For over a week, Bess S. had been coughing a lot and getting tired quickly. At first, she chalked it up to a bad cold. But one breathless morning, she began to realize just how sick she really was.
“I woke up and was having trouble breathing, and I was really nauseous,” she says. “So we went to the emergency room.”
By that point, Bess and her husband, Reid, suspected she might have pneumonia, and that everything would be fine. They had no way of knowing she would spend the next several weeks in the intensive care unit (ICU) at Temple Health - Chestnut Hill Hospital, supported by a highly skilled and caring team.
A severe diagnosis
At the emergency room at Chestnut Hill, medical teams swiftly took steps to evaluate Bess and ready a treatment plan. She was diagnosed with pneumonia in both lungs.
She also had sepsis, a life-threatening condition that occurs when the body has an overwhelming response to an infection. Without prompt treatment, sepsis can lead to organ failure and even death.
Bess was admitted to the hospital, and her treatment began. A few days later, she was moved to the ICU, a specialized part of the hospital where the sickest patients receive critical care. A few more days into her ICU stay, Bess was sedated, intubated, and placed on a ventilator to help her breathe.
Bess has only vague recollections of that time, including memories of several deep dreams.
“It just went on and on, like movies,” she says. “And some of them were scary, and some of them were silly.”
Bess received several critical treatments, including antibiotics and the placement of drain tubes to remove mucus from her lungs.
“It was an even battle for a week or so, and then we started winning,” Reid says.
After 18 days, Bess’s doctors were able to take her off the ventilator, and she could breathe on her own.
“And her very slow recovery started,” Reid said.
Reid praised the Temple Health - Chestnut Hill Hospital team for the top-notch care they received from everyone. He’s grateful to the entire team, from the nurses and support staff to specialists like pulmonologist William B. Shapiro, MD.
“He said, ‘It is going to take some time, but she’s going to pull through,’” Reid says. “And, in fact, she did. The confidence he exudes is very comforting.”
Bess says her care team was attentive and put her at ease.
