and they think that since I was a mom at home taking care of my kids, not actually having a job paying into disability and the fact that I’m so young that I shouldn’t qualify for Social Security disability or SSI because I can’t get the proof without going to a doctor.
Honestly I wish God would send me the strength to bear through this and figure out a way to maybe overcome some of my fears to be able to do what I need to do and maybe go to doctors that really listen to me ones that I can trust so I can get the help I really need. I’m just so scared no one really wants to listen no one wants to believe anything that I tell them about what happened to me. I feel like a failure a burden. I just wish everything could go back to normal.

I went in the hospital 9/5/17. Changed my life forever. Temperature high, blood pressure low, and blood sugar high.
Docs said I was in DKA, but I could not feel my feet or hands, I informed the nurse. The nurse was sure it was the fentanyl IV.
Blood pressure continuing to drop, temperature still high and docs are in telling me that I needed to have an IV placed in my neck to administer drugs to help regulate my blood pressure. I remember having IV placed in my neck, but the rest was unknown.
I am telling you what I was told by my brother who was at my side. My fever began to spike, I became extremely anxious, the nurses and doctors were in a panic. Code called and rescue team came to my aid after being at hospital over 13hrs.
I was rushed to the ICU and waking up 5dys later to realize I have bilateral foot drop and muscle wasting in my hands (right side inability to hold a piece of paper). Docs later told me that I was septic from an UTI.
I could not walk nor feed myself. Long story short, I walk without a walker, gait is very unsteady, still have bilateral foot drop, unable to use a knife (but can hold my fork and feed myself). All because there was no recognition of sepsis before it was too late.
Thank God, I am living!

I work in the medical field and in 07/2017 I woke up one morning and my left hip area was in pain. I shrugged it off as I slept wrong or pulled a muscle and tried to self treat the symptoms. working in the ER I was used to people coming in for minor things that could be handled at their PCP office. I was literally in non sto pain for 10 days. The pain was excruicating!! I finally called my primary doctor and set a appointment for the next day. I hobbled up to the sign in desk and the front dest clerk looked at me and said DO NOT MOVE and my doctor came to the front took one look at me and said GO STRAIGHT to the ER which was next to the doctors office. The doctors office called for someone to come with a wheelchair to bring me over because i could hardly walk. I got to the ER and it was packed but they brought me straight pack at that point I knew something was seriously wrong after a battery of x-rays and 2 CTs later I was asked if I had fallen and I was like NO and then the doctor states he believes i was spetic. They found out I had gallstones and one had escaped the bile duct and logged itself in my left hip, and the stone had E-Coli in it. I had two major surgeries in 4 weeks and I am still dealing with the after math of this and live everyday in fear that it will return!

I too survived a sepsis infection because I waited too long before going to the hospital . I got really sick while on vacation , but the pain started before we left . The dr said it was a siatic nerve so I was put on an anti inflammatory. We I actually felt something traveling through my blood vessels . I Waited two weeks before seeing my dr. I hid how sick I was . I’ve been on and off antibiotics for 14 years . More on then off. I keep telling drs. That I have an infection through out my body . I can’t get any one to believe me . I feel so alone. If only I can find a dr who will believe me . I’ve been to 6 infectious desease drs. Had multiple biopsy s . Nothing shows I have a infection. My nerves are shot

Ma’em..can u plz answer my question? Do sepsis patients always experience faster heartbeats and shivering?

My beautiful vibrant mother died last week from sepsis. She was taking methotrexate zeljanz and prednisone for rheumatoid arthritis. Her white cell count was extremely low which resulted in a compromised immune system.
She must have picked up an infection that entered the blood stream.
Two weeks ago she was swimming, doing yoga, weight training.
She went to ER on Monday complaining of not being able to swollow with burning throat, they NEVER did a throat culture. On her chart it states she is on drugs that can lower the ammune system. Her white cell count was extremely low, All signs of an infection.
She was sent home with a prescription for acid reflux (which she didn’t have)
She became sicker and weaker at home. She went back to ER two days later. By this time the infection of sepsis had spread.
She had multiple organ failure and died
Our family is heartbroken and in shock

My mom died on January 28, 2019 from septic shock. She was feeling fine just a few days before. She had stage 4 cirrhosis and was on medicine to make her have multiple bowel movements daily in order to keep her ammonia levels down. So she missed the signs of abdominal pain and diarrhea associated with ischemic bowel (gangrene) because her medicine caused these symptoms regularly. On the evening of January 24 she had a sudden attach of intense abdominal pain. Called an ambulance . Er doctor does a scan and sees Her bowels had lost blood supply due to scar tissue (adhesions) from past surgeries. She is transferred to another hospital were she has emergency surgery, but she never gains consciousness again. On second day after surgery she began to swell, her blood pressure dropped dramatically, her kidneys begin shutting down. Blood test show sepsis. We had to turn her over to Hospice care in order to keep her comfortable. 11 hours later we hold her hand as she takes her last breath. She was 70 years old but we still didn’t expect to lose her so soon.

Sepsis is serious. My mother passed because she went into Septic Shock from a UTI. I felt the hospital should have been accountable because the did not treat it properly. We did know anything about sepsis until after she dead. I miss my mother so much.

I’m grateful to be a survivor of septic shock – grateful to God and to the incredible care team who saved my life.
At the beginning of April 2018, I awoke one night with a sharp stabbing pain in my back up near my shoulder blades. I also felt nauseated and got up and also found that my scalp and hair were soaked from perspiration. I never had night sweats in my life before this. I felt quite ill for a few days but kept thinking the symptoms would pass and I’d be back to normal again. I should also share that I was completely healthy before this onset. I was not being treated for any other medical issue nor had I been hospitalized. I just suddenly became very sick for the first time in my 64 year old life. After a few days I went to the ER of the large, local Level 3 trauma hospital but was sent home after being told I should see a back specialist. So I did see an orthopedist who ordered a lumbar MRI on me and he said that my pain was from arthritis is my spine. He sent me away. Another few days passed and I could not eat and only drink water. I made my second trip to the same ER and was again sent home. The next day I saw my internist who told me to go back to the ER so I did. On this 3rd trip to the ER, I was crying and told staff I wouldn’t leave until they figured out what was wrong with me. Within about 30 minutes at the ER, I went in and out of consciousness. My family was called and told to come immediately. Apparently, an MRI was performed of my back up higher, near my shoulder blades and near where I told them my pain was. This MRI showed doctors I had septic shock. Actually, they called my form of septic shock “diskitis” which is somewhat rare. It was explained that I developed numerous pus pockets that attached themselves to my spine – up and down, in and around. My infection was primarily staph with a small amount of MRSA. Several surgeons were asked to help me and remove the pockets in an effort to save my life but the first X number of surgeons said they were not qualified to do the surgery. Again, diskitis is rare. Eventually, a brilliant, humble cardio thoracic surgeon was consulted and he agreed to do the surgery. He said he had never done anything like this before but thought he could do it successfully, adding that he knew i had run out of options and was declining rapidly. My blood pressure was dropping and I was going into kidney failure. I awoke from a medically induced coma about ten days later when weaned from a ventilator. I learned that I flatlined twice during the surgery but somehow they miraculously brought me back. When I awoke in ICU, I couldn’t move any part of my body – not my legs, not my arms, just nothing except I could blink. I couldn’t speak because I didn’t have enough strength to push the wind out. My mind was fully intact yet couldn’t communicate for several days. Doctors thought that something else must have happened to me cognitively but after a few days I started to speak again.
I spent five weeks in this hospital after which I was transferred to a rehab hospital where I spent the next four weeks. My kidney failure was so extreme that I needed dialysis three times a week for about a month until my kidneys miraculously came back to life. I later learned that I almost lost both feet when on was on the ventilator because of the kidney failure but I was again blessed to avoid that. I had a feeding tube inserted into my stomach to provide nutrition because I could not eat at all. I was receiving heavy duty antibiotics IV that had strong side effects.
After a total of 9 weeks, I went home along with a walker and still unable to stand up on my own. I was weak, tired, sick and had lost 40 lbs. But through all of this, I wound up receiving superlative medical care from my whole care team. Once the ER believed me, I had the best care that anyone could have. My physical rehab continued until just last week when I “graduated”. To look at me now you wouldn’t know that I was deathly ill just a few months ago and that I had to relearn how to walk and take a shower and get dressed. Through it all, I was very determined and did everything the doctors and therapists told me to do. I was single-minded about my recovery and I had a gifted surgeon who wanted to help me and wound up saving my life. My recovery is now close to 100%. I will always have some minor kidney damage and I have to be very careful about what medicines are safe to take and foods that are kidney friendly. I have a back issue that I’m getting some help for only now but the big takeaway is PTSD. I am struggling so with a fear of recurrence, germ paranoia, crowd avoidance, washing my hands 40 times a day and crying about both the visions of what I saw or thought I saw in the ICU (hallucinations and flashing lights) coupled with an overwhelming sense of gratitude that I survived with very little permanent damage. Doctors told me mine was one of the worst cases of septic shock they had seen and also said they didn’t expect me to survive. But I did and I’ve never been more grateful for anything in my life. I’ve never felt closer to God who spared me. I’ve been blessed and I know it because so many of our cases don’t work out as well as mine has. I’m overwhelmed every time I think about how lucky I am. I’m crying right now.
I’d like to do something meaningful with this second chance I’ve been given. I’m thinking about doing something either with a program for septic shock awareness (what it is and what to do if any symptoms start) and perhaps a support group for survivors. Maybe we can help each other. Please let me know if anyone’s aware of any group that could use some help to move our common issue forward. I have found that most people don’t really know what this is and that’s scary since it’s so deadly.
Thank you for reading and allowing me to share my story.

