Stacy Slater
On October 30, 2012 I went in for what I would call routine surgery for my kidney stones. I have suffered with them since I was 14 and I was just diagnosed with MSK (medullary sponge kidney disease). For 23 years I have suffered from chronic kidney stones and I have been to many urologists and even through my last pregnancy early this year, I had a nephrostomy tube inserted in my kidney to keep the pressure of the stones at bay for 9 months and surgery every 2-3 weeks to replace tube. (Sepsis and Kidney Stones)
I moved to a new state early October and found a good urologist who listened to me and my concerns of a blockage and pain in my kidneys; I had two large stones causing unbearable pain. Before my surgery the doctor suspected MSK, so we set my surgery for a bilateral uteroscopic basket extraction of large stones in my ureters with stent placement. On the afternoon of the surgery I felt fine except for the pain from the stones I had been feeling. After surgery, I felt ok just a little painful.
On October 31, at 4 am, I was awakened by undeniable chills and pain. I had never been so cold in my life. I asked my husband to run a tub of hot water. I took my pain meds and sat in scolding hot water. As I sat in the water for an hour, I was still tooth chattering cold, as my husband turned the heat up and the fireplace on, he removed me from the tub and sat me in front of the fireplace. My husband took my temperature it was 100. All I wanted to do was lay down but before I could lie down I threw up, took more pain meds and took a nap. After about two hours of napping I could barely hold my head up I was very confused, in pain, headache, and my temp had gone up to almost 102. As I sat up catch my bearing, I threw up again by this time I knew something was very wrong. My husband helped me dress and off to the hospital we went.
When I arrived in ER I was immediately taken in. My blood pressure was low, my fever was high, my head hurt, and my heart rate was on the rise. Since I had surgery, the nurses ran IVs and could not give me anything for pain because my blood pressure was low 90/54. Six IV bags later, I was admitted. I spoke with a internal medicine doctor and a infectious control doctor and I was told that I was septic. The internal medicine doctor said if my blood pressure didn’t go up, to ICU I would go. The infectious control doctor had the look of fear on his face when he had to tell me he would have to contact the CDC (Centers of Disease Control) to find out what was wrong with me because he could not pinpoint the bacteria.
Days passed and IV bag after IV bag, pain meds, oxygen mask (due to 90% levels), many blood drawing sessions, lost appetite, confusion, doctor visits and change of shifts in nurses, I finally started to break though on day 5 of my stay of 7 days. At 37 years old, I had never been so sick. They still don’t know what made me so sick but I am so happy to be and have the support of my friends from my MSK group, especially Lori who Skyped with me while I was in the hospital, because she had had sepsis before. I also believe the nurses letting my sweet little 9-month-old baby stay in the room helped me heal as well.
Today I feel somewhat ok, I am still fuzzy at times when remembering simple things, my body still has a lot of pain from the MSK but I am trying to it maintain it. SEPSIS was a major wake up call. I dread having surgery now but I am glad I am aware of this illness. By the way, the doctors said I had a pseudomonas bacteria that was hard to kill. I hope to never experience this again.
