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Not Just the Flu
"I knew something dramatic was going on, because she was in so much pain," says Alex Harrison, the medical resident who coordinated Sara's care. Her kidneys were failing. Her liver and gallbladder weren't working. Her extremities were swollen. A CT scan revealed lung damage. The diagnosis: a form of "walking" bacterial pneumonia. "But that didn't make sense, because her symptoms were so severe," says Dr. Harrison. Further tests revealed that as Sara's body was struggling to fight off this condition, a staph infection also invaded her bloodstream, which then triggered toxic shock syndrome.Things were getting worse. The next afternoon, Sara crashed. Her blood pressure plummeted, and she couldn't breathe. Organ after organ began to fail. "There was a high likelihood she would die," says Dr. Harrison. "We moved her to the ICU and put her on life support." A machine took over her breathing. IV poles, with feeding and drainage tubes dangling, circled her bed. She was on four different blood pressure medicines and three different antibiotics.
After three tense touch-and-go days in the ICU, Sara's blood pressure gradually began to rise. Her kidney and liver functions returned to normal. After ten days on a ventilator, she was finally able to breathe on her own. Heavily sedated, Sara had no memory of the fierce battle for her life.
Her body was so swollen from all the medications and fluids that she was almost unrecognizable. As the swelling subsided, doctors found abscesses, reservoirs of bacteria, deep within her legs, thighs and buttocks. "We needed to operate to remove the infection," explains Dr. Harrison. Nine times Sara, still too weak to walk, was anesthetized as surgeons drained the abscesses.
With daily physical therapy, Sara steadily regained strength. On February 26, after 43 days in the hospital, she went home to continue her recovery. After missing a semester of college, Sara is now back at Grossmont College, playing softball, volunteering with the mentally and physically disabled and working two part-time jobs. "She is a miracle," Dr. Harrison says. "Anyone who wasn't so young and fit and in perfect health would have died."
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