I’m sorry at all your wife has had to go through.
Sepsis has such a broad range of initial causes, though. In lay terms it’s just an infection gone wild, with your body overreacting.
If you would like to share, what was her initial infection that led to the sepsis, and how did the ER physician exacerbate her condition? Put simply, what did he do wrong?
Did she have initial underlying conditions like diabetes, or was she initially immunocompromised in any way?
Whether you can or want to answer any of these questions, I tip my hat to your wife’s strength, determination, and will to live. She should be an inspiration to all.
Yes, sepsis can be caused by a bacterial, viral, fungal or parasitic infection, although bacterial infections are far and away the most common. The leading causes of sepsis are pneumonia at 35% and UTIs at 25%.
As for the initial infection, we'll never know because the doctors didn't due blood cultures before starting antibiotics, so they were never able to pinpoint the cause of infection. This failure to draw blood cultures resulted in massive doses of broad-spectrum antibiotics for over 2 weeks, which caused her hearing loss.
She was completely healthy before going into septic shock with no underlying medical conditions whatsoever...ironically, she is completely healthy now other than the obvious consequences of sepsis. In other words, her kidney, lung, liver functions, etc all returned to normal within 6 months of septic shock.
As for the ER doctor, it isn't what he did rather what he didn't do, his job. He tested for strep throat, which I guaranteed she didn't have, and which was negative. Her presenting symptoms though screamed something was terribly wrong...something I know now but didn't know back then. The extent of my medical training was basic self-aid buddy care the military provides, you know check breathing, stop bleeding, save the person's life so the medics can do their job.
When we arrived at the ER at 1:30 am, there wasn't a single person waiting for care, so being busy wasn't an excuse. She initially presented with a heart rate of 117, tachycardic, blood pressure of 91/54, borderline hypotensive but considering her heart rate was elevated definitely a red flag. She rated her pain 9 out of 10, which for a guy is a paper cut but for a woman who has given birth is significant, and when the doctor pushed on her cervical lymph nodes (around the neck) she literally jumped out of her seat and yelled "ouch". The doctor said she was dehydrated and had low urine output. She had fever and chills, but at the ER she was afebrile because she had taken Tylenol which we reported to the nurse/doctor, but she had a fever of 101.1 to 102.1 the 24 hours prior which we also told the nurse/doctor.
Her symptoms clearly screamed she had some type of infection, but the doctor didn't do a CBC or any other blood work or urinalysis. Again, I didn't understand the significance of her symptoms back then but I do now, which is why I try to educate others on sepsis/infection. On the 3rd day in ICU, doctors advised us to say our final goodbyes...at 7 pm that night a doctor recommended IVIG. I asked him what that was, he explained and I said do it as we have nothing to lose. I believe the IVIG is what saved her life, but ironically IVIG has proven effective for toxic shock syndrome and not so much for septic shock. And guess what? When she was admitted to the ICU, the first thing I asked about was TSS.
BTW, at her low point, her blood pressure reached 46/32 while being on 4 vasopressers including Levophed (which is called Levophed leave'm dead).
Sorry for the detailed response, but I wanted to answer your questions as accurately as possible and hope this information may help save someone's life (or limbs). Best wishes
