I've spoken about it on The Big Picture and been interviewed on Blackburn Radio's CHOK in Sarnia. In a nutshell, I nearly died four years ago and I'm on a bit of a mission to prevent others from coming as close to the end as I did.
The illness was sepsis, bacteria in the blood from an infection gone amok. It's problematic when you describe the symptoms because they sound a lot like the flu. It doesn't feel like the flu, though, so there's no need to panic. The flu is the flu and we all know what it's like.
My illness happened to occur in the height of flu season and medical professionals, weary of patients crying wolf over a predictable illness, waved me off and sent me home. Family and friends told me to chill out and accept their advice but all along I knew something was really, terribly wrong. I was hours away from slipping into an irreversible coma before I finally got the help I needed. There were a couple of touchy days, and then I turned the corner.
I've written an eBook (it's my fourth) and put it on sale for $2.99, in hopes that a $3 risk is worth it to read my story. It's not all maudlin and nor is it full of medical specifics and jargon. And you already know it has a happy ending! My Sepsis Story - How I Almost Died and You Don't Have To is available at Chapters and Amazon for Kobo and Kindle. Here's a condensed version, courtesy of the Sepsis Alliance.
In the same way you know someone might be having a heart attack if their arm goes numb and they clutch their chest, I'd like you to know that a weird flu-like (but not flu) feeling, could be something more. It could be sepsis. It's information that's good to know, and then hopefully never have to use.
