I'm feeling like I'm at 80-90% now. I still have a lot of swelling in my leg and foot, but I'm getting there! I promised you the whole story so here it is.
About a week before I got sick I had a spot on my leg that was itchy. I scratched it a bit too hard and made a sore. It wasn't anything bad so I ignored it. About 3 days later the scab was weird and it came off easy so that worried me a bit so I washed it and put neosporin on and though nothing of it.
That next Friday I went to work and when I got there after my first round I sat down and started shivering, and I needed to stretch a lot. That's always my first indication that I'm getting sick. I figured it was a cold or maybe the flu even though I got my flu shot. So I went home and got some good sleep.
The next day I woke up and felt okay, so I cooked the food Jason and I were going to take to work, and when I got to work I started shivering and stretching again. I knew I was sick at this point but had no idea just how sick I was. I kept getting worse as the night went on and so by the time I was done with my shift I was in bad shape. I drove over to Jason's site and thought maybe I could get some sleep because he wasn't off for another 3 hours. Jason came out and asked me if I was okay and I told him I was really sick. He told me to go onto emergency and he would have his mom come get him.
I got to one of those stand alone ERs and told them my symptoms and they agreed that it sounded like flu so they tested me. That came back negative, so they took some blood and came back and said my white blood cell count was very high. It's normally supposed to be 10. Mine was 19 plus. They took about 6 more vials of blood and sent it off to the hospital to be tested. They mentioned that I might have sepsis, which is what I posted that morning here. They decided I probably didn't have it and sent me home with Tamiflu in case it was some variant of flu my vaccine didn't cover. Before I left the doctor asked me if I had a rash anywhere, and I said no because I didn't. I didn't even think of the spot on my leg.
When I got home I felt a bit better and went to bed. I woke up an hour later and was shivering so hard and moaning. Now along with the chills I was nauseous and had severe muscle pain. The only reason I didn't throw up was I had nothing in my stomach. I didn't feel up to eating the food I took to work with me. Jason got up that evening and listened to his voicemail and the stand alone ER called and said to take me to the ER because the tests came back and I did have sepsis. Jason woke me up and said I had to go to the hospital and so I got up, cleaned myself up and noticed my leg was a bit swollen. Kim came and I was so weak it was all I could do to walk out to her car.
We got to the hospital and I was so weak I couldn't even walk in I had to have a wheelchair. That never happens. Apparently they were ready for me because they took me right back and began working on me. More blood tests, vitals, everything. They came in and said they were getting a room ready for me which surprised me because I didn't realize I was that sick, even though I felt so bad. Maybe it was the infection messing with my brain. Anyway, I assured Kim she could go because what could she do other than sit there? So she left and I went up to my room.
When I got up to my room the nurses came in and introduced themselves to me and asked who I wanted to be my contact in case of emergency. I told them Jason and they put his contact info on the dry erase board. Then about an hour later someone came in and asked if I had a living will, if I had someone with a power of attorney. I said no and they asked me if I wanted it. After they left I went to sleep and slept on and off all night.
The next afternoon they said I was moving to another room, and that's when it dawned on me I was in the ICU. And then it dawned on my why they asked for emergency contact, and about my living will and power of attorney. I always make the joke, am I dying and no one told me? I guess they weren't going to tell me.
I was on IV with antibiotic drip and they were watching me close even in the regular room. The start of the problem was that sore on my leg which turned into cellulitis and then sepsis. I was doing pretty well and they were thinking about sending me home but then the cellulitis spread to my upper leg so I had to stay 3 more days. Every time I got up to use the bathroom they asked if I needed a walker. I always refused. I don't need it and won't have one at home so I didn't want to use one there.
I went home on a Friday, and felt better but still had a lot of pain. It got so bad that 4 days after I got out of the hospital I went back to the ER and they gave me pain meds. After that it was just a matter of healing. I am healing very slowly. I looked it up and apparently hypothyroidism causes you to heal slowly so that explains it. I looked up the mortality rate of sepsis and it's something like 40-60%. That was honestly the first time I really realized exactly how sick I was and how close to taking a dirt nap I had come. Death doesn't scare me, and I wasn't scared at all the whole time I was in the hospital, but I have stuff I still want to do, and I have people I need to take care of.
I am grateful that I'm still here, and it put a lot of stuff into perspective for me for sure. Honestly though, this is the sickest I have ever been in my whole life and I have been pretty damned sick. I had pneumonia with a collapsed lung once, so that should tell you how bad I was.
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