My sweet momma turned 85 on September 6, 2018. She has battled psoriasis/excema for over 35 years. She’s been in remission from Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma for four years. She’s had multiple surgeries on her skin for cancer, probably from years of PUVA lamp treatments (from her skin conditions). About two years ago she suffered with a bout of cellulitis, which eventually turned into stasis dermatitis, an ultimately two venous ulcers, one of which healed. She was being treated twice weekly at a wound care center and the ulcer was showing some improvement. One extremely important thing to mention here is the fact that my mom was allergic to EVERYTHING. Wasn’t much medicine she could take for her skin, the itching almost drove her insane. She also had rheumatoid arthritis, couldn’t take anything for pain. She could only wear cotton. She was a rockstar through it all.
In July 2018, she fell and split the skin open (her skin was paper thin) from her knee to the top of her ankle. She was unable to continue wound care for the ulcer until the end of October. I believe she was able to go twice more. The third visit her would care PT, unwrapped the ulcer and apparently knew something was wrong, and advised her to go to her PCP. FIRST MISTAKE. She did, he said she had an infection, took a culture and put her on a Z-Pak. That was Tuesday, November 6th. She had also taken some pain medicine during this period, the week before I think. I live in a different State, so don’t have all the facts. She didn’t do well on the medicine, so didn’t take it very long. I believe she was on the pain medicine a week before the 6th.

Wednesday, November 7th, she was feeling really bad, in a lot of pain, her leg mostly, I think. Started having difficulty breathing around 11:30pm. My sister called me around 2:30am saying they were headed to the ER, to get something to help ease her pain. I called her at 4:30am and she told me my mother’s kidney were shutting down. My sister was told dialysis may or may not help. My mom had a living will and wanted no life saving measures.
I was able to get to catch a plane and get to the hospital by 11:00am. My mom was being kept comfortable by Ativan and Fentanyl doses, every 30 minutes. She passed away at 7:37pm, November 8th. She was walking and talking up until she started receiving those meds. Sepsis they said.

HOW does that happen?!? I feel like if her wound care specialist or her PCP has been competent, they would have sent her to the ER immediately, and she could have had a chance. She wasn’t even sick.
I just need answers. Not that it will change anything.

I had a blocked liver bile duct drain capped & the doc injected dye to see if the bile was draining. Woke up in recovery. Everything fine. Drinking liquids. The nurse left to go get my husband. I felt faint. I don’t know why but I put head of bed down and called nurse right away. I said might be blood sugar. She came immediately with monitor & checked blood glucose. Said OK 123. I was almost unconscious by then. (Less than 5 mins)! I remember hearing words. . . Give her morphine, and tachycardia. Woke up in ICU. Stayed there 5 days. Bacteria got in my bloodstream. Fever up to 103.4 and I never have fevers. The outstanding nurses immediately knew what to do- flush fluids, antibiotics, anti coagulation meds. Now am worried that it happened sooo fast. What if I’m driving or nobody is home when it happens? Nurse said once you have it, you can have other episodes! Thanks for raising awareness of how serious this is!!

hey everyone my name is abigail! i am 14 years old and i am a spepsis survivor. In december of this past year ( but when i think about it it seems like yesterday) i got really sick. i was at a friends house and threw up and didn’t feel to good. i was going to stay but then i was like “ i don’t want to get them sick” so i called my mom to come get me. that night was a wednesday night. My mom went to church ( the first time i haven’t went). when i was at home it seemed like forever till my mom got home. my dad was there and we were watching a movie and i felt the worst i ever had. the year before this i got misdiagnosed with MS at 12 and the medicine they put me on almost killed me and left permeate brain damage and emotional damage. when that had happened i thought i had felt the worst i would ever feel but no. This time i wished i was dead at this point and was waiting for my mom to get home. when she did i tried to walk to my room and fell down, so she helped me to my room. the next morning we had to take my brother to school before i went to the doctor. i couldn’t see anything when i got up it was all white. i was scared i was going to go blind or something. we dropped my brother off and i went to the doctor and they checked my heart rate and blood pressure and said right then i had to go to the hospital. my mom asks me if i wanted to and of course i didn’t because i’m a strong girl, but i told her “ mom it’s worse than last time” so she rushed me there. going in i couldn’t walk i saw white again and she had to help me. they sat me on a gurney waiting for a room as a doctor comes by and asks “ why are your lips blue” i didn’t know why and i said i didn’t know and he rushed me into the room and got my vitals and said to my mom “ she should be dead or at least passed out right now” my heart rate was over 200 and my blood pressure was so so low (deadly low) the first thing they did was make me get a spinal tap which was so hard for me because i couldn’t stop moving from the chills. they found out it wasn’t meningitis and said it was septic shock and took tons of blood. the doctor called the med flight people and as we were waiting i was all alone in the room while the doctors had to go tell my parents i wasn’t expected to make it all the way through the med flight to the other hospital and if i did i would be put in a coma. when they got back i honestly can’t remember anything all i remember is when they had to turn me upside down bc all my organs were failing my kidneys had already failed and my liver and much more and my heart and brain were about to fail so they had to turn me upside down to keep them functionaning till the med flight people got there. when they got there i got moved to the gurney and strapped down. on the way to the other hospital i was praying the whole time and crying asking them to let me out of the straps. they wouldn’t let me. when i arrived to the hospital the paramedic on the flight let me call my mom and tell her i made it and i said “ mommy i mad it” all i heard was “ thank the lord and crying”. i got in my new room in the ICU they were pulling out machines and medicine and i asked “ what are you doing to me” they said we are putting you to sleep for a while. i said “ a coma?” “i’m not that stupid just tell me i can handle it” they said yes and i started crying asking please wait till my parents get here bc i don’t want to not wake up from this coma and not get to say my last goodbyes it would kill my mom to not be able to say i love her one more time. so they waited till my mom got there not knowing if i would still be alive. my parents got there and my mom asked do we have to do it so they checked my vitals one more time and said i was a miricale and recovered by 2 points to not be put in a coma and i thanked the lord right then for my life and what he has given me and thanked him. i was so so blessed to not be in a coma and might never wake up. i was so lucky. God is amazing. i was in the icu for 2 weeks and got moved to the level down for about a week then the next level for a week and the last for 4 days. about 4 weeks in all. that was one of the worst experiences of my life and it was so hard. now that it’s over with it’s honestly not. i have flashbacks on the helicopter, the spinal tap, the machines, and the doctors. i’m so so lucky and praise God every single day for letting me live when they say i wouldn’t. even though i she’s life long pain and suffering from it and permanent damage to my kidneys from this it has made me realized my calling. i want to become a pediatric trauma nurse and help kids who had to go through what i have. God has made me live my life to the fullest. he has made me so so mature for my age and i’m so dang lucky to have him in my heart forever as my lord and savior. he honestly saved me. i’m so so lucky to have had the doctors i do because they said if i would’ve came in any later even 30 minutes i would be dead rn. like that’s crazy to think about. i’m so so lucky and i feel hurt and pain for whoever has or is going through what i went through! i will pray for everyone of y’all. this experience has changed me good and bad and i’m so glad it happened because now i’m closer to God than ever!

