Susan Clark

On Oct 12, 2017, I had outpatient surgery on my lower back for a herniated disc. (Sepsis and Surgery) Three weeks later I was in the ER. I was so sick and was having severe pain in my left hip area, and I wasn’t able to lift my head. I don’t remember much about that ER visit, but I remember being wheeled to a room and nurses were saying “sepsis protocol”. I had developed sepsis.

I had another surgery on November 6th, 2017, to clean out the infection. I was in the hospital for 2 weeks. I was then moved to a skilled nursing facility where I could get IV antibiotics 3 times a day. After 6 weeks I went home on December 29th, 2017. By end of day, January 1st, 2018, I was in the ER again. The pain in my left hip area had returned and I felt so sick. I was once again admitted to the hospital, this time the infection was in my bones,osteomyelitis. There was also in a disc in my neck, which is why I couldn’t lift my head. My left femur and hip prosthetic were infected also.

January 12th, 2018, I had to have my left hip prosthetic removed and an antibiotic spacer was put in. After a couple weeks, I once again went to a skilled nursing facility for IV antibiotics 3 times a day. I spent 2 months at the nursing facility. I was not allowed to put weight on my left leg because of the spacer, so I was in a wheelchair for 4 months until a new hip prosthetic was put in May 28th, 2018. The hip revision went great. I was going to PT 3 times a week and was slowly getting my energy back. On August 30th I woke to some pain on the left side of my back, about where one’s kidney sits. I figured I had overdone it the day before. The next day, the pain was so severe. By night time I went to the ER because the pain was unbearable. I figured I had a kidney stone or kidney infection. I wasn’t running a fever or felt sick, just pain. They ran several tests and could not find anything. So I was sent home. Two days later I got a call from the hospital, I needed to return to the hospital because they had found bacteria in my blood, I had sepsis again for the 3rd time in less than a year. There was an infection pocket on my spine. So, on September 6th, 2018 I had my 5th surgery in less than a year to remove the pocket. Again I spent a couple weeks in the hospital.

When I got out of the hospital, I had to go back to the hospital every day and get an antibiotic infusion for 6 weeks. I was then put on oral antibiotics which I am still taking. I have 3 prosthetics, both hips and a shoulder so I may have to take antibiotics the rest of my life. I was 59 when I got my first bout of sepsis.