Sepsis - what's that??

Last year was not a bad year, but it wasn't good either! Not for me, but for others who I have loved.

In August, a very good friend who had a bad cold that wouldn't leave him, he just kept getting sicker and sicker. This young man, of 34 years, had had a pace-maker ever since he was a young child, so, he had a lot of experience with being sick and even going to hospital, thought that he was fighting with the same problem again, so, he took himself to the Royal North Shore hospital to see a doctor.

The doctor put him straight into hospital and called his parents. They then proceeded to work on him, after telling him that he had a very bad case of pneumonia and it would be to his benefit if they put him into an induced come for the time being. They needed to fill his body with the drugs that would hopefully help him with the infection and they thought that they could bring him out of the coma after that time.

Friends and family gathered around and were visiting him every hour of every day, hoping that they were going to be the ones who were there when he woke up. The staff in the ICU were inspirational and if I ever had to go to another hospital, (please noooo!) I would be very happy knowing that I was going to the fantastic RNSH. They did everything that you could ask for, they talked to Chris as if he was awake and they had to shave, wash make him look as pretty as possible, we all knew that Chris was a bit ....vain!

I started thinking about how long I had known him and all the things that he did to make him special to me.

I first met Chris 12 years ago, when he was working as the 2nd Chef along side of a girl friend called Dee and another friend called Doug. They were funny, loud and such wonderful quirky people that you only had to watch them work to know their food and coffee, would be superb - and it was.

They worked together for the next 6 years and I was lucky enough to be considered their friend and their 'Sydney Mum', being that much older than they and with two children myself. Sometimes when my girls had gone to their father's place for the weekend and I was at a loose end, Chris would ask me over to his place to watch a video or play some games on the Playstation and have something yummy, that he made to eat.

Dee got married and Chris was in a relationship with Miwa. He was entranced by everything Japanese, including, Astro Boy, the Playstation and Miwa!

During the next couple of years, Dee started working in the horticulture field and had a baby; Chris went from restaurant to restaurant honing his skills enough to cook with The Iron Chefs - he thought that he had made it and I had the stroke.

Being Chris, he was a source of fun and laughter, even when I wasn't anywhere near my best and he told me many times, "we're here for a good time, not a long time", I wonder if he knew???

As time went on, they helped us to understand that if Chris was to recover, he would not be the Chris that we had known. He would certainly loose his fingers and toes if not more and that meant that he wouldn't be able to be a Chef - he would not be very a happy man at all. As well as these extremities that were affected by gangrene, his liver, lungs and kidneys were all in a bad state with the kidneys being on dialysis 24/7 and himself being on life-support. I remember that all of us at one time or another over the next three weeks, were sure that he was just sleeping and we would talk to him as though he was listening.

He never woke up.

Chris died of Sepsis - a horrific infection of the very blood that flows around our body and is supposed to keep us alive - I am putting a link to the Sepsis Organisation to help people to understand what this hideous and potential fatal complaint can do.

This is for Christopher Mack Galloway R.I.P.   -    29.3.1978 - 11.9.2012

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http://www.sepsisalliance.org/faces

Pneumonia

Sepsis and septic shock can result from an infection anywhere in the body, including pneumonia. It is known that in the United States, health care–associated infections (HCAI) affect 1.7 million hospitalizations every year. And, the two most common conditions are sepsis and pneumonia. In February 2010, a study published in theArchives of Internal Medicine, confirmed the high costs resulting from caring for patients: an more than $8.4 billion per year. In addition to this, the study found that such infections cost an average of an extra 11 days in the hospital and $33,000 dollars, per person.

Sometimes called blood poisoning, sepsis is the body's often deadly response to infection or injury. Sepsis kills and disables millions and requires early suspicion and rapid treatment for survival.

Worldwide, one-third of patients who develop sepsis die. Almost 20% of patients who develop sepsis after surgery die. Many who do survive are left with organ dysfunction and/or amputations. (What is the prognosis (outcome) with sepsis?)

The most common source of infection, among adults, is the lung or lungs.

Famous People Who Developed Sepsis Following Pneumonia:

Actor Jeff Conaway

Born October 5, 1950, died May 27, 2011 due to sepsis from pneumonia.

Jim Henson, creator of the Muppets

Born September 24, 1936, died May 16, 1990 due to sepsis from pneumonia.

Definition of Pneumonia

Pneumonia is an infection in the lungs. The infection can be only in one lung, or it can be in both. There are several causes of pneumonia but the most common are:

• Bacteria
• Virus
• Fungus

Left untreated, pneumonia can be deadly. In the days before antibiotics, it’s estimated that about one-third of those who developed bacterial pneumonia died.

5.1.2013