I am so shaken by everyone’s stories. My boyfriend has just been diagnosed with sepsis. And it’s bad.. it’s real real bad.. he is a severe diabetic and has not been admitted into the ICU. Why?
He also has a Cronic lung disease called sarcoidosis (which is on a steroid for) The doctors have had him on flomax for an enlarged prostate and of course insulin. He’s been in and out of the ER/hospital bc his blood pressure keeps plummeting and he passes out. ***his last stay was from Sunday before last until this past Wednesday. They discharged him once again saying everything is looking better and better!
By the next morning he was in so much pain he was bedridden. He kept saying I think it’s my kidneys… over and over, then His breathing became labored and this past Saturday night he started shaking uncontrollablely saying he was so cold.
Then Sunday he had a high fever. He is 6’6 and 275lbs. It’s not an easy task to get him to go to the ER. Especially after every single test known to man has been run on him from, blood tests, urine tests, CAT scans, MRI’s, an EKG, songograms… the list goes on. But his mom and I convinced him. It is now Tuesday and they have finally come around to vaguely mention the word sepsis. Reading what I have about this blood infection I am utterly terrified… he is NOT in the ICU and he is a severe diabetic with known blood clots and a lung disease…. his temperature keeps spiking then breaking then spiking. Last night his breathing got so labored they gave him a breathing treatment and said he was having heart palpitations. He has had these weird blisters poping up I’ll over his body for weeks now! And before today kept saying oh he’s anemic but not doing anything about it.
They are being so vague about it all. Can anyone help me or tell me where to read up on this or where NOT to read up on this, so I can better ask questions to this unforthcoming medical staff? Thank you ❤️

Thanks for sharing your real story. I am glad that you are well.
Nicholas

can sepsis be spread through contact with one who died from sepsis through their clothing

My mother had flu like symptoms last year. I took her to walk in centre and they diagnosed her with a Uti. Her symptoms got worse. Feeling very tired. Sleeping most of the day and feeling extremely cold. She was getting worse. I called an ambulance and the paramedics said just take her back to the walk in centre. We persisted and begged them to take her. She was so poorly and had been like it for over a week. We got to hospital and we were told we were lucky we had brought her in when we did. It was fatal. I was told she had sepsis. I just couldn’t believe it. I had absolutely no idea. After three separate admissions to hospital my mother finally made good progress. I genuinely had no idea of the symptoms of sepsis. We all thought it was a bad case of the flu. I knew sepsis was life threatening but I had no idea of the symptoms. The fact that even the paramedics didn’t even pick up on the symptoms just shows how it can be missed. The antibiotic has to be administered within the first hour of diagnosis, for a chance of survival. Awareness is everything with Sepsis.

My father, also a runner and athlete, died from sepsis last year. Never in my wildest imaginings did I think he would leave us so soon and in such a heart-wrenching way.

My heart goes out to so many of you who have battled sepsis or him lost a loved one to it, but can we please get one thing straight. Sepsis is NOT a contagious disease spread between people like a cold or other means. Sepsis does not require a medical quarantine nor is it contagious. The most basic way to put it in sepsis is when an infection that you already have inside your body somewhere spreads to your blood stream. It’s just super irritating to read through the stories and people are wondering where they got exposed or why they weren’t quarantined. so I just thought I would put that out there.

I came home from the hospital July 2nd after battling Sepsis from a UTI. I got sick on June29 and was soon shivering while the temp outside was 94. I turned up the thermostat to 75 and I was still shivering under blankets. Thank God I knew something was really wrong. I couldn’t find a thermometer and called my son to take me to the ER. My BP was 86/64 and my temp was 102. I had been an EMT and I knew I was in rough shape. I became totally out of it as my temp climbed to102 a second time. The good news is that it is July 6 and my appetite returned today. I will never have a UTI and not take it seriously.THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME.

My husband has been sick for 8 yrs after an anoxic brain injury caused after lung surgery complications. He was on a respirator for 4 months in icu. Everything that could go wrong did including mrsa , blood clots in lung , spudimomus, cdip, and many more things. Everyday it was something new. After 2 more months in the hospital he was sent to rehab. At this point it was determined he was legally blind due to lack of oxygen during the heart failure that caused the anoxic brain injury. He recovered and was back and forth to the hospital several times due to pneumonia.
In may 15,2018 he was admitted to the va hospital and was diagnosed with pneumonia again. He also had extremely low sodium level , high wbc, high potassium etc. they put him on antibiotics and other medications to get his other numbers under control. He also was diagnosed with mrsa again. On may 25th we were told his numbers were all god and he could go to rehab to get back on his feet. He was put in isolation for several days and than on may 28th he was removed from isolation and permitted to go down to gym to start his rehab progress. He was not getting better and they asked to put a port in for antibiotics. Even with the treatment he continued to get worse but no one in rehab ever said he should go back to the hospital even though his breathing was bad and you could hear him in the hallway. He also had low oxygen levels although they had put him on oxygen. I started to bring my own Poulsox machine to rehab to check it myself. My readings were in low 80s even on oxygen. I talked to the nurses and they just turned up the oxygen. He was not communicating as he should and was often very confused. On June 4th after asking several times why he wasn’t sent back to the hospital I demanded to speak to the nursing director. I had already talked to the head nurse about getting him moved back to hospital. Her response was the hospital can’t do any more for him than we are already doing. When the nursing director finally came she asked me what my main concerns were and I told her all of them. She said I have not dealt with your husband so I don’t know what he was like when he came in and if he is better or worse. She asked me to give her 20 minutes to look over his records. She was back in a little less than 20 minutes and told me she contacted his dr taking care of him and they said 911 was on the way to move him. They didn’t want him to go back to the va as they recommended a team at largo medical to work with him. He went to the hospital at about 4:30 on June 4. As soon as he got there he went into pulmonary distress. They tried a breathing mask which helped a little but they still said his breathing the way he was would hurt his heart if it continued. They called in a pulmonary specialist that came and said he needed to be on a breathing tube immediately. They needed to sedate him and work on getting his breathing and heart rate under control. He was comfortable and doing better when I left the hospital to go home. I called at 5am the next morning and was told he was stabl but they had a very bad night with him. His blood pressure dropped to the danger point and he was not producing urine. They had them under control at that time. I told them I would go get his hospital records from the va stay and bring them in. They said that could be helpful as three beleived there was an infection other than pneumonia that was causing what they were seeing. I got to the hospital with all the records about 3 hrs later and was told he took a turn for the worse and they were going to put him on dialysis because his body was very swollen from not expelling liquids. They took him down to put the port in and he went into cardiac arrest. When they brought him back the dr told me his heart was failing and there wasn’t much else they could do. They removed all the medications and said the only thing keeping him going was the blood pressure meds and breathing machine. I sat with my husband and held his hand and watched the blood pressure drop till it reach d single digit numbers and he died. No one ever told me it was septic shock or that they thought he has sepsis. He had fought back so many times before I had no idea it was as bad as it was.

