Ashley D.

When I was only 13 I was diagnosed with gallstones and was told to follow up with a surgeon. When I went to the surgeon they ordered a CAT scan to make sure I did indeed have gallstones. The surgeon had told me I did not have gallstones and I went to go visit my family who at the time was living in Virginia. (Sepsis and Gallstones)

When I got to Virginia things were fine at first but then I started to have stomach pain that would not go away for 2 days. I eventually went to the ER and was told I did indeed have gallstones and to follow up with surgeon at home. The ER doctor had told me to come back if I had got any worsening symptoms or if I started to vomit etc. Not even 6 hours later I had puked. I instantly went back to the ER and in the span of those 6 hours I was told that I was an hour away from going into septic shock. I now had pancreatitis and one of my gallstones was blocking my bile duct.

I was immediately transferred to to another hospital in Richmond and was instantly put on pain medicine and antibiotics. I couldn’t eat anything for about 6 days due to the pancreatitis. I then was rushed into surgery as soon as I was in a stable enough condition. I had my gallbladder removed and was one of those rare circumstances where gallstones caused life threatening complications at only 13 years old. At the time I was completely unaware of how sick I was and I had no clue sepsis was even a thing.