Our son Jason’s journey with sepsis started with what we thought was food poisoning. On this day none of us were sick except for him. The only thing he did different, was he had eaten a Subway sandwich that day and within a few hours of eating it, he started to have cramping, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea that is normally associated with food borne illnesses. We explained that he needed to make sure he was drinking enough fluids and within a couple of days the symptoms should go away, and he would feel much better.
Unfortunately, the symptoms weren’t gone three days later. So, we then instructed him that it was probably best to go to a quick care clinic and be evaluated by a doctor. He took our advice and went to the clinic. He came back home with anti-nausea and anti-diarrheal medications. But the physician indicated she was concerned about a possible appendix issue, which was also something I had mentioned to Jason a day earlier. The physician told him if the pain got any worse, that he should go immediately to the ER. This was around 12:00 pm that day. Around 4:30 pm, I made dinner and asked him if he felt up to eating. He told me that he wanted to eat, but he just wanted some macaroni and cheese, because a full plate of dinner didn’t sound good to him. He managed to eat a few bites and immediately ran to the bathroom to get sick. When he came back, I asked him how he felt, and he said, “not good and he wanted to go to the ER.”
Upon arriving at the ER, I notified the intake nurse that he was advised by a quick care doctor to go to the ER for concerns about possible appendicitis. They immediately took him back, started running vitals and did a CT scan of his abdomen. The results came back that his appendix was the issue, that it had perforated. Although, I did notice that they didn’t seem too concerned and that they weren’t moving very quickly. Which I thought was odd, since I too have had my appendix removed and within a two-hour time frame, I was taken back to surgery. It was many years ago, but I kept thinking protocol could not have changed that much. I was really concerned with the lack of urgency.
After being there for a few hours, my husband had just flown in from his work trip and arrived at the hospital. I left Jason with his dad and went home to check on our daughter, while they waited for Jason to get into a room. Eventually, Jason was brought up to a room and was hooked up to an IV and they started antibiotics. Because he had eaten the two bites of macaroni and cheese at dinner, the anesthesiologist was concerned about putting him under that night. So, the surgeon, who was to do his surgery, opted to get antibiotics started and planned on doing the surgery in the morning. However, when the next morning arrived, his surgery was pushed back to 5pm that day. The surgeon explained that many times, they now opt to treat appendix issues with antibiotics first, to see if the infection will go away on its own. However, because his was perforated, they would still be doing the surgery.
Once 5pm rolled around, Jason was taken into surgery. When surgery was done, and the surgeon came out to speak with us, she indicated that his appendix had ruptured, and his intestines were filled with fecal matter. That she had done the best she could to get everything out, but it would be touch and go for the next few days. That we should expect him to be in the hospital a minimum of three days. All I could think to myself was how dangerous the situation was and how all I could pray for is that he would rebound from this within those three days.
Jason spent the next two days trying to recover from the pain of having surgery. But by the end of the second day in the hospital, his pain was off the charts unbearable! He wasn’t getting better. We were told that it was gas bubbles and that they just needed to pass. That he just needed to get up and walk when that pain would start. But as our son arched his back every time shots of pain would radiate through his gut and clench his teeth as he tried to endure the excruciating pain he was in, as well as the fact his stomach was severely bloated, I knew this wasn’t even close to being gas bubbles. There was something much more serious going on inside him.
Because we were trying to deal with things at home and our son being in the hospital, and couldn’t be right by his side every hour, I ended up calling the nurse and demanding a CT scan be run again. She let the surgeon know my concerns. When the surgeon came in to the room to talk to our son, he broke down in tears because he was in so much pain. It was then that the surgeon knew there was something more going on. But her hands were tied because protocol says that she must wait 72 hours to rescan. Which is so disturbing to me, from an infection standpoint. She said she wanted to make sure they really looked at the scan and figured out what was going on. She upped his pain medication to something stronger and ordered the scan for the next day as soon as she could get him in that morning.
He was finally taken down for another CT scan the next morning and lo and behold he had not one but two abscesses! Which were caused by the extreme infection that was festering inside him, from his ruptured appendix. They quickly took him to have the abscesses drained, which immediately alleviated the amazing pain he was in. But the surgeon gave us the worst news that we would hear throughout this whole ordeal. She explained that he was septic, he had a critical infection inside and that he was a very sick young man. She had full confidence he would get through this, but it would be one day at a time. I remember feeling so overwhelmed with fear after hearing her tell us this horrible news. Our son was a healthy and active 20-year old man before this all happened! This was seriously my worst nightmare! I knew how serious sepsis was. I knew it was life threatening. Our son has overcome so much in his life, I prayed he was strong enough to get through one more huge obstacle.
Thankfully, within the next day or two he finally made a turn for the better. The antibiotics had finally gotten the upper hand. He was able to get up and walk. He looked better. After seven days in the hospital, he was finally able to eat a meal and keep it down. The evening of his eighth day in the hospital, he was released to come home. He was sent home with two antibiotics that the digestive disease specialist picked out, based on the cultures that were done of Jason’s infection. Within two weeks of being home, he was given a clear bill of health by the surgeon. Today he is happy and healthy, living his life to the fullest! We are so thankful he made it through this ordeal and is here to talk about it today.
Written by Jason Reta Jr’s mom Alais Reta