It was a extremely emotional experience and I wish I had a little more knowledge about this as I would have insisted he be back in the hospital way before I did.

Drs , nurses. And family need to get more education about this and the symptoms. I blame myself every day for not arguing to get him back to the hospital before I did.

I am a retired registered nurse and I know about sepsis. About three weeks ago, I didn’t feel well for two days. No specific symptoms at all. On the 3rd day I had lab work done at an outside lab for another problem. From there my husband and I went to a coffee shop. I immediately went to the bathroom because I felt like I needed to go. After sitting on the toilet and not using it, I felt dizzy so I dropped down to my knees and then laid on my side on the restroom floor. My husband came looking for me because I didn’t come out to the table. I was already out of it because all I could say was “I don’t want to go to the hospital” so I wouldn’t unlock the door. When I decided that maybe I should go to the hospital, I wasn’t able to move my arms or lift myself up. My trim husband slid underneath the door to unlock it and the manager had called the ambulance. The coffee shop was about 5 minutes from a free-standing ER. I do not have any memories of going to the ER or anything that was done to me until later when I had awakened enough to hear the doctor say ” You have to be admitted to the hospital. Where do you want to go?” Another ambulance took me to the hospital less than 10 miles away. I only vaguely remember the trip. I do not remember arriving at the ICU at the hospital. The next morning I felt almost normal again. I had received many bags of normal saline and also antibiotics. It turned out that I had sepsis with a urinary track infection. I had absolutely no symptoms except just feeling unwell. I had no burning when I went to the bathroom and no pain anywhere. I guess my point is that if you feel really, really bad – see a doctor before you become critical. Don’t assume that you will get better on your own like I did. I didn’t realize that sepsis could creep up so quickly.

Where I am from nobody cares about those symptoms.I had all those symptoms and I have still having fainting spells cause they didn’t treat me as they should.They did the surgery and sent me home 4 days later and didn’t get all the infections now my surgery sight is balloning and stomach still swelling cause I still have the infection.

I noticed most of the cases above had some other medical issue which contributed them to be exposed to sepsis. About 15 years ago, I was still in high school and one spring afternoon I felt chilly but it was very warm. Had softball practice after school and brought my jacket since I was still cold. Everyone else shed their jackets after warm up but me. Later that evening I just felt like I was coming down with a cold so I just relaxed but early the next morning I woke and felt awful so took my temp and it was 104! I crawled down the stairs to wake my parents who took me to the ER. They thought it was just a viral cold and sent me home. Later that morning I was still experiencing severe chills and couldn’t even keep water down. Went back to the ER where my childhood dr. tested my bloody sputum and admitted me with sepsis. I was in the hospital for 3-4 days and had a picc line inserted which I had to come back to outpatient everyday to get fluids for a week or so. So thankful my dr knew what it was before I got worse and could have died. Looking back the only exposure I think I had could have been from my part time housekeeping job at a mid scale hotel. Our cheap manager did not supply gloves for us and some old man had a fecal accident in the bed and covered it up and left the mess without telling anyone. So I did not see it before touching it when pulling the bedding off.

It breaks my heart to read how many people are effected by septic shock yet warning signs are missed by the doctors.

In 2016, my mom experienced septic shock caused by Ecoli from something she ate in a foreign country while on vacation. She went to the doctor since the pain was not going away. All of the warning signs were there. Her blood pressure dropped significantly, she was confused and in a lot of pain. It got to the pint where she was not recognizing her family and moaning non stop from pain. Unfortunately, the doctors didn’t recognize the warning signs and when I asked th doctors if she should be in ICU due to the severity of her case, they told me she has to be on life support in order to qualify for ICU. That same evening my mom ended up being on life support. They finally transferred her to ICU and those three months were the worst time of my life. For the longest time I kept hearing that my mom is still in the woods. Our lives changed over night… I never imagined anything like this. For the longest time I was hearing bad news everyday. Most of her organs had collapsed. The doctors told me the tissue on her fingers and toes was dying so they had to amputate all of her fingers and toes. She ended up getting a minor stroke had pneumonia but my mom is a fighter. After being in induced coma for three months she finally came back but unfortunately she lost her fingers and toes. I give a lot of credit to the ICU Doctors and nurses for working so hard and giving life to my mom. I always wonder if the results would have been different if they had transferred her to the ICU sooner. I am sharing my story so it can help someone else. Always fight for your loved one and if something doesn’t feel right let the doctors know and keep fighting until they listen you. Even though everyday I was hearing bad news I always knew that my mom would make it. She is an amazing person with positive attitude and a lot of hope. When she found out about her fingers and toes she was more concerned about me than herself. She appreciates the life God has given her and has learned how to use her hands without any special equipment. She continues to make progress everyday. Of course her body will never be the same but she is a fighter with I can do anything attitude!!!

I had a right hip replacement in 2012 I started developing severe pain shortly after that my surgeon told me that was normal for me because I have scoliosis so they have to rebuild my hip to fit so I have become accustomed to the pain in 2015 the pain got worse at that time I started going to the hospital frequently and they could not find anything wrong with my prosthesis so they sent me home that same night I went back to the ER I could barely walk the ER doctor told me and my sister if I could take one step they will send me back home and to follow up with my doctor me and my sister was very confused she was very upset because I was in so much pain and the hospital refuse to keep me there and figure out what was wrong they made me literally drag my leg to make that one step once I did they discharged me the night I went home was up all night crying and screaming was not able to put any weight on that right hip at all and I would not let anyone touch it that’s how much pain I was in my brother and nephew had to carry me to the bathroom until my sister’s went out and bought me a side bed toilet and adult under garments they could not indure the pain i was going through it was unbearable it put a strain on the whole family they were all afraid because I could not walk the next day when I finally dosed off for 30 minutes I awoke with more pain then the night before I didn’t not think it could have gotten any worse than the night before my sister decided to call my primary doctor and let him know what was exactly going on and when she told him that I have been to the hospital and that I have been turned away and sent home he was angry he told my sister I needed to go back to the hospital ASAP or I was not going to live pass that day he assured her that my symptoms we’re life threatening he wanted her to call 911 and to get a ambulance there and he would meet us there so they were there to get me within 5 minutes once we got there a orthopedic surgeon came down to see me and put his hand against my surgery site a nurse walked in the room and said to the doctor that she was here when I came in to the hospital prior to this date and she then went on to tell the doctor in a very snobby voice that I keep returning and that the doctors that seen me the other times told me to go home and rest and follow up with my primary doctor because there was nothing that they could see was wrong with me and that I was what they call a frequent flyer at the ER so it would be best if I went home and tend to my wounds the surgeon touch my surgery site he turned around and told that nurse you better hope to God nothing happens to this lady because I believe that she is sepsis and he then told her she needed to step out of the room and wait for him and he will be in there to talk to her momentarily he then went on and started ordering all these test alot of blood work and he left the room and came back with 7 more nurses he asked my sister’s to leave because the room had to be sterile when they hugged me and left he turned to me and told me he was very sorry for the way I was being treated but he assured me that all that was about to change he informed me that I had a temperature of 105 so he knew it was infection related then he suited up put a mask on and gloves took a syringe out then he draped a white cloth on my hip and then inserted the syringe into my prosthetic hip as far as it could go then he started to drain fluid that was green and thick as soon as he pulled it out he told colleagues to get me ready to go upstairs to the OR and he then called upstairs after he read my test results he got white as a ghost he pulled all the nurses to the side huddled up outside my room and after that things started going fast what I later learned was that all my organs was failing my kidneys went first I was put on dialysis machine from that moment that doctor came in and took over where that idiot nurse fail to help along with the other doctor that sent me home this doctor saved my life I was in that hospital for a month and indured 3 more surgeries had 6 blood transfusions due to the failure of the pic line that was inserted in my neck that malfunction causing me to lose over half my blood supply in my body I awoke with a blood soaked pillow I also had another infection I got while I was there in the hospital called C dip which can be life threatening I went to a nursing home for a month and a half after all that i went home in a wheelchair because in order to save my life they had to remove my ball joint till I was strong enough to hold it in my body I stayed 8 more months in wheelchair I could not walk after the 8 months went back to surgery stayed 3 weeks in the hospital again and the back to the nursing home to start my physical therapy I was there for a month as of today I’m still fighting this hip replacement problem and the doctor said once you are sepsis you have a chance of it occuring more than two more times in your life so I have to be careful thank you for letting me tell my story there might be someone out there with a similar story you are not alone trust me I suffer every day but never give up fighting there is a light at the end of the tunnel

