Mystery Sepsis?

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kandj
Posts: 314
Joined: Sun Sep 27, 2015 11:29 am

Mystery Sepsis?

Postby kandj » Thu May 03, 2018 4:44 pm

DH came down with sudden onset chills and fever late one evening in Early April. Went from fine when he got home from work to shaking uncontrollably 3 hours later. From 10pm to 11pm I took his temp with no sign of fever on the thermometer but he could not stop shaking. His Pulse was up, Resp rate was up, and finally we get a temp of 101 to read under arm. So off to the ER we went. They thought it could be a PE (it wasn't) and they admitted him. The doc on the floor ordered a procalcitonin level and it was 28. It should be less than .05. Greater than 10 is considered a good indicator of sepsis and/or septic shock. His white count was WNL, but we all know that can be questionable with Chemo patients as what is there normal. He had no signs of infection, not colds, sickness,clear lungs, etc. The assumption is that it was via the port or his HAI pump. They actually did not start him on antibiotics until Dr.K got ahold of them and read them the riot act. Once ID got involved things got better. DH seemed much better after 18hrs of antibiotics, and after over 4 days the culture finally showed anaerobic, gram stain negative rods. The assumption is that it is something GI related. Coincidentally, he has had 2 bilomas on his CT scans and one "resolved" when he had a scan after this sepsis incident. Makes you wonder if it resolving resulted in this?

Anyone have mystery sepsis? Poor DH presents so oddly with symptoms it can be so hard to diagnosis. No one has ever walked in and been like "its this!" and been right. He would make a great patient for Dr. House.
wife to DH, dx 8/15 stage IV @36, 12+ liver Mets
HAI placed 12/15
Liver resect 5/19/2016 15-20 mets (surgeon lost count)
Liver Recurrence 7/2017-radiation
Lung met 10/18 VATS
lung/adrenal gland recurrence 11/19
Adrenal ablation 2/20 VATS 3/20
Radiation: 9/20 adrenal gland, 2/21 pancreatic node
9/2021 liver, 4/22 esophageal node
7/2023 proton therapy: liver
140+ rounds of chemo and counting
Chest nodes, lung nodules, and esophageal nodes currently.

crazylife
Posts: 256
Joined: Wed Dec 30, 2015 11:29 am

Re: Mystery Sepsis?

Postby crazylife » Thu May 03, 2018 4:50 pm

Crazy! Glad he is on the mend.
Wife to DH, 41 years old, diagnosed 11/15
Stage 4, Mod diff, 13/24 LN, 1 liver met
Colon/liver resection at MSK, 11/15
8mm lung met (not confirmed) and enlarged lymph nodes 1/16
12 rounds of folfox (9 with Oxi) 6/16
NED - July 2016
NED - October 2016
3 lung mets - March 2017
7 lung mets, May 2017
RFA to largest met, June 2017
Lung mets growing slowly, October 2017 (off treatment since June 2016)
Right lung surgery, November 2017
Left lung surgery, January 2018
NED - May 2018

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O Stoma Mia
Posts: 1709
Joined: Sat Jun 22, 2013 6:29 am
Location: On vacation. Off-line for now.

Re: Mystery Sepsis?

Postby O Stoma Mia » Fri May 04, 2018 3:48 am

kandj wrote:...and after over 4 days the culture finally showed anaerobic, gram stain negative rods....
Anyone have mystery sepsis?

Yes, I had a mystery sepsis that was eventually identified as Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Originally, they treated me with the standard one-week course of antibiotics designed for gram positive bacteria, but the antibiotic was totally ineffective. Only after the culture was ready and identified more than a week later did they realize that they had been treating me with the wrong type of antibiotic.

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dianetavegia
Posts: 2731
Joined: Sat May 16, 2009 8:47 pm
Facebook Username: Diane Weldy Tavegia
Location: Villa Rica, Georgia

Re: Mystery Sepsis?

Postby dianetavegia » Fri May 04, 2018 4:05 pm

My husband almost died in June of last year and then had another bout of sepsis the end of August. His was thought to be caused by exposure to black mold while he was visiting a sister in Oregon who lives on the river and her home floods several times a year.

