Jillian Uyehara

The week of April 22 started as an ordinary busy week for me.  I teach at a preschool during the week, and I am a volunteer first responder, so I had classes each night that week. On Tuesday, we had a stomach virus in my classroom at school, so on Wednesday when I felt nausea hit me at school and some lower left quadrant pain, I was sure the stomach virus had found me. I asked to go home, assuming I would be sick 24 hours and then could resume my work and rescue classes.  

On Wednesday and Thursday, I never had any unbearable pain.  My lower back hurt, but I also pick up toddlers all day.  The puking eased off on Thursday, so I thought I would be in the  clear for class Friday night. Friday, things changed drastically. I became delirious. Luckily, my husband was at home.  

In my head it was just dehydration. I could get a bag of fluids and be at class Friday night. Saturday was a big day, we had to drive the emergency vehicles through a little obstacle course to complete our training. He got me to sit down, which was not an easy task, and I happened to feel my head and I was hot. My fever was 105. EMS was on the way, and I immediately knew by my vitals something was going on.

I was transported to my local ER. Within minutes they found a kidney stone blocking my tube on the left side and I was septic. (Sepsis and Kidney Stones) When the medic came to me and said we have to run emergency traffic, the ER is waiting on you, I knew I was in critical condition. I couldn’t figure out how I could be a healthy 43-year-old with no medical history and now I was fighting for my life. Once I arrived at the hospital I was taken to the OR and told I would remember more than most do in there. I was in the OR, but they couldn’t operate to keep me alive because my vitals were too low, so they were waiting on blood platelets. After receiving blood they were able to do emergency surgery to at least remove some infection and put a stent in my kidney. I was then moved to another room, most of my lab values we deathly low.

I actually had a UTI with E. coli on the right side and the left side where the stone was I had a bacterial infection called by the bacteria proteus. (Sepsis and Urinary Tract Infections) The first 12 hours or so they could not find an antibiotic to help.   Finally I was put on one only available through IV and was in the hospital a week before it was safe for me to leave. I came home with a midline IV and continued IV medication for two weeks at home, and then I had to go back into surgery a month later to have the stone removed. If I would have paid attention to the early signs and not blown it off in my first responder mind as not serious, I probably could have avoided my ordeal. It changed so quickly, with in minutes.  

I still don’t have my pre septic energy and it’s been very challenging to do my day to day things like the gym, but each day I am trying to give just a little more.   If you have an infection and you catch it early and are able to have early intervention, that is my goal to help others see that because I did not.