@ew62

Hello.....I was linked in to your post by the moderator regarding your sepsis experience. I too went into sepsis about three years ago with a cellulitis infection of my arm (due to lymphadema), a result of my breast cancer surgery. Even after three years I still feel 'off'....a little more tired and certainly less emotionally strong. I was fortunate not to be in the ICU but was hospitalized for a week and then had several more months of recovery, physical therapy and other medical needs. I feel more like myself all the time but still - it's just a sudden, random, difficult experience. I never considered sepsis as a possible condition and had little understanding of it until way after my experience and lots of research. I had my sepsis in mid November and was so grateful I wasn't dead I went ahead and hosted Thanksgiving Dinner at my house. It was a mistake. I was unprepared for the exhaustion and recurring waves of anxiety I experienced. My doctors dismissed my experience post sepsis, which was also disappointing. I think they see that you're still alive and don't truly grasp what a shock it is to both your physical body and emotional well being. Read up to understand the medical and physical part but also look at the Sepsis Alliance website. People there understand what you've been through. Also, give yourself permission to back off work and don't let them make you feel guilty about needing this time. I think I slowed my recovery down by feeling I 'should' just get on with it. Take care of yourself and as needed - educate the people around you, including doctors, to what you're going through. Sepsis is a bit of a mystery (why this person, why this infection, why now) and I think it even spooks the doctors a little too. Let's help them, our employers and family/friends to know more about this and help ourselves and others in the process. Hugs to you.
Cindy

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