We were told he had a 30% chance of making it through the night when I took him in, but within about 12 hours on all those antibiotics, his lactic acid began to correct itself and it never entered his blood stream. The next time they thought it was 'friendly bacteria' in his bladder that went off kilter and his body began to attack. He was not as ill that time, but spent another 5 days in the hospital. Thankfully, that's been almost a year with no more concerns.
Stage III cc surgery 1/7/09. 12 tx FOLFOX
Stage IV PET = 1.5cm liver met. HR 4/11/12

14 years since dx and 11 years post liver resection.
Pronounced CURED and discharged by onc

“O Lord my God, I cried out to You, And You healed me.” Psalms 30:2

DarknessEmbraced
Posts: 3816
Joined: Sat Nov 01, 2014 4:54 pm
Facebook Username: Riann Fletcher
Location: New Brunswick, Canada

Re: Mystery Sepsis?

Postby DarknessEmbraced » Sun May 06, 2018 2:18 pm

I'm sorry you and your husband went through that!*hugs* I'm glad your husband is feeling better!*hugs*
Diagnosed 10/28/14, age 36
Colon Resection 11/20/14, LAR (no illeo)
Stage 2a colon cancer, T3NOMO
Lymph-vascular invasion undetermined
0/22 lymph nodes
No chemo, no radiation
Clear Colonoscopy 04/29/15
NED 10/20/15
Ischemic Colitis 01/21/16
NED 11/10/16
CT Scan moved up due to high CEA 08/21/17
NED 09/25/17
NED 12/21/18
Clear colonoscopy 09/23/19
Clear 5 year scans 11/21/19- Considered cured! :)

kandj
Posts: 314
Joined: Sun Sep 27, 2015 11:29 am

Re: Mystery Sepsis?

Postby kandj » Tue May 08, 2018 12:13 pm

O Stoma Mia wrote:
kandj wrote:...and after over 4 days the culture finally showed anaerobic, gram stain negative rods....
Anyone have mystery sepsis?

Yes, I had a mystery sepsis that was eventually identified as Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Originally, they treated me with the standard one-week course of antibiotics designed for gram positive bacteria, but the antibiotic was totally ineffective. Only after the culture was ready and identified more than a week later did they realize that they had been treating me with the wrong type of antibiotic.


They started him on Vanco and something else to cover all bases. But only once NYC doc made a fuss (we are in Texas). They have never identified the bacteria for him. Luckily the antibiotics were very effective.

dianetavegia wrote:My husband almost died in June of last year and then had another bout of sepsis the end of August. His was thought to be caused by exposure to black mold while he was visiting a sister in Oregon who lives on the river and her home floods several times a year.

We were told he had a 30% chance of making it through the night when I took him in, but within about 12 hours on all those antibiotics, his lactic acid began to correct itself and it never entered his blood stream. The next time they thought it was 'friendly bacteria' in his bladder that went off kilter and his body began to attack. He was not as ill that time, but spent another 5 days in the hospital. Thankfully, that's been almost a year with no more concerns.


That is so scary! DH's LA was normal (but it was normal for him when he had a pyogenic liver abscess as well) but the Procalcitonin was through the rough. I can't help but wonder if one of his bilomas leaked and caused problems. He did have some sub-centimeter nodes show up on his CT the following week, not suspicious for mets. So that is another thing pointing to GI infection.
wife to DH, dx 8/15 stage IV @36, 12+ liver Mets
HAI placed 12/15
Liver resect 5/19/2016 15-20 mets (surgeon lost count)
Liver Recurrence 7/2017-radiation
Lung met 10/18 VATS
lung/adrenal gland recurrence 11/19
Adrenal ablation 2/20 VATS 3/20
Radiation: 9/20 adrenal gland, 2/21 pancreatic node
9/2021 liver, 4/22 esophageal node
7/2023 proton therapy: liver
140+ rounds of chemo and counting
Chest nodes, lung nodules, and esophageal nodes currently.


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