Cheryl Pedersen
I’m a 64 year old woman, who loved to camp, swim and paddle in her kayak. In Aug 2022 I had a laminectomy for a herniated disc in my lumber spine. I have rheumatoid arthritis and have been on immunosuppressant drugs for a few years. I stopped them 10 days prior to surgery. I felt immediately better. Eleven days later I started to feel weak and generally unwell. On Day 12 I suddenly developed chills and a fever. I’d never had chills before. I looked on my discharge paperwork and my symptoms fell under the reasons to call the surgeon. (Sepsis and Surgery)
The on-call surgeon said my symptoms didn’t sound too bad. He said I may just have a virus. I explained that I lived more than two hours away. He said I could come get checked that day or wait until tomorrow. I told my husband I didn’t feel comfortable waiting. I wanted to at least go to my family’s home closer the hospital. On the way there I was in and out of consciousness. By the time we reached my mother’s, I was vomiting. We drove to the ER. A lot of the ER time is a blur. One doctor explained that I was septic but they would take good care of me. My white blood count had skyrocketed.
I was scheduled for cleanout surgery the next morning. The infected fluid that had accumulated poured out as soon as they rolled me over on the table. I was cleaned out and packed with antibiotic powder. I was placed on IV antibiotics. It kept blowing veins so I had a PICC line put in. The pain after that surgery was horrible. I went home I believe nine days later. I was back a few days later after fluid was once again draining from the wound soaking through my clothing. I was readmitted to drain the pocket of fluid and monitor.
Over the months my spine deteriorated as the infection had gone into the vertebrae causing osteomyelitis. I had another back surgery which didn’t help the problems that were now occurring. I was on oral antibiotics now for life. The pain continued and the next scan showed that one of the previously infected vertebrae had collapsed. Unfortunately I now needed fusion surgery with bone grafts. After sepsis they really don’t want to put hardware in as it is more susceptible to infection.
I was sent to a complex spine surgeon. The surgery would be done in two parts. The first from the front where the vascular surgeon would move the vena cava and aorta out of the way. The (inner) backside of the hardware was put in. The vascular surgeon noticed a rind (bacteria). She took a scraping for culture. It was bacteria remaining from my previous infection. It had caused my vasculature to adhere to my spine. It could not be separated without cutting away too much bone. My spine shifted and cut open my vena cava. I severely hemorrhaged. I went into shock and my legs and abdomen filled with blood clots.
The amazing vascular surgeon spent eight hours making a new section of vena cava to repair it. I was intubated and in ICU for a few days. After about 10 days the nuerosurgeon agreed, despite the blood thinners, to take me in and finish the surgery securing the hardware. I went to skilled nursing for some weeks. After a few months, I was doing better until I fell getting out of the shower fracturing one of the vertebrae just above a screw. Everything had to be redone. In April 2024 I had surgery to redo the fusion. After the surgery my right leg would no longer work and standing led me to fall. I have progressed to a walker for short distances. There may be another surgery in January. We will wait and see.
Sepsis didn’t just complicate my surgeries it caused each complication leading to the surgery. Because the infection caused my vasculature to attach to my spine, I now fear falls or any high impact that could cause my spine to cut into my vasculature. The bacteria is still present and very slowly growing in an area of little blood flow. The hope is if it grows outside of this area, the antibiotics will kill it. I do fear another sepsis episode. I hope the awareness is there and I survive it.
