My toes turned black and were amputated after a ’bout of flu’ turned out to be meningitis and sepsis
A MUM had her toes amputated as they turned black - after mistaking the signs of deadly sepsis for a bout of 'flu'.
Ruth Kent, 53, started shivering and aching for a few days last November but brushed it off as nothing more than a common cold.
However, the support worker knew she had to seek treatment when she awoke in the night to find she had lost bowel control and felt pain in her feet when she rushed to the bathroom.
And the next day, things took a turn for the worse when Ruth's son Mikey, 27, found she'd "gone blue" and had become incontinent while sleeping on the sofa and immediately called 999.
She was blue-lighted to intensive care in Northampton General Hospital where she was treated for meningococcal meningitis, which quickly triggered sepsis - causing her hands, feet and face to turn black and her organs to begin shutting down.
Ruth said: "I deteriorated very, very quickly. It was really scary.
"My son saved my life that day. If he hadn't have been there, I would have been a goner.
"I had no inclination that it was sepsis. If I'd have known more I might have gone to the doctors earlier.
"It was just normal cold symptoms at the beginning, like shivering or aching. I didn't have a headache or anything like that.
"I remember a few years ago I saw something in the paper about a man who'd cut himself gardening and developed sepsis.
"That was the extent of my knowledge. It was the only knowledge I had and I want to raise awareness."
Over the next two months, Ruth battled to stay alive as she developed gangrene in her feet which forced doctors to amputate parts of them including multiple toes, as well as the sides and soles.
Shocking images show the devastating transformation that Ruth's feet went through in just a few days - as agonising sores developed on her feet which soon turned black.
And Ruth revealed medics even told her family to "prepare for the worst".
She added: "When they got there staff took them into a little room and said 'her organs are failing. She's the poorliest person in the hospital at this moment'.
"They told them to prepare themselves. I can't imagine how that must have been for them - it still upsets me now.
"I don't remember much but I was in intensive care for about two weeks - I was very confused and my hands, feet and face had gone black. They thought I would lose my nose."
At one point, as her condition continued to deteriorate, Ruth feared that she might lose her eyesight too.
She said: "I was getting very distressed. I felt like I was in a pram because I had that many things attached to me.
"I remember seeing people come and having to put the gown and masks on. I could see them through the window.
"My brother came over from New York the following Friday with his wife. They were preparing for the worst.
"Then I went into high-dependency unit where I started to come round a bit. I had a little bit to eat. I had a few mouthfuls and I was crying then.
"They started to give me a bath and I couldn't see. I thought the blinds were closed but my vision had gone. I had an explosion in the back of my eyes.
"When I got into HDU it started to come back again. I'm lucky that I didn't lose my sight."
Symptoms of meningitis
According to Meningitis Now, common symptoms include:
- Fever, cold hands and feet
- Vomiting
- Drowsy, difficult to wake
- Confusion and irritability
- Severe muscle pain
- Pale, blotchy skin. Spots/rash. See the Glass Test
- Severe headache
- Stiff neck
The Meningitis Research Foundation has warned the symptoms can easily be mistaken for a hangover.
The charity urged people to look out for the symptoms in family and friends during winter, when the illness is more prevalent.
After battling through the worst, Ruth still had black feet from where the septicaemia had set in and her extremities had began to die.
She sat in her hospital bed as a nurse was 'scraping' the black tissue from her nose and feet.
Ruth said: "One of the nurses in intensive care started putting cream on my nose. She was scraping it with a glove and black was coming off.
"When I got onto a ward I started using the cream on my hands. I started to rub it in a few times daily and my hands started to recover.
"There's one finger now that I can't bend properly and I lost all the nails.
"I'm so lucky that they did recover because I could have lost my fingers or hands. They still tingle constantly even now and I struggle to hold things for a long time.
"Before that I was perfectly healthy. I was quite active because I have three dogs that I walk everyday and I cycle to work.
"But my feet didn't recover. I was discharged in December just before Christmas. My feet started to smell and they did some swabs which showed a infection.
"In the January 2019 when nurses came to change my dressings, they took them off and my feet were green with gangrene.
"I've lost seven of my toes and have three little stumps left. They had to take the side of my feet off.
"I still have extreme fatigue. My emotions are up and down. I've been struggling recently - maybe it's only just hit me."
Symptoms of sepsis
If you, a loved one, or in the case of medical professionals their patient, feels "severely sick", doesn't appear to be themselves and shows any of the following symptoms, sepsis should be suspected:
- weakness
- loss of appetite
- fever and chills
- thirst
- difficult or rapid breathing
- rapid heart rate
- low blood pressure
- low urine output
If a person is suffering these symptoms and they are thought to have suffered an infection - pneumonia, abdominal infection, urinary infection, or a wound - sepsis is a likely cause.
Ruth is currently still recovering from her horrific ordeal and is using a wheelchair full-time as she can only take a small number of steps before the pain becomes overwhelming.
And she is now speaking out to raise awareness of how quickly cold and flu symptoms can rapidly turn into deadly blood poisoning.
Ruth said: "Since I've had sepsis myself, I've realised it's rife. There's people out there that are still unaware of it.
"When I had the flu symptoms it was the normal aching and shivering - feeling lousy.
"Before the incontinence, there was nothing out of the ordinary that made me think it was anything different.
"My message to anyone who thinks things aren't quite right is to call the GP or 111. Ask that question - 'could this be sepsis?' It could save your life.
"I'm now in a wheelchair. I can stand and take a few steps, but it's so painful.
More on sepsis
"Mick has been there every day and Faye has had to take the dogs because I can't walk them.
"I do see a light at the end of the tunnel and know I'll be walking again in the future.
"I've joined support groups and I've been talking to other people. There's one lady with no limbs at all - she's amazing. It makes me feel guilty when I felt bad about myself.
"Mick has been there every day and Faye has had to take the dogs because I can't walk them.
"I do see a light at the end of the tunnel and know I'll be walking again in the future.
"I've joined support groups and I've been talking to other people. There's one lady with no limbs at all - she's amazing. It makes me feel guilty when I felt bad about myself."
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