I acquired sepsis at Northwestern, where I had been treated for a kidney infection. Two days after I was discharged, sepsis made its appearance with convulsive vomiting and severe inflammation of the gut. It felt like I had been inhabited by an evil entity, which caused a pain beyond the reach of several rounds of morphine. Fortunately, the ER nurse quickly obtained the lab results that indicated sepsis and administered a broadband antibiotic. By the morning, I was almost well.

Besides good timing and efficient nursing, something that may have contributed to my rapid healing was a longtime commitment to high-intensity workouts. If the body is pushed to its limits during strenuous exercise, then it may be better equipped to fight off infections and help with its own recovery.

I thought what i had what was the flu with a temperature of 102.3 but after going to Keesler Air Force base hospital for 3 hours and still nobody checking on me I went to garden park hospital in Gulfport ms where because of my wbc and heart rate and blood tests it was determined that I had sepsis I was put on doxycycline hyclate. I’m not sure if it will work but I’m giving it a try. Hopefully it doesn’t come back but it’s a shame that I had to go to a civilian hospital when I’m retired military and they dragged their feet. Even if it would have been the flu which it wasn’t 102.3 temperature is serious for a 64 year old man and especially with afib diabetic and high bp shame on you Keesler. The civilian hospital wanted to admit me which I denied and hopefully I don’t regret that decision

My mother was never sick a day in her life. She developed a cough so we went to the er. The dr. Diagnosed her with stage4 lung cancer and did a biopsey the next morning. The dr. Doing the biopsey also put a stint in her trechea. They also said the tumor was nestles in her aorta arch was inoperable. Well on her death bed. Only 3 weeks later the dr admits he tried to get as much of the tumor out as possible during the biopsey and he failed to give her antirection drugs or any antibiotics. My mother didnt die from lung cancer she died from septis

A then 60 -yr old relative went for an outpatient heart catheterization, after which her cardiologist handed over what should have been somewhat routine aftercare to her regular physician. Within days she began to feel bad with flu-like symptoms. Her regular physician treated her with the antibiotic Erythromycin because she is allergic to most other antibiotics. Then on top of the other symptoms, her nose began to bleed, for which he added Vitamin K. Got sicker but couldn’t get her cardiologist to call her back. Her doctors had some kind of back and forth telephone tag argument over who should be treating her, they lost more valuable time, and her primary care physician ended up sending her by ambulance to a hospital where her he knew her cardiologist practiced. Cardiologist reluctantly admitted her and began treating her for an unknown lung infection. Suddenly while a pharmacist relative was visiting her, she fainted, and went unconscious. Transferred to ICU. Now in addition to seriously ill with what we now think was not a lung infection but probably SEPSIS, she had severe and widespread bleeding on the brain. Interaction of E-mycin and Cumadin. Her head swelled up like a pumpkin to the point her eyes closed. Had to have a shunt to drain fluid off the brain. Because of the intervention of family with some medical knowledge, who removed the incompetent cardiologist (who disagreed with 11 other drs that it must be brain cancer—preposterous), she survived. After a long hospitalization, months of inpatient rehab and physical therapy, MRSA was identified as an infectious agent. It was likely contracted from a medical facility (duh). My guess: the outpatient heart cath procedure conducted by the grossly incompetent cardiologist who later lost his license. For years now, she has suffered with what I think is a low level of sepsis. She had several other surgeries that became badly infected and took over a year (and some longer) to heal. After abdominal surgery for early stage cancer, she nearly died of peritonitis. The antibiotic to treat that, destroyed the tendons in her feet and legs. The surgery to correct that got badly infected, took over a year to heal, and nearly killed her. I think she probably still has a low level of MRSA in her body, as every few weeks to months for years since, she has a bout of fever and chills, though she finally found a doctor who seems to have that under control. Yes, the American medical community really needs to get a handle on hospital and medical facility sanitation and infection control. In addition, they need to be more serious about policing their own ranks to weed out dangerously incompetent professionals. I think sepsis, or “pre-sepsis” if you will, is probably a lot more common than is known.

Being healthy all my life and having never spent anytime in hospitals, I had never heard of sepsis. My father just died of sepsis in the hospital. I am mad as hell. In fact the night of his death the doctor called me (I was out of town working) asking me whether I wanted him to incubate my father. Not once did he mention the word sepsis, so honoring my father’s wishes I said no. Had I known that his organs were failing and his infection was due to sepsis, I may have made a different decision so that I could have at least given him a chance to fight it. My father spent a week in hospital, came home and less than 24 hours later was back in hospital and 24 hours later he was dead. The night of his death, the nurse called me asking for my consent for them to drain the fluids out of his belly. I asked whether we had approached a grave situation and she said no and that he was talking and coherent. 4 hours later he was dead! He originally went into the hospital (the first time) for diarrhea and weakness. They treated his diarrhea but made him so constipated. They pumped him with diuretics. He came home a week later in such pain that he could not urinate, hence he landed back in the ER and was delirious (which I thought was from the meds). All the signs were there yet no one told me he was in septic shock. Why are hospitals not held accountable?

I also want to Thank the nurse(s) here who shared about the staff not being more dilligent about cleanliness/sterile when doing blood draws and Iv’s etc. I’m my last 4 day stay they were drawing my blood 4-6 times a day mainly to test my lactic acid- and I saw the phleb’s do exactly what you said! Folks do yourself a favor and be as proactive in your own healthcare ad you possibly care! If youre coherent/ pay attention and adk what and why if you don’t understand what’s going on! If you can- adk a close friend or family member to be your advocate if you arent mentally capable in the event if an emergency!

