April Strickland

In early 2016 I had a series of successful procedures related to treating precancerous spots found by mammogram. Several weeks after, my incision began to ooze and the surgeon’s office said to apply bacitracin. That night I started shaking, felt cold, nauseated and my back (kidney’s) hurt incredibly bad – like labor pains. My temperature was 102 and surgeon’s office said to go to ER if my temperature got any higher. The next day, my kidneys hurts so bad I could barely stand it and I was told by my surgeon to go to ER.  Upon arrival, I was taken to triage and assessed: 102 temperature, 140+ heart rate, elevated respirations, and white blood cell count was very high.  The ER doctor told me I had sepsis. I started to cry and thought I had done something wrong.

After ruling out a UTI, a surgical team opened up my incision and found a pocket of infection (staph aureus) that would respond to antibiotics. I now have a large scar on my breast and kidney disease. Finding the Begin Again Foundation was such a gift. I felt so lost and learning that there were others who were struggling to cope with surviving sepsis gave me a purpose: To help as many people as I can. READ THE FULL STORY