“I thought I was going to die. I learned how to stay positive though, and exactly what to look for if I ever develop symptoms again.”
I’m Hannah and I would like to share my experience of sepsis, which I started to suffer from while recovering from bowel surgery at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary in 2020.
The start of my recovery was going well. I’d developed an ileus in my bowel where the bowel goes to sleep and required an NG tube – a tube that is inserted in the nose, down the throat and into the stomach. It is used to compress the bowel to stop any vomiting. But on day five post-op things took a turn for the worse.
I slept on and off for the whole day, and that night the nurses came to carry out my observations. They found I had a temperature in the high 30s, a decreased urine output and a heartrate of 130 beats per minute. My condition began to deteriorate and I felt worse as the night went on.
I was really breathless. I was shivering and really hot at the same time, I could feel my heart thudding through my chest. I was also very emotional and scared, with an overwhelming feeling that I was going to die.
I was terrified when I received the diagnosis of sepsis from the intensive care consultant and my family were in shock. It was 27th October 2020, which was when they moved me to the high dependency unit. My sepsis was being caused by the infection C. diff colitis, which was spreading throughout my bowel causing severe inflammation and ulceration.
Intravenous pain relief was my saviour! As well as antibiotics and trying my best to keep a positive mental attitude.
My partner, Craig, who I met six months after the sepsis diagnosis has also been a huge part of my healing process, in addition to all the staff at the high dependency unit of Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and my family and friends.
My recovery from sepsis is still ongoing as I’ve been left with additional problems with my kidneys which require ongoing requirement.
When I was first diagnosed, I thought, ‘I’m going to die’. Although the anxiety of developing sepsis again will never leave me, I am incredibly proud of myself for achieving so much and remaining positive even on the dark days. To anyone else receiving a sepsis diagnosis I would say, live each day like it’s your last, tomorrow is never guaranteed!