[Seven Of Nine]

September is Sepsis Awareness Month so I'm taking this opportunity to share what I've come to know about the disease. (I am likely to bump this thread throughout the month, if that offends you I make no apologies)

Sepsis can rage in response to incidents as simple as a playground scrape or a nicked cuticle from the beauty parlor. American hospitals spend approximately $20 billion each year combating sepsis, 40% of patients diagnosed with severe sepsis do not survive. Until a cure for sepsis is found, early detection is the surest hope for survival.

40% mortality rate! 4 out of 10 patients who become severely septic WILL die, compared to 1 out of 10 heart attack patients. When you take into consideration that between 40 and 60% of Americans do not know what sepsis is... well, this is the reason for Sepsis Awareness month and the reason I'm sharing this with you.

I was one of the very fortunate people (although I'll be honest; I'm still recovering and I have days I question my 'good fortune'). As the months of this year have slipped away and I try to do everything I can to become strong again, it has become clear that much of my life as I have known it will never be the same.

It's a devastating disease, for the people who lose loved ones, for the patients ...my story has been published on a sepsis website along with other stories of survival as well as many tributes to 'healthy' young individuals who did not win the fight.

This disease has no age limits and anything, absolutely anything can cause this disease to take hold and kill within just a couple of days, even within just a handful of hours. Once a person becomes septic ...every hour that passes without treatment ...the already staggering mortality rate of 40% increases by 7%.

Please learn about this. Please take the time to find out the subtle differences between symptoms of sepsis compared to a flu or another common illness.

Here are a just a few very educational links for those who wish to learn more.

http://www.world-sepsis-day.org/cgi-...2FWhy+we+do+it

http://www.jems.com/article/news/sep...americans-each

http://www.sparkpeople.com/mypage_pu...log_id=5038977

[Brometheus]

I like pics

[Seven Of Nine]

Originally Posted by Brometheus ↗

I like pics

Ok, so do I.

First pic: Christmas night 2011.

Second pic: New Years eve as I lay in a hospital hoping to get antibiotics for a pain in my left kidney area. I was sent home with nothing.

Third pic: Taken at about 2:00am January 5th. I took this with my cell phone after my heart monitor 'changed tone' in the middle of my first night in ICU. The crash cart bust into my room and there was a rush of people ...they didn't paddle me because I answered the nurse after she continued yelling my name directly into my face.

Fourth pic: The crash cart that stayed with me through the first night after my heart ...did something to cause a code alert.

Fifth pic: January 10th, the first time I remember knowing where I was since the 4th.

Sixth pic: January 12th or 13th I think. This was the first time I was out of bed since the 4th.

[Brometheus]

youre a strong woman.. Respect!

[Brometheus]

Result 5 days after surgery and mechanical ventilation due to sepsis-peritonitis.


I should have renamed the pic as Hernia After Surgery.. but the description up above is for this pic.

[Seven Of Nine]

Originally Posted by Brometheus ↗

youre a strong woman.. Respect!

Here is the link to my story on the Sepsis Alliance website ...thanks for your comments.

http://www.sepsisalliance.org/faces/paige_ward/

[King Herald]

Originally Posted by WinglessAngel ↗

http://www.sparkpeople.com/mypage_pu...log_id=5038977

From that link, what is this all about: "If someone has sepsis, every hour they do not get sepsis, their chances of survival drops by 8%, so time is of the essence. Sepsis deaths do not have to occur. "

I guess she meant to say 'antibiotics'??

Anyway, the whole sepsis thing would become clearer if it were mentioned that 'blood poisoning' is the name most people would know it by.

[Spiffyfable]

Yeah I see Sepsis as a COD on lots of Death Certificates.

[Seven Of Nine]

Originally Posted by King Herald ↗

From that link, what is this all about: "If someone has sepsis, every hour they do not get sepsis, their chances of survival drops by 8%, so time is of the essence. Sepsis deaths do not have to occur. "

I guess she meant to say 'antibiotics'??

Anyway, the whole sepsis thing would become clearer if it were mentioned that 'blood poisoning' is the name most people would know it by.

Yes, every hour that one does not receive treatment... Fluids/antibiotics. Blood poisoning Is a way to explain sepsis, but it's very important to create awareness of the word itself and all that it is.

[Brometheus]

yea that makes sense.. i know it as blood poisoning.