Abby Lundquist
On May 8th around midnight I got a high fever and was throwing up for 12 hours. Me and my parents thought it was just the stomach flu. On May 9th, the next day my fever went down and I stopped throwing up. I was still having horrible body aches and could barely walk. I thought it was just bad flu body aches so I didn’t think much of it. That night is when things took a turn for the worst. I couldn’t feel my feet and they were cold and white. My mom said I had black spots all over my face.
My mom rushed me to the ER and I was immediately taken back. The next thing I know my clothes are getting cut off and there are so many doctors and nurses around me. I got an IV put in my neck, a CT scan which I don’t remember and so much blood work. The doctor figured out I was in septic shock from streptococcal pneumonia and I was in DIC (Disseminated Intravascular coagulation) a rare blood clotting condition! (Sepsis and Pneumonia, Sepsis and Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation)
The next thing I know I’m being told that I have to be intubated. I was told by my mom and sister who were crying that I’m very sick and need to take a nap! I was put on full life support plus dialysis. My heart was only working at 10%! The doctors did the first ever bedside ECMO surgery in the ICU because they didn’t have time to take me to the OR. Before this surgery they told my family I most likely wouldn’t make it through the procedure. I did and I was in a coma for 9 days. The type of my nose turned black and my lip! My fingers also turned black and mummified. I woke up to the tube getting pulled out of my throat which was so bad! I remember saying “oh my god! Oh my god” and seeing my mom and sister.
I didn’t know why my hands were wrapped up until a few days later my mom explains to me and I saw. I couldn’t look at my hands for the longest time. I got my first above the knee amputation on May 21st then my below the knee on May 29th. I transferred out of ICU on May 26 to the heart/vascular floor! I spent 77 days in the hospital undergoing over 30 procedures and surgeries!
My mother stayed with me the whole time! It was very hard to be in the hospital for that long but finally on July 24th, 2024 we got to go home! I have an amazing support system! I went home with my necrotic fingers, which was very hard because they were in my way and they were painful. On August 23, 2024 my family and I traveled down to St. Louis and I finally got my finger amputation surgery. All went well! When the time came to take the bandages off, I cried so much because I wasn’t prepared for what it was going to look like, and it was so hard to see another part of my body that I’ve lost! My hands healed very nice and it’s so much better without the black harden fingers! Fast-forward a couple of months, and I am in my prosthetic legs learning to walk again. I am also getting finger prosthetics. At times it is very hard, but I am thankful that I survived! I was on a immunosuppressant drug for Crohn’s disease and I also don’t have a spleen so that made me more susceptible. (Sepsis and Impaired Immune System) I want people who are immunocompromised to take flu like symptoms seriously! It’s only a matter of minutes!
