Elexa Ferguson
My sepsis story is long, but I’ll try and keep it short. The week of Thanksgiving 2024 I felt fine, slight sore throat but nothing extreme. Day before Thanksgiving I had some lethargy but managed to help make dinner with my mother in law. Then on Thanksgiving day, in the morning my body aches set in. Extreme all over body aches, nothing could stop them. I was in tears I was in so much pain. I tried to eat thanksgiving dinner with my family, but it was cut short by my body aches and pain. I spend evening, while everyone was eating dinner, in a bath, attempting to ease my body aches. My body was convulsing and shaking. My husband managed to help me eat some dinner and gave me some pain medicine. I was able to then eat a full plate of food. Everyone else has already eaten dinner and dessert by the time I was able to come to the dinner table. I then thought I was south of the woods. I went home with my husband and watched a show. Only to wake up multiple times coughing, extreme pain in my back and body. Nothing could make me stop coughing. I felt so weak I even blacked out as I walked from our bathroom to the bedroom.
My husband managed to get me to the hospital in our small town. They thought “I just had the flu” then took my blood pressure and vitals and the look on the nurses face made me realize something was wrong. My BP was 92/69 and heart rate was 127 I was quickly rushed to the ER. And they began all kinds of bloodwork and iv bags, chest X-rays, still with no answers to what was actually wrong with me except I had fluid in my lungs and my kidneys were shutting down. I was told I needed an ambulance ride to the next city over (an hour away) to get better care. Upon arriving at the ER there I realized I had a type of pneumonia (Sepsis and Pneumonia), and my body was septic. I would ask “will I get to leave tomorrow” and the doctors and nurses told me how unlikely that would be due to how sick I was. I was in intensive care for 2 days and the hospital total for 6 days. It’s still a blur. I left on oxygen, and a heavy dose of antibiotics. I was on antibiotics for a total of 20 days after my sepsis. I am still dealing with many issues from fatigue, depression, anxiety, and overall trauma. I have blocked that time out of my head that when I talk about it, it doesn’t seem real, I read my chart notes and I start to cry. With in the matter of a couple days I went from a normal, slightly soar throat on Monday, to in the hospital by Friday.
I urge people to educate themselves on the signs of sepsis. I wish I had, realizing if I waited much longer before going to the hospital I wouldn’t be here, and my kids would be with out a mother. It is terrifying as a 32 year old.
