Sue English

I am a healthy 69-year-old female who is free of any disease processes or comorbidity, and who has not seen this side of a hospital room for 30 years. I take only a baby aspirin and vitamin D (5,000 grams daily). I am active and live a very productive life. On November 28, 2019, I asked my husband to call the fire department to dispatch an emergency vehicle to take me to a nearby hospital. I was experiencing intense back pain (9 out of 10 on the pain scale) with nausea and vomiting. I had been sick the previous week and a half with what I thought was intestinal flu.

I had received both my flu and pneumonia vaccine during the previous two months. Upon examination and work up in the ED, I was diagnosed with “sepsis” with ARF and admitted to the critical care floor under isolation for the next five days. In the emergency room, blood cultures were obtained, IV fluids administered (hypotension), and antibiotics were given. On day 3, my source of infection had still not been identified and I began to experience fluid overload, respiratory congestion and pain on inspiration. I was given Lasix and catheterized on a foley.

I was discharged 2 days later with an unidentified source of bacterial infection. (Sepsis and Bacterial Infections) On a 2-week follow-up appointment with an infection specialist, he stated he suspected that the source of my infection may have been pneumonia, but could not be certain.