Prologue to ‘ What the heck just happened’

It’s been a month since I promised to tell you my story about sepsis.

However, I got a secondary infection, and I have been laying low – so low that I’ve barely been out of bed.

So I will try to tell you some of the signs I might have missed that lead to sepsis. And, please don’t forget to ignore any misspelled words- silly words- my brain has also turned into mush.

I was at Mayo for routine tests and appointments. I landed in the ER with sepsis right in the middle of these 2 days.

This is what was going on the month before:

1) I had a tummy ache – intermittent pain and bloating. Sharper pains in upper and lower left side of tummy. Of course, I attributed this to IBS and ignored it ( bad Girl I’m told – report any NEW pains and never ignore again).

2) I had 2 episodes of esophageal spasms.  The first one lasted a full 20 minutes. I was unable to move- we thought I might be having a heart attack. As I stood there – perfectly still- I went through the mental checklist of female heart attack signs and knew it wasn’t that. The second episode was 2 days later – shorter duration. IGNORE AGAIN

3) I had 3 episodes of extremely low heart rate. 2 of those happened while I was driving. I became so confused-I kept driving in circles. Thank you Fitbit! IGNORE

4) Did I mention a low grade fever for the entire month? IGNORE

5) My Rheumatologist had me on the highest dose of methotrexate for the previous 3 months. I kept saying ‘ I feel like I’m being poisoned’. Of course, I blamed it on the drug ( never once thinking all of these could be related). IGNORE

During that month I had many days of feeling good. These all seemed to be either my RA, IBS or reaction to drug.

In fact, on the Monday I was at Mayo, I dined outdoors and walked 10000 steps. Slept well- after first appt Tuesday morning- I stood up to leave and BAM – someone hit me over the head!

TO BE CONTINUED

Later

C