Hi all,

This is a long shot but I have to try something. I love my mom dearly and I'm scared. She's in a situation none of the doctors (20 or so) can explain.

Stats: Age: 69 Gender: female H/W: 5'7", ~160 lb (don't really know) Medications taken, pre admission to ER: Xarelto, fleccanide... two others I can't remember Smoking status: 2 years of low/ moderate use in early 20s, grew up with a father who smoked and passed of emphysema in the 80s, none since Previous medical issues, pre ER (Saturday): had half of her thyroid removed due to precancerous nodules, hysterectomy and bladder tie up, atrial fibrillation Medical issues, in/since ER: sepsis, stroke

Ok, so, long story. My mother has had afib for awhile and it was becoming resistant to drugs, so she decided to have cardial ablation performed about a month ago. Since the procedure, she had been complaining about a headache, difficulty swallowing, and/or indigestion since the surgery. A week or two after, her surgeon scheduled a CT to make sure there wasn't a fistula in the esophagus. CT was negative.

Fast forward to Saturday - my mom seemed fine in the morning, and went to go read a book/ lie down. I went to go talk to her and she was wearing a sweater and under a heavy blanket despite the internal house temperature being the norm. She was "shivering" and said she just needed to fight through it, yet was complaining of nausea. I took her temp (98ish) and still insisted on calling her doctor. Doctor advised we take her to ER, and we did. In those 40 minutes she vomited multiple times, her lucidity dropped, the shivers (actually rigors) got worse and looked like moderately violent Parkinson's. She was admitted with a high fever (103?) and immediately put on cipro.

She seemingly stabilised, and they took blood and urine for panels. They moved her to a room at the hospital to monitor her. That night she was alternating hot and cold, but no rigors. She was complaining about a headache and nausea. The doctor at the time was worried about an aneurysm (b/c of the blood thinners b/c afib), so ordered a CT for the next morning (also negative). After returning from the CT, she began to complain about being cold, which led to low lucidity and rigors. She was also low on oxygen absorption (80). Hospital did a sepsis call and about 13 people came in the room in 2 minutes, and this was the first time I thought my mom might really die. Her fever went from normal to 103.3 in a matter of minutes (5?), and she was hurried to icu where she was stabilised.

While in ICU on Sunday, she had her temperature spike up once again, to 104, but this time they could not break her fever for 5-6 hours. Eventually they got her stabilized; however, at the beginning of the day she was talking yet grumpy and at the end of the day she was pretty tired. Monday, at 3 am, they put out a stroke call.

The stroke has, for now, led to paralysis and facial droop for her left side, and she can't swallow. The icu preemptively intubated her so she wouldn't lose her airway. Immediately after the stroke she was highly responsive - She was moving her right leg a lot, she could grab with her right hand, she tried to talk. As the day went on, her responsiveness dropped, to where she was barely responsive. This morning her responsiveness improved, but has waned as the day has gone on.

So, the sepsis: The original blood panels came back positive for 3 strains of strep. No one yet knows where it came from.

The stroke: predominantly right hemisphere, but pretty much all over. The neurologist described it as if a shotgun blast had hit the brain. No one knows where the matter that caused the strokes came from, as she was on blood thinners.

The diagnoses: first, the doctors thought the sepsis came from an undiagnosed, asymptomatic UTI, into her kidneys and then into the blood stream, because her urinalysis came back positive for bacteria. Then, they noticed there are many cysts on many of her organs, and wondered if the sepsis was caused by rupture of a potentially infected cyst. There is also apparently a large cyst on her pancreas.

But these were put to bed when the pathologist discovered strep. No one could diagnose, but her ablation surgeon and cardiologist were very concerned about a fistula, even though the post procedure CT was negative. A second CT was ordered, and also came back negative. A chamber test with dye also ran negative. An endoscopy, done out of an abundance of caution, was also negative.

So while she doesn't have an undiagnosed, life threatening fistula, we're back to square one. They are now draining her lungs and the result is a pink, turbid liquid (which they are also paneling).

The one large fear with sepsis is a rapid downward spike of bp, and that hasn't happened. Her o2 absorption is normal, her heart has normally been around 100 bpm (minus the fever spikes). Her temp has been between 36 and 38 Celsius the last few days, mainly around 37 today. She has been stable the last two days, and even moved hospitals.

Reddit, please help try to save my mom. Ask me questions, think about rare cases. I'm sure I forgot details, so ask. I just don't want to lose her yet, I'm 32 and already lost my dad. She's so young...