05-28-2017, 09:08 PM
(05-28-2017, 11:22 AM)Pat5775 Wrote: I was hospitalized for 15 days with staph aureus endocarditis this time last year. I started feeling sick on May 13 (Friday the 13th, of course). Woke up in the middle of the night shaking uncontrollably. I didn't feel sick, just the violent tremors. My girlfriend said I felt hot as hell, and was worried far before I was. I went into work the next afternoon feeling pretty lousy and flu-ish, but I was able to get up and get ready without an issue... I lasted about 2 hours. I went home and went right to bed, making peace with the fact that I had influenza for the first time since I was 9 years old. My girlfriend (who lived an hour away from me at the time), stopped by again that night and dropped off some Gatorade and Advil. I really wanted to be alone with my misery, and she understood so she went back home after awhile. I texted a few of my friends and mother saying I was ok but just wanted to be alone and sleep it off... Huge f***ing mistake.
I remember waking Sunday morning still feeling lousy but not exactly worse. I remember texting my boss saying I was still sick and wouldn't make it in that day... And that's all I remember. What follows is all what I was told from a few different people:
My girlfriend got nervous when I didn't respond to her texts or calls that day. She drove to my apartment that afternoon and looked through my bedroom window (I had a ground floor apartment). She saw I was sleeping and sadly went back home. She tried texting and calling all day long but no answer. She came back again that night and saw that I hadn't budged. This time, she took action. For some reason I'll never understand, in my stupor I locked and dead bolted my door (something I've never done, I never locked my door. I lived in a very safe neighborhood), but of course, it was locked tight. She somehow shimmied my bedroom window open and kicked in the screen. She saw I was essentially unconscious, she described me as like that sloppy, drunk unresponsive kid that's at every college party. She immediately called and ambulance and got me the medical care I needed.
For those that don't know, staph aureus endocarditis is a serious staph infection in the heart valves. It is universally fatal if not treated quickly. I was told that being a healthy 27 year-old is what saved me. Endocarditis kills young children and the elderly faster than most doctors reach the diagnosis. The symptoms are so similar to influenza, as are several infectious diseases.
Long story short, after a day or so with doctors thinking I had meningitis (ironically, something my Swedish cousin recently just got over) they found the cause and administered the correct combination of iv antibiotics and I started to come around. I woke up Thursday morning of that week after being hospitalized late Sunday. Three days I was out cold. To say I was confused would be an understatement. I felt way better but like I had a bad hangover, my first thought after wakkng up in the ICU was that I had alcohol poisoning and my stomach pumped haha.
I spent the next couple of weeks in two different hospitals (I was sent to a more advanced infectious disease ward elsewhere). I was finally released (after a huge fight with insurance companies) with a PICC line so I could get my antibiotics at home. A year later I'm pretty much back to normal but still have some eye sight issues, joint pain and a leaky mitral heart valve (not nearly as serious as it sounds).
My girlfriend and I are still together and recently moved to Texas
Very happy your ok buddy. Wow that must have been scary.
