Local Opinion: Be aware of the signs of sepsis

September is Sepsis Awareness Month, shining a light on an illness that is too often misunderstood, misdiagnosed and altogether missed. I should know. Twelve years ago, sepsis took its awful toll on our child. What was a mystery to us then, is now our lived reality.

After a one-night stay in the hospital to treat a small burn on our child’s foot, the first signs of sepsis appeared and were missed. We were back at home, following our nightly routine. Eli seemed a little extra tired, but nothing more, so I laid him in his crib early. When he awoke in the morning, vomiting, I didn’t worry. A stomach bug picked up at the hospital was a logical assumption. I did what I always do with a sick child: rice, bananas, and Gatorade. He was sleepy, but one-year-old babies sleep. By the afternoon, something seemed amiss, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Was he too sleepy? Was his breathing different? His lips had a bluish tint that Google sounded no alarms over. By the time I realized that something was terribly wrong, it was almost too late.

An ambulance was called as I held my unconscious baby, coaxing him to keep breathing. He didn’t. His breathing stopped as the ambulance arrived, and he was whisked away to receive life-saving care. It would be hours before we had a diagnosis: septic shock with multiple organ failure. It would be nine weeks before he returned home from the hospital: in a wheelchair, blind, and with a diagnosis of cerebral palsy and cortical visual impairment. Sepsis and 30 minutes of CPR took a heavy toll.

During those long days in the ICU, I learned about this disease I previously knew nothing about. Although usually caused by an infection, it is not infection that causes the cascading symptoms that start with fever and body aches and progress to multiple organ failure and often death. It is the body’s own immune system gone haywire. Immune proteins called cytokines are released, causing inflammation, leaky blood vessels, and blood coagulation which, in turn, shut down the organs.

Eli’s organ failure started in his stomach, progressing to his liver, kidneys, lungs, and heart. His blood pressure was so low when he was taken by the paramedics, that they could not get a line. A sepsis patient’s chance of survival is often calculated by the number of organs that have failed. His chances of survival were below 5%.

His life-saving treatments seemed to change from day to day, minute to minute. Antibiotics were started immediately along with fluids and medications to raise his blood pressure. He was intubated and put into a medically induced coma. Keeping his oxygen and other stats normal was a complicated task that required two full-time nurses at all times. After stabilization, it was apparent that he would need dialysis to do the work of his failing kidneys. Dialysis on a baby is complex as the machines, made for adult bodies, require priming with the patient’s own blood, blood that was in short supply. Multiple units of blood were transfused.

From the time Eli arrived at the hospital, his care was in the hands of Tucson’s best specialists. With their care, he overcame the odds and survived when he should have been a statistic, one of 270,000 annual deaths that occur in the U.S. due to this silent killer. Although he escaped death, disability has remained.

I have often wondered how things might have been had he received more timely care. Had his symptoms appeared before his first hospital discharge. Had I been aware of the signs of sepsis, signs that were present but unrecognized.

With autumn comes our renewed awareness of our experience with sepsis, an awareness I wish was raised earlier, with less tragic results.

You can learn more about the signs and symptoms of sepsis from the Sepsis Alliance at www.sepsis.org/sepsis-basics/symptoms.