Helen Decker

August of 2021 I was diagnosed with diverticulitis. I followed doctor orders by taking antibiotics and a liquid diet. Pain worsened for a couple of months with scans only showing inflammation. I went to the hospital where I was put under observation for a three day period, receiving antibiotics through IV.

Despite no improvement in symptoms, they discharged me since my white blood count went back into the normal range. 6 days later, I woke to rapid heart rate into the 160s and 180s, vomiting, shivering, a fever of 103.2, difficulty breathing and pain that made it difficult to walk. Upon arriving at the hospital, tests were run but my symptoms began to worsen until I was unconscious after a short period of hallucinations.

When I woke up, I was in a hospital bed with an incision stapled and sewn from the bra area to prior c section scar from an emergency left hemicolectomy. My intestine had perforated from the diverticulitis sending me into septic shock. I am now 16 months post sepsis and thankful every day to be a survivor. (Sepsis and Perforated Bowel, Sepsis and Septic Shock)