My husband is alive and well, relatively unscathed from his recent bout of pneumonia with sepsis.
Sepsis – a word I had heard before but hadn’t given much consideration to. I knew it was serious. I’d heard of septic shock. I knew it was or was related to an infection. And that’s where my knowledge stopped.
There’s a push for more education about sepsis to the general public, because when its signs are recognized, it can be more effectively treated. The damaging side effects of this oft-deadly disease can be halted. Death might be avoided. If only we would all be more aware of how it presents itself.
We didn’t see it coming.
I hope by sharing our story, maybe someone else can be helped. Perhaps it could be you, because sepsis isn’t something that attacks the elderly or those with weak immune symptoms. Anyone can be affected – from a serious infection or even from a small cut.
Dan fell ill quickly. So quickly that the co-worker he was talking to literally saw the sickness in him come across in his face, his expression. He sent me a text at noon on Monday that he was going home, felt nauseated. He couldn’t express in words how he felt, but he knew something wasn’t right.
Within a few hours, he had a high fever – 103. And he was vomiting a lot. So we assumed it was a run-of-the-mill stomach virus.
I decided I would take the kids out to dinner, giving him privacy and quiet for resting. I checked in on him. He was very hot and weak. But we still thought it was a stomach virus.
Later that evening, Dan noticed there was blood when he vomited. He wasn’t sure if he was coughing it up or if it was in his vomit. He hadn’t really had a cough prior to that day, but coughing up blood is definitely something you want to take seriously.
He began to feel even weaker – so much so that he couldn’t put on his clothes. And while the fever was gone, he was still coughing up blood and just didn’t feel “right.” When he realized I was awake at 4 a.m., he told me what was going on. He called his dad to come sit with the kids so I could take him to Memorial.
His blood pressure was low when we arrived – 93/54 or something. Since Dan’s typically runs a tad bit high, this seemed unusual to me. They immediately put him in a wheelchair and took him to a room.
Within 20 minutes, they had done an EKG and X-ray, drawn blood for lab work, started an IV. Not much longer and he had an antibiotic and pain medication. Immediately they suspected pneumonia, which seemed strange. Dan, a life-long asthmatic on maintenance medications, has had that twice before but not with these types of symptoms. Surely we would have noticed if we thought it was his lungs!
We hadn’t been there an hour, and Dan’s blood pressure dropped below 90 on top. Alarms started sounding, and they had to delay the CT they ordered. He couldn’t have that test done until he was stabilized. That took three and a half hours.
His blood pressure wouldn’t budge out of the 70s. It dipped to 70/41 and nothing they tried – fluids, tipping his feet up higher than his head and discontinuing the pain medication – worked. The doctor finally ordered a vasopressor, medication to constrict the blood vessels. Even that didn’t do the trick.
Somewhere in that timeframe, I sent out a couple texts for people to pray (in addition to using my phone to google about the dangers of low blood pressure…what? Like you wouldn’t!). Word spread quickly around our church, and people were praying specifically for Dan’s blood pressure to come up. I really believe in the power of prayer, and since nothing else had worked, I’m sure it was prayer that helped him “get over the hump.”
He finally got the CT scan right before being admitted in ICU. His whole left lung was filled with infection. So once they were able to isolate what it was, they could start the right mix of antiobiotics.
Because of all the wonderful clinicians at Memorial, all the right things were done that minimized the risk factors for Dan. Sepsis treatment begins with broad-spectrum antibiotics (they did this immediately), IV fluids to maintain blood pressure (he had six liters in the emergency department alone!) and oxygen, which he clearly needed since as soon as he pulled it off his face, his blood oxygen immediately dropped and sounded his alarm.
So what – exactly – is sepsis? According to Wed MD, sepsis is a serious medical condition caused by the body’s overwhelming immune response to infection. Chemicals released into the blood to fight infection trigger widespread inflammation.
“Bacterial infections are the most common cause of sepsis. However, sepsis can also be caused by other infections. The infection can begin anywhere bacteria or other infectious agents can enter the body. It can result from something as seemingly harmless as a scraped knee or nicked cuticle or from a more serious medical problem such as appendicitis, pneumonia, meningitis, or a urinary tract infection,” according to Web MD.
A quick diagnosis is really key to fighting sepsis, and that’s why it’s so important that more people understand what it is so they can recognize it. I read one story of a nurse who didn’t see it among her own symptoms and neither did the health care workers. They sent her home from the emergency room only to call her back in when lab workups came back positive. By then, she lost feelings in her hands in feet. The mother of two ended up with multiple amputations.
But she’s among the lucky ones. According to Web MD and other sources, between 60-70 percent of people who go into septic shock die. Of those who survive, many end up with organ and/or tissue damage.
Dan’s lungs may never be the same. His left lung was already scarred from two bouts of pneumonia. He’ll be more likely to get it again. But there is a vaccine that will keep it from killing him. And he walked away without any additional injuries after spending a week in the hospital.
I am so eternally grateful to God and to the nurses and doctors at Memorial for the work they did to save his life. My heart breaks, however, for those families who don’t experience such a positive outcome. Help others survive by passing along this story. You never know whose life you can help save!
P.S. I can't tell this story without mentioning that the day before, Abby and I gave each other Christmas pedicures at home. Not wanting to feel left out, Dan and Ryker painted each other's toes, too. So Dan spent a week in the hospital with red and green polish on his toes! If you know Dan, nothing could have delighted him more than to share that story with all the nurses and see them smile when they saw his feet.
