Cindy Owens

At the end of June 2016 I had what I thought was a bruised shoulder after just moving into a house in San Diego. It got to the point that if someone touched it I wanted to just scream. I started to get sick and I simply thought I had the flu and pretty much stayed in the bed and slept. By July 2nd I was sleeping every day, most of the day, of course that was when I wasn’t running to the bathroom either with diarrhea or vomiting. By the 4th I was continuing to try to eat but whatever it was would run right through me. I was not sure what to do! My shoulder had been hurting and it was getting to the point that I could hardly move it without severe pain, the once little lump had grown bigger and bigger. I never associated the being sick to the shoulder hurting and the bump appearing to enlarge everyday. I had no sign of a sore or open spot, even having my son check it out for me. I had had MRSA already 3 times before and knew what to look for but there was nothing I could see except redness and a bump. (Sepsis and MRSA) I was putting compress on it and ice packs but nothing was helping at all. By the 7 or 8th I was so sick and could not eat or drink anything and getting out of bed was almost impossible.

I called the doctor and made an appointment for July 11th, I was so sick and could not get better. Once I walked into the doctor office for my appointment, she took one look at me and told me that I needed to go to the hospital right now that she was sure I sepsis. Once we arrived at the emergency room they took me right in especially after telling them about my shoulder, diarrhea and vomiting. They took a x-ray I think as by this time I was pretty out of and could barely focus on anything. I only remember of that day them asking me questions and me telling them about having the MRSA before but that it had been at least 4 years past. The surgeon that they had sent for in the emergency room put a large needle into the top of my shoulder drawing out fluid and I knew right away that I had the MRSA again. Once they did that they took me right away into surgery. I have to say that those doctors were very good at doing their job and my doctor Rachel Palma knew what she was talking about and I am so glad as I would be here now.

I had surgery on my shoulder and they had to remove part of my clavicle  as the infection had spread into the bone. The surgeon told me that I was a very lucky lady that I came in when I did as a couple more days and I would of passed on. I stayed in the hospital at Sharp Memorial for 3 days, since I needed extra care and very strong IV antibiotic they had me put into a rehab/nursing facility center. There I was given IV meds every 12 hours, I was in quarantined away from any other patient and the nurse dressed in gowns for days, masks and all.

I stayed in the facility from July 14th to August 23 before my blood levels had been cleared by the infectious disease doctor.