April Sims

I was 42 at the time. In October 2015, I was just leaving work and started to have pain in my side. As I was driving home the pain was getting worse and worse. I felt as if I would pass out. I made it home and ran to the bathroom as I felt I had to throw up. It was the worst pain I had ever experienced. My Mom asked if she should call an ambulance. I said no, I’ll be ok. I took an Advil and the pain went away. My brother said he had had pain like that from a kidney stone, so I thought that’s what I had and I would just have to pass it.

The next day I felt OK just a little tired. I said to myself I would go to the doctor the next day just to get checked out. When I woke up in the morning I was shaking so bad my body hurt. I was going into shock. My Mom then called the ambulance. When I got to the hospital I was feeling OK, the shaking had stopped, as I had taken Advil. As the doctors were checking me out and asking me questions, I had apparently said I was having trouble breathing. I don’t remember this happening. I had to have a breathing tube put in. I was in the critical care unit for about 10 days, on a breathing tube and all I remember was weird dreams and hallucinations.(Sepsis and Hallucinations)

My heart stopped at one point and I had to be resuscitated. As all this was happening my feet were turning purple, I wasn’t getting enough blood flow to my feet. My toes were starting to get gangrene. When they got the sepsis under control I started to wake up. They said I had a kidney infection from echoli bacteria. My feet were bandaged up. The podiatrist waited a week to see how much of the tissue on my feet would come back. The tissue on my right foot came back, but the toes on my left foot were all black and they had to amputate all my toes on the left foot. (Sepsis and Amputations) I needed dialysis while I was in the hospital and thank god my kidneys started to function on their own and I didn’t need the dialysis anymore. I was in the hospital for 5 weeks and then I went into a rehab for a week. My doctors tell me I almost didn’t make it and I am very lucky to be alive. I have permanent nerve damage in my feet now. And the toes on my good foot are a little curled now. My feet are a little numb and they hurt and burn if I’m on my feet for a long period of time. But it’s a small price to pay for my life. I’m grateful for my doctor’s and my life.