I was infected with Sepsis a day after my cat gently poked 3 teensy holes in my leg. I went to bed at 10 on Saturday and called my son to come get me up from my bed on Monday morning. I waited til the afternoon to have my nephew ho with to our walk in clinic so he could get a wheel chair and help me get out of my car- as my ry knee was totally stiff and nonbending since becoming I’ll. (I had a knee replacement and due to previous debridements of that knee due to MRSA, It was always swollen knee to toes). At walk in, they immediately took my blood pressure and the attending said “youre going to the ER. right now- your bp is 70/40, and thats very low.”. The ER staff was awaiting me- where they went into action. I was so blah I couldnt understand why it was suddenly so hard toget an IV in ! I explained anout my cat- and they said that was the cause. Labs for sepsis said greater than 9.0= severe sepsis/septic shock. My level was 26.39! I shouldnt be here! After 4 days They released me. I couldnt care for myself due to my stiff knee- so I returned. 3.5 days and my labs were looking good enough to leave with strong oral antibiotics-but I could barely walk n needed pt- so off to the nursing facility for 8 days! I was home a month and after eating lunch- became very sick- vomiting, shakes, stimach pain and more. 3 hours later-I had blood pouring out my bowels every 15 minutes. And more projectile vomiting to go with the horrible gut pain n bloat. I said I’ll go in tomorrow if this isnt any better. It wasnt. Back to the ER and a CT Scan and a bunch of tests later- I was admitted. The next mirning the Gastro MD came in and said “You have ISCHEMIC COLITIS- your large intestine was deprived of oxygen and had a heart attack”. The blood was the colons way of responding to the oxygen loss and was shedding the lining which was due to the tissue damage of the attack. We agree Sepsis and my 70/40 low bp coupled with my lupus and more health issues wete the cause of this attack. 4 more days in the hospital and I am having a colonoscopy in 6-8 weeks to see how much damage and where. I might need a bowel resection depending in scar tissue/damage. I just turned 60 just 4 days prior to getting Sepsis. My colon is so enlarged that it looks & feels like an invisible inner tube aroubd my gut-the Doctor said he didn’t need to see me to know how bad because he could see it on my CT Scan n he said itll be a long while before it goes down. I came home on Thanksgiving day and it is now 5 full days later and the bloat and pain continue- I can’t eat much or the pain is worse. I dread what the colonoscopy results will be- my last one was clean with no polyps even! I continue on potent antibiotics and hope that the only bad result of all of tjis is that I lose unwanted pounds. Thankfully I am blessed to have doctors who listened and cared or might be alive today. If you get any cuts or scratches or get cat claw poked wash them immediately! And do yourself a favor! CALL 911! Sepsis is something i never paid attention to before all this happened. I knew about MRSA because I had it in 2010. I cheated death 3 times- you might not be so lucky…read about sepsis and know tge signs and symptoms. I hope my story can help save lives. Thank you Amy for sharing your story- I am thankful you survived such a horrendoys ordeal. Cyn

I too survived sepsis.
At the age of 26 I had just delivered my son 4 weeks early due to preclampsia. I was watched an extra day in the hospital and was sent home with a clear bill of health.
5 days went by and I woke up with that not feeling real great feeling. Achy and my back was killing me. I opted out of seeing the doctor this day. I was fine it would go away. That evening my husband came home and I was curled up next to the furnace with 104.9 fever. I took some motrin and went to bed. So keep in mind as well I am a nurse. LOL, the worst patients!! The fever never went down and at 6 the next morning I went to urgent care. My insurance changed right before my son was born so I was at a hospital where I had no doctor. They looked me over and after a few test it was determined I had pyelonephritis. Otherwise known as a kidney infection. I was admitted and taken to an overflow floor.
Day to day was no answers. No doctor meant I got the hospitalist . The 3rd day in my husband called my parents/family to inform them that I was considerably worse and that they should probably come see me. he was certain I was dying and I was.
Day 4. I am now drowning in my own fluids. I developed pneumonia and sleep apnea. I was hallucinating from the pain meds. I gained 35 lbs of fluids in 4 days. My room mate happened to be a cna at the hospital. She informed my husband that he needed to go drag a doctor in there are make him look at me.
He did. Dr. Le saved my life. He immediately ordered all fluids removed. He reviewed my chart and my blood work showed I was indeed Septic with E-COLI. My chart had been updated the night prior to this.
Day 5 I was allowed to go home. Probably should not due to all my breathing issues but my doctor thought I needed to be with my baby.
I do not remember a thing from the day my son was born till the day I came home from sepsis. This is all been told to me from family and my husband.
I thank God everyday that Dr. Le was there. I truly believe I would’ve died in a few short days without him.

DO NOT ignore the warning signs!!! It may be the difference in life or death!!!

A friend was admitted to hospital with an incarcerated hernia, and died 24 hours later while awaiting surgery. The autopsy indicated a strangulated section of bowel, and sepsis in several organs. I believe he was at high risk of strangulation of the hernia, and at risk of sepsis from the strangulation.
I was not familiar with sepsis myself, but I now know that my friend demonstrated a number of symptoms of sepsis – particularly shivering and stating that he was very cold, elevated respiration rate, elevated heart rate, confusion and disorientation, severe abdominal pain, and greatly reduced urine output. Medical staff seemed to think that these symptoms were merely a response to pain. Should he have been monitored or screened for developing sepsis?

My mother was not so lucky. She lived in Pendleton, OR. She had many chronic ailments; rheumatoid arthritis, no thyroid function, emphysema and a condition that her doctors at home said was Crohn’s disease, but the specialists in Seattle said was not. The surgeon at home tried to help by giving her a bowel resection. It didn’t heal, she entered the hospital’s intensive care. After 4 days, my sister and I came to the hospital, aware that Mother wasn’t a physically strong person and could die. She was getting IV antibiotics, morphine and fluids and was for the most part unconscious. She was bloated so badly she was unrecognizable and filled with so many fluids, every pore on her skin was oozing saline. After 3 days the surgeon made rounds while we were there and told us. She was dying of sepsis, her intestine hadn’t healed and she had kidney failure. What he didn’t disclose is that the hospital didn’t have a kidney dialysis machine, and had they moved her within the first 2 days of her current stay to another hospital, that did have one, she might have survived. But by that time, Father had signed a DNR and it was too late. My sister, who had been complaining of a sore throat then went into hysterics and the staff told me to get her out of the hospital, she couldn’t deal with it. They were right. 2 hours later, my sister was dead of a heart attack. The next day, my mother died. Oddly enough, her own mother died in 1937, of the same thing infection, going into pneumonia and then sepsis. And, it wasn’t my mother’s first bout of blood poisoning, she had had it before. Please, please, please, don’t let anyone else experience this. It’s a nightmarish way to die and it’s traumatized me for the rest of my life. My mother had just turned 63. My sister was 44. Take care of yourselves and be your own strongest advocate.

Amy,
Thank you for sharing your story. I feel better educated about sepsis. I’m so glad that you’re doing well, and you look wonderful.
Bonita

In 2011, I had a right total hip replacement. I noticed in the second week that 2 bottom stitches looked abnormal. Slight oozing. Surgeon removed those 2 stitches,leaving a tiny opening. End of third week this area became inflamed. I asked Surgeon ” if I need to take a antibiotic”? He said ” just a over -the-counter antibiotic cream. I felt that he knew what he was doing. Within 1 week I developed a abscess that burst. Went back to same Surgeon (in Boston) and he used his hands to drain any remaining fluid. I was put on a 7 day oral antibiotic. It appeared to heal on the outside. In 2014, I was sick with what felt like the flu. By third week I told my primary Doctor ” some thing is wrong. I’m not feeling better”. He asked “if I had a fever”. I told him that ” I was having the chills. I was told I had a virus and had to wait it out. Three nights later I woke up with severe stomach pain,still sick and couldn’t move my right leg. Fire Dept. had to ‘ram’ my front door down to get in. I can’t remember anything after that. I was taken to the Emergency Hospital. There were a lot of blanks in my memory for first 7 days. I don’t know what tests were done,but I was taken to a Nursing Home due to I couldn’t use my right leg. I could feel some thing was wrong. I just got sicker. Less than 48 hours later I was rushed back to hospital. I find it hard to put into words how bad I felt. I thought I was dying. I was admitted and put into a regular room with a elderly patient. Tests showed I had some type of bacterial infection in my blood,my liver wasn’t functioning normal and blood pressure was very low. I spent of 14 days in a ‘regular’ room & had 2 different elderly patients in that room with me. No nurses wore masks,protective eyewear while handling my bodily fluids,nor wore disposable gowns that should of been disposed of before exiting my room. To this day, I question why they exposed other patients to me who had other medical conditions. Some staff went from me right over to tending other patient who was in the room with me. I was never put into isolation until they found exact type of bacteria & correct course of antibiotics and etc.. I truly would appreciate if someone could explain this to me. I never regained some of my memory. For anyone out there who has had sepsis & ‘beat’ it,my heart goes out to you. For those who haven’t, my heart breaks for you.

