Sarah B.

I recently had severe sepsis after some pieces of a kidney stone lodged in my ureter following a lithotripsy. (Sepsis and Kidney Stones) It was one of those nightmare situations that rarely ever happens, but it did and it happened to me.

I went from doing fine following the procedure to severe sepsis/multiple organ failure in about 36 hours. I had to have an emergency nephrostomy tube placed, and had cardiac complications while I was in the hospital. When I started to recover, my palms peeled and I now have chronic kidney disease at age 34 along with other complications… you don’t quite realize the toll this takes on your body until much later.

I’m a clinical microbiologist, and after experiencing what many of my patients have gone though, I have a whole new outlook and appreciation for my job and the patients I help care for.