For World Sepsis Day on September 13, Spectrum’s Director of Operations, Susie Maguire, kindly shared her story with us:
“In April 2023, I started to feel unwell, which gradually got worse to the point I felt unable to work. I did the nurse thing at that point, and thought taking myself to bed for a few days would help as it was probably a virus. Over the next few days, my coughing and breathing got a bit worse. I was checking my oxygen levels regularly; the machine was saying they were really low, but to be honest I didn’t believe the machine – which in hindsight was not a wise thing to do. Colleagues and my Line Manager were advising me to go to my GP or A&E. They were clearly worried, so eventually I made an appointment at my GP surgery for the next day.
I attended my appointment with my GP who did my vital signs; oxygen levels were accurate and very low, I also had a high temperature, and he was concerned about my breathing. He said he thought I had sepsis. At this point, I nearly fell off my chair! He sent me to A&E, where I attended a very busy department – one of the managers was stood on a chair advising people with non-urgent symptoms that it would be a very long wait. I sat in the waiting room, feeling very guilty about wasting NHS resources. A few minutes later, I was called into triage and they did some bloods. They said it would go to the lab and they would call me back in a few minutes.
As I sat back down in the waiting room, I started to feel sleepy and really just wanted to put my head down and go to sleep. Thankfully, the nurse called me through and said they had a cubicle for me. I was just about to get on the trolley when a doctor came in waving my blood results. At this point, it felt like all hell had broken loose. They told me my potassium levels were dangerously high and literally threw me on the trolley and rushed me into the resus department.
I then started to be worried and fearful. I was watching everything like a hawk. Doctors were coming and going, asking me lots of questions. They attached me to a monitor, which was constantly alarming and bleeping. Conversations took place at the end of my bed. They retested my potassium, and it was still ‘dangerously high’ so they gave me an infusion to rectify it. I watched a doctor and a nurse disagree about the dose and the nurse won! I stayed awake all night as they treated me, watching every interaction and every alarm on my monitor. I literally thought I was going to die and was too scared to really tell my family what was going on. I did, however, message my Line Manager, not too sure about my decision-making. By morning, they were satisfied that my potassium was ok. They had a good conversation with me; I had pneumonia which left untreated had resulted in sepsis, and a metabolic imbalance of high potassium. I was very lucky.
I spent the next few days on the ward completely drained. I felt so shocked as a nurse, that I hadn’t recognised my own symptoms.
For the next few days, I stayed in the hospital and was discharged home to complete my recovery – which seemed to be going well. Two weeks after my recovery, I suddenly felt very unwell again. I was vomiting and very unsteady on my feet. Following the advice given previously, about engaging early with medical professionals, I rang NHS 111 who advised I should attend A&E. At the hospital, I was seen quite quickly. Lots of tests were done and I received a preliminary diagnosis of a posterior stroke – which I really could not comprehend. I spent the next few days in hospital, wobbling about the ward on my unsteady legs. After a CT scan, an MRI scan, and other tests, it transpired that I had a condition called vestibular neuronitis, with a view that this was a delayed onset from the sepsis. It took me two months to recover from having pneumonia and sepsis, but the aftereffects are still with me today. I suffer with short-term memory loss from time to time, and especially when I am tired. What I did learn, however, was much more profound – as I saw through the eyes of a patient of how scary it is to have untreated sepsis. I had never really considered before, what the impact was on someone being treated in resus. The recovery from sepsis can vary from patient to patient I believe, but something we don’t talk about is the trauma it can result in. It has definitely enhanced my understanding of the more compassionate approach that is needed.
Finally, I would like to add that the care I received from the NHS was truly exceptional.”
To learn more about sepsis and access toolkits, visit the official World Sepsis Day website here.