I too had missed diagnosed sepsis which resulted in multi organ failure, cardiac arrest I was on life support, my family were told to come and my son flew from vietnam where he lives to england. I arrived at A and E with Sepsis, I didnt know at the time it was sepsis but I knew something was seriously wrong. I explained to all staff who attended me that I was sure my Ascites ( fluid in abdominal cavity due to liver disease) was infected as I had Ascites four times previously and it felt so much more painful and I was extremely confused, I couldnt talk properly. They said my blood tests and microrganism tests were ok, obviously not as when I nurse found me choking to death, on pus and blood ( her words )all my main organs were infected!!! I was very lucky to srvive and I went on to have a life saving liver transplant, although because I was so severely malnourished that the surgeons initially thought I would not survive the transplant. I am still cross about what happened, More people should be aware, although its hard when you are so ill. I wished I had known more about sepsis, keep up good work. Susan

I am stunned to read these real life stories. I hear this kind of stories from patients where I work. Iam trying to
get appropriate doctoral degree to be able to implement changes. But I could not find an institution which focuses on infection and its prevention.

Victor

My head is melted I don’t know what to do I had surgery 17 days ago and since I’ve being in the hospital twice, first time I was sent home saying I was fine then ended up with my doctor a day later to be handed strong antibiotics which didn’t work. I then ended up back in the hospital a few days later to be confirmed an infection and sent on my travels with antibiotics again. My doctor rang me today and confirmed I have strep infection and nasty bugs in my system. Now I am embarrassed and don’t want to go down to be sent home again I feel stupid to keep going down. But now that my wound has closed there is no obvious infection, but I really don’t feel well. The pains are intensifying and the nausea is killing me. I’m hoping it will all subside as I have spent the majority of the summer in hospital and own 2 businesses and have 2 children. I feel like pulling my hair out now and just feel stupid for thinking they’re wrong. Saying this out loud makes me realise I’m being stupid who cares and go get checked out but I’ve being sent home 4 times from hospital and once I was rushed back 4 hours later for surgery.

Thank you for sharing your story. I am glad that you are well, but my heart goes out to you for what you had and your family had to endure. My son with Down syndrome went into septic shock in 2010. He was 7-10 months old. He had contracted (c-diff) while “in hospital” for a respiratory virus. It was misdiagnosed by his Pediatrician at the time. It went rampant in his system. When we went back to the hospital he also was malnourished from all the diarrhea. He lost weight & went down to 8 lbs. at 8 months old. He was slipping away from us. A Dr. made an error in deciding to take my son off of his fluids. I told them I had a very bad feeling & didn’t want them to. They did it anyway & he was turning purple the next day. They rushed him to ICU & had to drill holes in his leg bones to be able to get water in him. His pancreas took a bad hit & ever since he is treated as a Type 1 Diabetic, needing insulin and shots with every bolus through his feed tube. He also has to have enzymes with his formula to be able to absorb protein & sugars. We were in the hospital for 40 days. & many hospital stays over the course of 3 yrs. It was a miracle that our son survived. He is amazing (almost 8 yrs. old now) and even with all the things he goes through daily, he is the happiest child you’d ever meet. ?I agree that it is important to recognize the signs of these symptoms for ALL patients.

My mother went through exactly the same thing after she developed MRSA following surgery for a broken femur. She had all of the same symptoms as Amy, except she also couldn’t breathe. Doctors kept attributing it to her past history of asthma but we, her family, knew better. There was only one nurse on the floor who seemed alarmed and she later disclosed that she had alerted the infectious disease doctor of her concerns but was dismissed. Mom went into septic shock at 4a.m., was on life support for three weeks and developed double pneumonia soon thereafter.
PLEASE – Doctors! When the nurses spend all day and night with someone, don’t dismiss their concerns after visiting with your patient for five minutes. If someone would have listened, my mom likely wouldn’t have progressed to being admitted to Trauma ICU for three weeks and a hospital stay that lasted almost seven months. The care she received from the rest of her team was ultimately good enough that she’s still with us today, but she’s not the same. We believe she was deprived of oxygen for an extended period because so many people missed the signs.

Thank you for your info I had same thing but it was in my blood. Stream from Aug until October I was going to my family doc she was giving me antibiotics shots and steroids shots then to quick Care at last in oucvmy bp went down to 59/43 had went to diff doc she done. Blood work next morning I had call from 3 diff nurse telling me to get to hp asap I said why they said I had infection in my blood stream so crying in tears and my mom been left at home at 86 broke my heart she been leaving with me scense 1990 when my dad past they done blood culture to see what it was and it was septis wanted me stal in hp for 14 days after they found antibiotics to fight it theyafter me begging. I can’t. Leave my mom that long so for three days I drove and my girls. Did ever 6 hrs to have antibiotics ran threw my pic line it was making me so sick going back Infowars that much on day ,7 my youngest daughter convince them to send the machine to my house and they did send home health to show me how to use it so I had to give my on sel treatment ever 6 hrs I did not mind I was home with my mom ,2 days after Thanksgiving they said I was better took it out i promise my dad on his defth bed I take care of mom and so far it’s just been me and her but it works well some time we struggling financially hard but we make it now in Feb this year I had mesnic sugery and in March they had to do emg sugery on my knee I had another infection in my knee now this is may and I fear I have another one wher the Dr lefth stitch in from the 2nd threw the 17th he had to cut two out they had grown in and one them flared up infection now is about to have 3 rf sugery infection getting worse my whole leg in red I went back to Dr two weeks ago but all he says is he don’t want do sugery again but might half to what good is this going to do they keep calling it spectic the before stage of speic

We are just not doing enough to prevent infection/contamination in hospitals, emergency departments and outpatient care. I lost my mother to sepsis, almost lost my newborn son at 6 days old. He was rushed to Boston Children’s Hospital where they saved his life. I myself was rushed back to Mt Auburn Hospital after having my first baby, with sepsis. I cannot recall ever seeing a phlebotomist or nurse not “retouch” my skin for that one last feel of the vein AFTER it was cleansed only to contaminate again for a blood draw without reswabbing the area. This is not “aseptic technique.” I see techs setting up sterile suture carts clueless of how to apply sterile gloves, and reusing one time betadine AND normal saline solutions. In addition to that, this one particular event, the tech left the set up in a room where other staff go in and out with just a drape over it. Technically, it is not suppose to be left anywhere unattended! Whenever I mention anything, even the slightest hint wherever I may be working, I am looked upon differently so it’s a no win situation. Sad:(

Hi Amy! My name is Tory Pereira and I am a septic shock survivor as well. Your story is very moving and I am so sorry you had to go through all of this. I thought being healthy would always save me too but Sepsis can and will attack anyone, no matter how strong we hope our immune systems are. Your story touched me because you are very strong woman for surviving septic shock! And our stories are a little similar. My duodenum perforated and that’s what caused me to go septic. I didn’t know I was septic and ignored all of my signs, of agonizing pain, fever and confusion. I hoped it would go away and it did’t, I went into cardiac arrest at restaurant in Las Vegas. After they revived me on scene they rushed me to the nearest hospital and put me through a CT scan, they saw air in my abdomen and asked if I wanted an exploratory surgery. I was scared so I said no. I was half way across the world on a business trip. I live in Georgia and we were in Las Vegas. They made me stay over night to monitor me and the next morning I lost my pulse again. I went a total of around 36 hours of being septic. They rushed me into emergency exploratory surgery and my surgeon had to do an entire reroute of my stomach, I had 1% chance of surviving the surgery. I had all of the signs too, high heart rate, low blood pressure, and no urine output. How did my doctors not know I was in septic shock? I think it’s very important for everyone in our communities and doctors to be well informed of sepsis and its signs and symptoms. A doctor can double a patients chances of survival just by knowing what sepsis is and how to treat it. I am starting a nonprofit organization to raise awareness for sepsis we are called, Sepsis Awareness United. We are planning to launch in March/ April 2017. If you have some time I would love to speak with you as well, I think it’s cool for us Sepsis Survivors to stick together! Happy holidays and have a Blessed day!

