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Ed and I are off to Berlin today for a World Sepsis Day event. I'm venturing away from my usual food related topics a bit because I want to make you aware of sepsis - something I'd never heard of until it almost killed my husband, as it does one person every four seconds.
"Sepsis is a potentially fatal whole-body inflammation caused by severe infection." That's what I found on google after my husband had been hospitalized for a few days and a visiting doctor slipped and used the term with us, something doctors on staff had carefully avoided. Sepsis is the body over-responding to infection and damaging itself in the process. Ed's infection was bacterial, as most are, but sepsis can also occur in response to a virus or…
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,%20extreme%20aches%20and%20pain%20in%20his%20legs.%20We%20used%20a%20lot%20of%20ibuprofen%20that%20day%20trying%20to%20keep%20the%20fever%20down.%20%20The%20next%20morning,%20he%20woke%20up%20with%20bruises%20on%20his%20arms%20and%20legs,%20and%20we%20worried%20that%20the%20ibuprofen%20might%20have%20been%20the%20reason.%3C/p%3E%3Cp%3EIt%20took%20another%2024%20hours%20and%20two%20house%20calls%20(doctors%20still%20do%20that%20in%20Poland)%20before%20we%20arrived%20at%20a%20hospital,%20by%20this%20point%20his%20joints%20were%20so%20swollen%20that%20he%20couldn't%20move%20and%20the%20pain%20was%20excruciating.%20I%20will%20be%20eternally%20grateful%20to%20the%20doctor%20who%20admitted%20him.%20He%20did%20exactly%20what%20needed%20to%20be%20done.%20He%20ordered%20blood%20work,%20pain%20meds,%20and%20as%20soon%20as%20the%20lab%20results%20were%20back,%20he%20told%20us%20there%20appeared%20to%20a%20a%20severe%20bacterial%20infection,%20possibly%20infection%20in%20his%20blood.%20(Sepsis%20is%20sometimes%20referred%20to%20as%20blood%20poisoning.)%20%20We%20had%20to%20wait%20a%20bit%20for%20a%20bed%20to%20be%20ready,%20but%20the%20doctor%20told%20us%20he%20would%20start%20antibiotics%20as%20soon%20as%20Ed%20was%20moved%20to%20the%20ward.%3C/p%3E%3Cp%3EHe%20remained%20there%20for%20the%20next%2030%20days%20receiving%20antibiotics%20and%20other%20fluids%20almost%20continuously.%20Sepsis%20usually%20involves%20a%20dramatic%20decrease%20in%20blood%20pressure%20that%20damages%20organs,%20hence,%20the%20need%20for%20IV%20fluids%20to%20keep%20the%20pressure%20up.%20Six%20months%20later,%20recovery%20is%20still%20a%20work%20in%20progress,%20and%20I%20suspect%20he's%20doing%20better%20than%20most.%20What%20we've%20come%20to%20realize%20is%20that%20modern%20medicine%20has%20made%20great%20strides%20in%20recognizing%20and%20treating%20sepsis,%20but%20if%20you%20survive,%20you're%20on%20your%20own.%20There%20isn't%20a%20prescribed%20course%20of%20treatment%20to%20help%20you%20get%20back%20to%20normal%20like%20there%20is%20with%20a%20knee%20replacement.%20Many%20of%20the%20specialists%20Ed%20saw%20or%20treatments%20he%20received%20are%20because%20he%20initiated%20it%20-%20almost%20arguing%20with%20his%20doctors%20that%20it%20was%20necessary.%20Their%20focus%20was%20looking%20for%20improvements%20in%20%20blood%20chemistry%20(and%20the%20patient%20not%20dying)%20rather%20than%20mobility,%20healing%20(with%20necrosis%20in%20this%20case),%20and%20return%20to%20a%20normal%20active%20life.%3C/p%3E%3Cp%3ESince%20this%20diagnosis,%20we've%20read%20so%20many%20accounts%20where%20sepsis%20was%20fatal%20because%20the%20patients%20ignored%20their%20symptoms%20too%20long%20or%20doctors%20didn't%20recognize%20the%20symptoms%20and%20failed%20to%20start%20treatment%20in%20time.%20%20The%20thing%20I%20want%20you%20to%20take%20from%20this,%20is%20the%20encouragement.%20.%20.%20let%20me%20rephrase%20that.%20.%20.%20I'm%20charging%20you,%20to%20always%20to%20always%20seek%20medical%20attention%20and%20to%20insist%20on%20getting%20it%20when%20someone%20seems%20sicker%20than%20you%20would%20expect%20in%20a%20situation.%20%20During%20the%20first%20day,%20Ed%20said,%20%22I've%20never%20felt%20this%20bad%20before%22%20-%20don't%20ignore%20that.%20I%20shouldn't%20have%20waited%2048%20hours%20to%20get%20him%20to%20a%20hospital,%20but%20to%20be%20perfectly%20honest,%20rightly%20or%20not,%20most%20Americans%20are%20terrified%20at%20the%20thought%20of%20being%20admitted%20to%20a%20Polish%20hospital%20and%20won't%20go%20unless%20it%20seems%20to%20be%20the%20only%20option.%20I'm%20thankful%20we%20got%20there%20in%20time.%3C/p%3E%3Cp%3EPS%20-%20they%20were%20never%20able%20to%20get%20a%20culture%20of%20the%20bacteria%20or%20to%20positively%20identify%20the%20source.%20%20Doctors%20suspect%20it%20was%20a%20staph%20infection,%20and%20the%20most%20likely%20source%20was%20a%20neti%20pot.%3C/p%3E){kind=link}