Sarah Ceska, 41, from Suffolk says that it was the speedy intervention of her mother – a former nurse – that saved her life when she became unwell with sepsis in 2017.

Sarah explains:

“For a couple of years from 2017 I had been unwell on and off and had seen various GPs and outpatient clinics. All said the same thing: that they couldn’t find anything wrong and that I should lose weight and take painkillers.

By May 2019 I developed what was initially diagnosed as a virus. I was feverish, shivery, my joints ached and I was very chesty.

The doctor said that there was no need to see me and advised that I stay off work and rest. A week later though I was no better and I was alternating between sleeping and feeling ill. I called the GP again and they said that they should see me. It turned out that my appointment was with a nurse, who prescribed an asthma inhaler and sent me home with no other tests at this point.

Concerned, a week later my mother, who is a former nurse, came and collected me and took me back to hers. I saw her doctor a few days later and he prescribed antibiotics. He didn’t order any tests, but he did say, ‘You wouldn’t need to be much more ill for me to be sending you to hospital’. He telephoned and checked on me a few days later and, as it appeared that the antibiotics were helping, he left me to it.

The next week I was back in his office though. He ordered an urgent chest x-ray for the next day and bloods, which were booked for 4 days later. I had the x-ray but that same evening I became a lot worse very quickly. My mum called 111 and they sent an ambulance which blue-lighted me to A&E in Cambridge. I arrived there at midnight, sweating and shivering, with a high temperature and severe lower abdominal pain. Six hours later I saw a doctor who sent me for x-rays, CT scans etc. and I was admitted to a ward. 19 hours after arrival at A&E, a colorectal surgeon arrived and said that I needed immediate surgery as my bowel had ruptured.

I was rushed to theatre and I don’t remember a lot for a while after that. It transpired that my bowel hadn’t actually ruptured but that an ovarian cyst had become infected and had burst causing a fistula through to the bowel and sepsis had set in.

I woke up minus the cyst and part of my bowel but having gained a colostomy bag. It was my mum who received the diagnosis of sepsis when I was in ICU and she told me – I didn’t really take it in and didn’t understand how ill I was, or how close I had been to a very different outcome. It was only when I requested my hospital notes later after discharge that I finally started to understand, and it felt very real indeed.

I was discharged with medication and follow-up appointments. But a week later we realised that I had been sent home with the wrong meds – luckily my body had started to fight on its own by then.

I was promised a reversal of the colostomy bag within 3-6 months – a procedure that finally happened two years later on 22nd December 2021.

I was discharged the day before new year’s eve 2021. It hasn’t been the most straightforward recovery post-op: it transpires that the only types of pain killer I can tolerate are paracetamol and ibuprofen. I also ended up having to be readmitted to hospital via A&E with abdominal swelling and a temperature and feeling unwell. Needless to say the instant reaction was ‘Oh no, not sepsis again…’ Luckily we moved quickly enough this time and staff got antibiotics into me promptly. I am now awaiting further scans and ultimately reconstructive surgery.

My experience post sepsis was and still is very strange. I have had very little control over my emotions, lashing out at loved ones, crying over little things and feeling depressed. My sleep has been terrible at points – from horrid dreams and flashbacks to hallucinating in ICU.

My speech has deteriorated, particularly when I’m stressed or tired: I struggle to find the right words, and often substitute with completely the wrong word (causing great amusement when some of these have been highly inappropriate!!) A para-stomal hernia (like an oversized watermelon but only on one side of your body) has meant that I have not been able to work since all this started which has been debilitating

I was lucky that I had been working in a call centre in Ipswich for six years when I became ill and my employers were very supportive and concerned. I am still employed by them now even though I haven’t made it back to work yet.

My outlook has changed a lot. Both my plans for the future and currently. I am learning to be patient and listen to my body more, whereas in the past I would keep on going until I couldn’t anymore.

I also thank God that my mum made me come to hers when she did as I think that probably saved my life. I wouldn’t have coped without her support and advice. (and cat cuddles were therapeutic too!)

At the end of the day, everyone’s recovery is different and I would say this: always remember it’s ok to be ‘not ok’ and never be afraid to ask for help”.