I have just began to research Sepsis. November 8, 2016 I went by ambulance to hospital due to the horrendous pain I had in my stomach. I don’t remember much after my arrival at the ER. In fact the a few weeks or so prior to then I had experienced confusion and was not thinking clearly walked around in a dazed state of mind. I was told by family members that I was being very uncooperative (like a wild animal) with everyone who were trying to help me. Long story short….Kidney stones. I woke up fully intubated with stints in my kidneys and the stones still remain. Sepsis was to far advanced for them to continue as I was told my body body/organs started shutting down. I was treated with antibiotics in the hospital over the course of 3 days and released to home w antibiotics. I am now scheduled for surgery on Dec.7th depending on the blood work prior to then. Prior to this event I had never been one to worry or be frightened when it comes to medical issues or surgeries. Today I am scared and just hope that I will make it through this ordeal….never want to experience this again. THANK YOU FOR SHARING YOUR STORY and please keep me in your prayers for my upcoming surgery.

Hello,
My name is Lori.
End of July 2014 I had to been
flown out to York Pa. From Gettysburg Pa.
My story began when I was so tired that I had
to have My teenage Son help Me from the bathroom
to My bedroom. I was so tired ,a good Friend wanted
to take Me to the Doctors. I told Her I will be alright.
Then in the Morning it was still dark outside My Husband
woke Me up & told Me I was burning up with fever.
My Husband took my temperature it was 104.My Husband &
Son held Me up. Mark is My Husband,told Me to pick up My feet.
In My mind I was walking. Marcus my Son brought Our car to the
side of the house & into the car. We went about 8miles to The
Hospital My Doctor told us that My fever 106. Then all I remember
is the Doctor asked Me if I ever flown in a helicopter? I said no.
They had to put Me in a coma. The rest of the story was told to
Me when I came to. There is not away goes by that I don’t cry.
It has change my world . Sometimes I wonder why Me, If you would
have known Me before & now. You would have to agree.

I worked Critical Care half my nursing career. Unfortunately, it was all too often that our unit was half filled with sepsis patients. My comment is simply that simple diagnoses do not mean that there is no danger. Having gallstones can lead to blocked bile ducts which can lead to sepsis. Please have them removed before this happens. If you have pneumonia and are not getting better on your antibiotics, see your MD. If you think you have an urinary tract infection and are trying to treat it yourself, know that these infections can be deadly.

I went in to have kidney stones removed. It is a in and out procedure. Went home ‘ felt great. Rode my bike to have a burger. Got home and started feeling achy and feverish. Was home alone for 2 days in bed. Finally when phone rang, i mustered up the strength to answer and ask for help. I wss already in septic shock. ICU for 3 days. They didn’t think I’d survive. A minister came in my room. I thought I heard they had to recessitate me. Spent another 6 days recovering. Turns out i had e.coli of the blood. Now theres been an endoscope recalll. It couldn’t be cleaned properly and people were getting infected and dying. Now there are lawsuits. Dont know if it was used on me but lawyers are looking in to it.
Dwayna Hendrickson

Hi Amy,
Thank you for sharing your story. I am so glad that you are better. It is unfortunate that we have such uneducated medical professionals especially in something that is seen on a regular basis such as Sepsis. I too have been in the hospital with Sepsis and was fortunate enough to have a wonderful emergency room Doctor who recognized my symptoms. But I continue to battle an illness with an infectious tropical disease that doctor’s have no knowledge of the signs and symptoms and are closed minded to proof of evidence.

Thanks for sharing. I was touched and appreciate your zeal to inform and prevent based upon your experience. 🙂 Be Blessed.

I am a retired Medical Laboratory Scientist. As years passed while I was still working, I noticed the change in patient care; more focused on “cost effective ” processes, away from the patient and more toward saving time and money.
At my insistance, we had laboratory protocols that were diagnosis-based, and more importantly, ANY patient admitted to our relatibely small hospital ER had a CBC performed, AND a skilled lab scientist to review a bloodsmear prepared from the sample. In less than 10 minutes SEPSIS could easily be determined to be present not only by the white blood cell count, but by the appearance of the cells on the stained smear. When”toxic” features were present, computer-generated and noted by the reviewer, comments were generated to alert the physician to RULE OUT SEPSIS. With the rising interest in the cost-saving “corporate labs”, the chances of this happening is unlikely. Thousands of CBCs are sent off-site from hospitals. Those hospitals that still have onsite laboratory review, the staff are unskilled, or too busy to review ER slides (not part of protocol). A diagnosis that could be made “on the spot” is now delayed for hours, and even days in some settings. It is NOT about the patient anymore. In our area, for example, where tickborne illnesses are epidemic, some life-threatening slide-detectable ones, could be detected almost immediately in ER patients if the protocols for bloodsmears were in place. Instead the patient suffers for days, even weeks, and may be later return to the ER and admitted in serious condition. If a 5-10 minute bloodsmear review was performed initially. The patient would be successfully treated and well, avoiding the costs associated as described above.

It’s so sad when doctors don’t listen to patients symptoms. Patients know their bodies much better than we think and should be listened to. Thank God Amy defied the odds. Unfortunately for others that were not as physically fit as her it would have ended sadly. Let’s take the time to listen carefully before deciding our course of action.

I am glad to learn that you survived this terrible ordeal. Unfortunately, my husband did not. Sepsis set in when a gaul stone became lodged in his duct, setting up the bacteria. Joe had three prior attacks but the doctors did not test him for gaul stones until our doctor decided to have an ultra sound done on his abdomen. That was on the 14th of
November. It was revealed he had Gaul stones. Unfortunately, the doctor did not suggest surgery only to tell him to come in if he had any discomfort. On Thanksgiving Day, November 26th, he had another attack. We all thought he was having some kind of problem, maybe reflux. He would go into convulsions, shaking until they finally would stop some time later. None of the doctors he saw, from the gastroenterologist, to the cardiatic doctors in the hospital (he was admitted in September) could figure out what was wrong. All they told us was that it was not his heart. So, when he was admitted in November, the bacteria had already invaded his organs. That was when we were told that he had sepsis. They did not give us any hope. Joe was put on an IV and given antibiotics to fight the toxins. He blew up like a ballon to the point that he developed water blisters that ran because he had so much fluid in his body. He also went into cardiac arrest for 20 minutes but they resuscitated him. We were all hopeful at that point, however the doctors did not know if he had any brain damage because of the time. Needless to say, his kidneys stopped functioning, so they had him on dialysis but that did not work. Eventually, after ten days, he was taken off life support.
It is unfortunate that the doctors did not know what was going on with him. Once the family doctor found the Gaul stones, he also did not connect the dots with his symptoms. Joe died on December 4th. The doctors are only now just realizing how fatal this problem has become. Now all they have to do is figure out how to treat it before it is too late.
Of course, my youngest daughter, who is in the medical field, was so upset she wanted to blame someone. In the end, there was no one to blame.
I just want to let you know how blessed you are to have survived. I wish you joy and good health. May God continue to bless you and your family.

Thanks for disclosing the real story. To my fellow health workers, l feel like its really good and productive to approach/ get knowledge from others when handling conditions or diseases that we have observed gap of knowledge. Don’t hesitate till the condition worsen.

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