Hailey's Sepsis Story – The Tough Return to 'Normal' After Sepsis, Post-Sepsis Symptoms, and PTSD
Last year, my appendix ruptured and caused severe septic shock. I was just 23.
The diagnosis occurred over a week of back and forth from home to hospital. I woke up 2 nights in a row with debilitating stomach pain. I thought it was food poisoning because by the morning it was gone. By the third day of this happening, I realized it was something more, so I contacted my family doctor, who did bloodwork and ordered an ultrasound. The bloodwork confirmed that my white blood cell count was very high, but the ultrasound did not show anything abnormal. The next night, I woke up with the pain the worst it had ever been, and my family called an ambulance. The hospital made me wait 5 hours and concluded that it was “probably cysts or cramps” as they could not see anything alarming either. They sent me home with painkillers. The following night, it happened again, and I went to a different hospital. This hospital noticed that my stomach was distended, and thought it was a side effect of the painkillers and advised me to get off of them. They also thought that I was dealing with endometriosis and sent me home.
I finally went home and tried to get some sleep. I hadn’t been able to sleep due to how much pain I was in. By the next morning, I was lethargic and had dangerously low blood pressure (56/30). We thought my blood pressure machine was broken. I went to the bathroom and knew something wasn’t right. I also hadn’t been able to eat anything substantial all week as I was in so much pain and nauseous. My family took me back to the hospital for the third time. They finally admitted me seeing how "out of it" I was. I don't remember anything after being admitted, but I was told I was immediately brought to ICU, and then wheeled into emergency surgery. I don’t even remember being put into a hospital gown. It turns out my appendix had been leaking for weeks, and my body went septic. The infection was attacking all my organs. The surgeon tried laparoscopic surgery and found that my abdomen was entirely infected and ended up opening my abdomen entirely for a full appendectomy. I had 13 blood transfusions, 5 liters of infection drained from my body, and was put on a ventilator for 6 days. When I woke up from being intubated, I was delirious and hallucinating very badly for days. It was the scariest experience of my life.
Apparently, many sepsis survivors wake up after being on a ventilator with no recollection of what happened, and that's what happened to me. I had no idea where I was, what happened, or how bad it was. The doctors would not tell me the details of what happened, because they knew I would freak out. I was on heavy medications for pain and a mix of antibiotics. I ended up being allergic to a few of them, so I changed medications frequently. I was on heart medication for an extremely fast heart rate and taking multiple vitamins to rebuild my nutrition that was lost. The medications made me nauseous, and I was very weak from the ventilator that learning how to walk again was difficult. I could not understand why or how this happened.
I was in ICU for 3 weeks, moved to the general ward for discharge, then put back in ICU for another 3 weeks because the infected abscesses would not shrink, and my vitals were inconsistent. I was having constant fevers from the infections for days at a time. I ended up having drains inserted to get rid of the infection. Having to learn how to walk, talk, use my phone, eat, brush my hair, and other normal things as a 23-year-old was extremely traumatic. I wouldn’t wish what I’ve gone through on my worst enemy.
Post sepsis, I have lost 75% of my hair, have a huge scar down my abdomen, and am still working on gaining strength/weight back. I have PTSD both from the sepsis itself and being in ICU. I manage that battle every day, with some days being better than others. I also have memory and concentration problems that I never had before. I also get fatigued quickly. I am extremely grateful for making a full physical recovery, as they said age and health were on my side. The hospital had never seen such a bad case of sepsis, so I hope to be a lesson to watch for the signs of sepsis and take patients seriously when they voice concerns about their health!
The article above was written by Hailey Bain and is shared here with her explicit consent. The views in the article do not necessarily represent those of the Global Sepsis Alliance. They are not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. The whole team here at the GSA and World Sepsis Day wishes to thank Hailey for sharing her story and for fighting to raise awareness for sepsis.