What is the horsefly bite sepsis fiasco??
in summer 2023 i got bit on the back of the neck by a big horsefly while i was on a long hike and then subsequently, like a week and a half later, developed really severe sepsis from whatever illness it transferred to me. my husband had to carry me down like 3 flights of stairs out of our apartment because i couldn't feel my arms + legs (body was trying to prioritize keeping my organs alive), my heart rate was like 175, my blood pressure was really low, fever was higher than 104, it literally felt like my bones were on fire lol the ER staff was putting ice packs on me and taking the rest of my clothes off to try and cool me down. there was like 10 people working on me really suddenly. i don't remember a lot of it because my brain got cooked and i had a febrile seizure. i do remember thinking like wow i've lived through so much and a stupid bug bite is what's going to kill me
i had to get a spinal tap so they could test me for west nile and my fever didn't completely go away for like 3 days, it was awful, i also had to get a few CT scans which were awful because the contrast dye makes you feel really hot. i was in the hospital for 3 days straight
they never did figure out what it was but apparently some guy was hiking in the same area and also got an insect bite + presented with similar symptoms and he had tularemia, so idk. they didn't test me for rocky mountain fever though and a handful of other fucked up zoonotic illnesses that could have been the cause
i also ripped my shirt off in the car because it was 100°f that day so everyone in the emergency room saw my tits when my husband ran in carrying me 🥀 whatever tho i'm still alive *pearl jam starts playing*
blakekathryn
tangentwithtanner
