u/LuhvAlyssa

Hello everyone

I found this subreddit by just browsing, but I thought I’d give my story. I don’t know anyone else in my life who has had sepsis, and I’m still trying to understand all the complications of it and whatnot. Any advice, stories, or support is welcome.

2 weekends ago I was out of town with family and suddenly got extreme chills, nausea, and a migraine I couldn’t describe. I attempted to sleep through the night, but ended up waking up in the morning with swollen eyes and red, itchy skin all over me.

2 days later I was back home with my mom and felt a bit better, attempting to go to work that day. An extreme migraine hit me in the middle of work so hard I could barely stand up. I clocked out and sat in my boyfriend’s car while I called my parents. (We carpooled and I work in the city, so I had no idea what to do.) My mom was in town and my dad was an hour away.

After learning about sepsis, I’m caught up on the symptom: “feeling of impending doom.” I thought it was silly at first, but then realized that’s exactly how I felt sitting there, alone, in the parking lot of my work, crying in pain. I knew something was very very wrong and I felt like I might die.

I was rushed by my mom to a nearby hospital, where they ruled it a “bad uti.” That’s also the night I heard the word “sepsis” for the first time in my life. I thought I would go home that day, but I was taken by ambulance the next morning to one of the best children’s hospitals in the US in my state. I changed hospitals “in case I were to go septic”, still not really understanding it.

Around 2pm that day, my blood pressure hit 80/20. I was exhausted, drowsy, and could barely keep my eyes open. It really downed on me that something was very wrong when I asked: “am I okay?” And no nurse responded. I later found out that I was going into septic shock. I was switched to the ICU where I spent the night, and ended up going home the next day.

Ive been terrified of needles since a young age, so this whole hospital endeavor was definitely something for me, especially since I’ve never been hospitalized before. Tomorrow it will have been a week since I’ve been out of the hospital, and I still don’t know what to feel. I can’t imagine the fear my parents and family members went through. Although I was cracking jokes in the hospital most days, I realized that it isn’t exactly “normal” for 16 year olds to get sepsis?

I can say I survived septic shock though, which is definitely something worth saying I think. I’m still collecting my thoughts through laughs with my family; even through people saying, “She could’ve died from that!” I’m just here to tell my story, especially as a younger person. Any feedback, stories, or support is greatly appreciated, and I hope to continue to recover even more.