07/22/24 Sepsis Rears It's Ugly Head AGAIN!

Monday, July 22nd seemed like a normal day. Andy went to work. Got his work done and came home to relax. I (Shelly) arranged to get off early because Becky, my sister, was in town. I had lunch with her and I had a dentist appointment scheduled for 3:30 p.m. We had a nice lunch (Becky, Kevin, Kevin's parents and me) at Firehouse Subs and visited for awhile. I got home about 2:30 p.m. 

Andy seemed great and was hanging out. He does a compression machine everyday on his legs to help with his cellulitis in his legs. Once he is in there it is very difficult to get out. It squeezes his swollen legs and puts all the swelling up towards his heart. (Basically helps him to unswell - he pees out the excess upon completion of his 1 hour daily treatment). 

I will sometimes put him in while I go run an errand or go to YW or whatever. So I put him in about 3:15 p.m. and headed to the dentist. Not even 45 minutes later he texted..."are you almost done? I think I have a problem." 9 minutes later "Please come soon." I had put my phone away since I was having x-rays and planning to get a teeth cleaning. I kept hearing my phone ring and text and asked if I could check my phone. I called Andy, "What's going on?"

In that short 45 minutes he had gone from fine to super sick. 

He had a fever of 100.5 (which went as high as 102.4 at the hospital). He was shaking uncontrollably, cramping in his thighs, knees, calves -- so much so that he could hardly stand up let alone walk. He was almost crying as he explained that he was really sick and needed me to come help him right away. 

I had the phone on speaker and the hygenist overheard the conversation. She immediately rushed me out the door and told me to come back when things were ok at home. 

My dentist was just down Mall drive by Smith's so luckily it was a quick drive. I immediately told him we needed go to the emergency room and get him checked out as this was exactly the same symptoms of previous sepsis episodes. I couldn't find any infection (leg usually turns bright red) but I didn't want to risk it and took him in. On the way over he lay in the back seat and continued to experience extreme cramping and pain and vomiting. When I arrived I went into the ER and asked for assistance. They helped him out and immediately got him back to start the screening process. 

We were in about 3.5 hours and the doctor said he did have some infection however they would give him some antibiotics and we could treat him at home. Andy kept saying, "I still feel sick, why are they sending me home?".  And I said, Well, I guess they think they can get this one with the pills this time. 

So I got his medication and got him to bed and he had a nice sleep in his own bed. 

Tuesday morning I helped Holly and Erik move out of their apartment La Vida in Washington City and went to work for staff meeting. While I was gone he missed a phone call from the hospital and deleted the message. (I blame the drugs). I figured it was just a survey so I wasn't too concerned. 

Not long after I received a phone call from the ER pharmacist.  He explained that Andy's blood results were worse than expected and they needed us to return to the hospital ER and get admitted right away. Andy wasn't excited about that at all. 

We gathered up our things and headed over to the ER. Unfortunately it was crowded and it took several hours to get him checked in and situated. They sent us up to the 4th floor with a view of Forecaster Ridge. We spent the next three days receiving IV antibiotics. 

It was frustrating as we tried to figure out things because he had 4 different doctors before we finally got Dr. Rose. Each doctor had to start over and didn't really have any good answers for us. They told us he would have to be on IV antibiotics for 2 weeks. 

I explained that we planned to leave for Europe on Monday and asked if they could double down and come up with a new plan as traveling with that many drugs seemed hard. (If they would even let us travel at all!!!) We didn't have travel insurance and we were thinking we might have to not go on our trip. But we stayed positive!!!

On Wednesday, which was Pioneer Day (a holiday in Utah) we saw Dr. Rose and explained our situation. He said he hadn't heard about the Europe trip but that he would contact an infectious disease specialist and see what he could do for us. He said it often takes a couple of days to get answers from the specialist and where it was a holiday we really didn't have a lot of hope to hear anything. But Dr. Rose delivered!!!

Holly and Erik came to visit and Andy was napping at the time so I left for a little while to pick up a Zeppees and get the kids lunch. Seriously...as soon as I left...the Dr. stopped in (and woke up Andy) and told him they had decided that he could get IV drugs until Thursday morning. Then switch to a double dose of antibiotics (1000 mg Amoxicillin) and still go on vacation!!!!!  YEAH!!!

He texted me that he had some really great news but he wouldn't tell me till I returned!  

The Dr warned that he would be tired and probably have diarrhea all week but that he could go. (I'm writing this post trip...and I'm happy to report he didn't need even one of his anti-diarrhea pills and he did really good with his energy levels most of the trip!!!!) What a blessing!

We were released from the hospital on Thursday, July 26 and Andy somehow got himself together enough to work Friday, July 27. He did take it easy the rest of the weekend before our early departure Monday. 

Whew!