dilated_pupils
Bluelighter
"Sepsis occurs when chemicals released in the bloodstream to fight an infection trigger inflammation throughout the body. This can cause a cascade of changes that damage multiple organ systems, leading them to fail, sometimes even resulting in death.
Symptoms include fever, difficulty breathing, low blood pressure, fast heart rate, and mental confusion.
Treatment includes antibiotics and intravenous fluids."
This is my leg while in the hospital:
This was October 12th/13th when the picture was taken. I had a weekend planned of going to two shows the first one was Nitro Circus Circus and then Hyperglow the next night. The days leading up to the 10th of October my leg was swollen really bad and was very painful. I've been getting infections prior to this, 2 in the recent months that resulted in abscesses. And the second one resulted with surgery in the not so lucky place of the crook of my arm.
I tied my leg off and hobbled my way to Nitro Circus no pain meds and at the time I didn't realize how much danger I was in come the next day I gave up my tickets to hyperglow and went to the hospital. I was in a septic shock and went directly into surgery.
The picture above is the result of a 4 inch incision into my leg to remove the infection and then the object appearing out of my leg was a wound vac. At the time it was a fairly deep wound. It was very scary seeing the wound vac come out for the first time. I mean seriously it looked like a part of my body was missing and I admit I closed my eyes at first but then out of curiosity took a look (which was a bit tough).
Note: the wound vac sucks out the infection via the tube in the picture, the constant removal of infection helps promote healing. However the nasty fluid collected in a bag was quite disgusting.
After a few bad nights including a night my fever spiked high and I wrestled that demon away, and a cocktail of antibiotics, mixed with ativan and hydromorphone, I was released after approximately eight days.
It's now November 20th and I'm fully healed. My wound is scabbing now. The body is an amazing thing, watching new tissue grow, new flesh, etc is just amazing & inspires me still how much the body fights for us.
As a started healing I took a picture, and then 2 weeks later I took another picture.
It's tough looking at the first picture, the wound was much deeper and larger than that originally when I had open my eyes during the first cleaning of the wound.
This picture is from a few days ago:
I feel lucky now when I look at the newest picture in comparison to the beginning. After all I can compare it now to a scrape rather than an open flesh wound.
I understand my IV drug use in the past year most likely played a large role in my body not fighting off infection each time I completed my antibiotics and yet still it reappeared. I sincerely hope this time around it stays away. I think I have learned a lot about my body, and where I want to be in life (I definitely do not want to be in the hospital or an amputee).
I urge everyone who uses too especially remember that we are not invulnerable. I have had no illness nor do I have any underlying diseases to speak of, for years I had no sickness not even the flu. But this really happened in the span of 6 months, starting with the first infection in my elbow.
Remember to keep a lookout for signs of infection such as raised skin, skin irritation, bags under the eyes or dark spots and/or abscess(es). Abscesses especially are nothing to mess with don't be afraid to seek help!
This go around at the hospital and the past experience as well, as I went to the same hospital for both surgeries, I was open and honest with the staff and they treated me kindly and like a normal human being. I wasn't treated any differently after admitting to using IV drugs, which was a big relief. I've never thought this possible however your hearing it from me - it is!
If anyone has any questions please ask I would love to answer them and help others from having this happen to them. It is/was a very scary thing I went through, but I felt like sharing this would help and it has.
Peace & Love.
-d_p
Symptoms include fever, difficulty breathing, low blood pressure, fast heart rate, and mental confusion.
Treatment includes antibiotics and intravenous fluids."
This is my leg while in the hospital:
This was October 12th/13th when the picture was taken. I had a weekend planned of going to two shows the first one was Nitro Circus Circus and then Hyperglow the next night. The days leading up to the 10th of October my leg was swollen really bad and was very painful. I've been getting infections prior to this, 2 in the recent months that resulted in abscesses. And the second one resulted with surgery in the not so lucky place of the crook of my arm.
I tied my leg off and hobbled my way to Nitro Circus no pain meds and at the time I didn't realize how much danger I was in come the next day I gave up my tickets to hyperglow and went to the hospital. I was in a septic shock and went directly into surgery.
The picture above is the result of a 4 inch incision into my leg to remove the infection and then the object appearing out of my leg was a wound vac. At the time it was a fairly deep wound. It was very scary seeing the wound vac come out for the first time. I mean seriously it looked like a part of my body was missing and I admit I closed my eyes at first but then out of curiosity took a look (which was a bit tough).
Note: the wound vac sucks out the infection via the tube in the picture, the constant removal of infection helps promote healing. However the nasty fluid collected in a bag was quite disgusting.
After a few bad nights including a night my fever spiked high and I wrestled that demon away, and a cocktail of antibiotics, mixed with ativan and hydromorphone, I was released after approximately eight days.
It's now November 20th and I'm fully healed. My wound is scabbing now. The body is an amazing thing, watching new tissue grow, new flesh, etc is just amazing & inspires me still how much the body fights for us.
As a started healing I took a picture, and then 2 weeks later I took another picture.
It's tough looking at the first picture, the wound was much deeper and larger than that originally when I had open my eyes during the first cleaning of the wound.
This picture is from a few days ago:
I feel lucky now when I look at the newest picture in comparison to the beginning. After all I can compare it now to a scrape rather than an open flesh wound.
I understand my IV drug use in the past year most likely played a large role in my body not fighting off infection each time I completed my antibiotics and yet still it reappeared. I sincerely hope this time around it stays away. I think I have learned a lot about my body, and where I want to be in life (I definitely do not want to be in the hospital or an amputee).
I urge everyone who uses too especially remember that we are not invulnerable. I have had no illness nor do I have any underlying diseases to speak of, for years I had no sickness not even the flu. But this really happened in the span of 6 months, starting with the first infection in my elbow.
Remember to keep a lookout for signs of infection such as raised skin, skin irritation, bags under the eyes or dark spots and/or abscess(es). Abscesses especially are nothing to mess with don't be afraid to seek help!
This go around at the hospital and the past experience as well, as I went to the same hospital for both surgeries, I was open and honest with the staff and they treated me kindly and like a normal human being. I wasn't treated any differently after admitting to using IV drugs, which was a big relief. I've never thought this possible however your hearing it from me - it is!
If anyone has any questions please ask I would love to answer them and help others from having this happen to them. It is/was a very scary thing I went through, but I felt like sharing this would help and it has.
Peace & Love.
-d_p
