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May 8, 2008
In November 2004 I received a tiny, 1/2" dog bite that led to multiple-organ failure, Gangrene, and amputation of 4 digits… well… the pictures tell the story. An area on my right thigh looks more like a shark bite, than anything else, and I lost the front halves of both feet.
I felt sick three days after the bite and somehow got to an ER, already in Septic shock. For the record, I smoked and was otherwise healthy at age 60. Prognosis was "grave," with estimates of a 5% chance of survival.
After a lengthy stay on life support at Yakima Memorial Hospital's ICU, I was air-ambulanced to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. Amidst pain, medication delirium, and periods of ICU Psychosis, I repeatedly asked, "What happened to me?" The dreams and the delirium, all of which I recall and have written, only add flavor to the most amazing adventure that I will experience in this lifetime, and yet I don't want someone else to go through it, EVER. |
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It wasn't until I read Dr. Kevin Tracey’s book, "Fatal Sequence: The Killer Within," that I really understood the domino effect of "failing back-up systems" that nearly led to my demise.
Mostly, I have found that the general public has never even HEARD of sepsis; what they do know is that their grandmother or uncle or someone else "died from pneumonia" or "died from a sliver he got in the barn." My guess is that the closest they've come to even hearing the word is when they call for someone to drain their "septic tank."
As for courage, I realized early on that I had only three options, and one of those was that I could be tended-to in a nursing home for the rest of my life. It wasn't courage; it was stubbornness and will. Nothing else!
Sincerely,
JUDY OTTESON
Yakima WA |
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