Neutropenic sepsis: I recently posted an article... - CLL Support

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Neutropenic sepsis

lartington profile image
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I recently posted an article referring you to a short video on this subject. Last week my husband had sepsis again. We were away on holiday, he suddenly became very tired, went to sleep for 3 hours (most unusual during the day) I woke him up, his eyes were rolling up into his eyelids, his speech slurred, he was confused and floppy, very cold and shivering. I recognised the signs, his temperature was 37.5c. By the time I had located the nearest hospital, he couldn't walk unaided and his temp was 39.4c Being Sunday evening this cottage hospital did not have a lab open to check bloods, but our trusty "letter from the specialist haematology unit in Leeds" came to the rescue. We were transferred to the next hospital, where bloods were carried out, he was fast-tracked through A and E he was given a room on his own, with barrier nursing, four days later he was back to normal, came away with two oral antibiotics to take and tomorrow he head to Leeds for his IVIG infusion which hopefully will restore him.

He has recently been diagnosed with a cold abscess in his neck which necessitates surgery, the theory is that the sepsis could have come from that. The surgeon advised us that he has not come across a CLL patient with this condition, it is usually people with TB, I wondered if any other CLL patients have any experience??

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lartington
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HAIRBEAR_UK profile image
HAIRBEAR_UKFounder Admin

Hi lartington

Thank you for sharing your husband's recent experience with sepsis. Well done for your vigilance and getting him to A&E and fast tracked. It must be a relief, fingers crossed all goes well and his IVIG top up gives him some protection.

Sorry to read about the abscess in his neck, I hope it's removal is not too uncomfortable. I don't know about specific CLL connections/associations but do understand a link with individuals with immune deficiencies and abscess. If neutrapenic I would imagine things can get out of hand very quickly.

I have wondered about my own propensity to develop large deep abscess over the past few years. these take many weeks to shift with antibiotic support, and often require a few different courses of different drug to shift them..

I did lift this from the Boots site: webmd.boots.com/skin-proble...

People with weakened immune systems get certain abscesses more often. This is because the body has a decreased ability to ward off infections. Those with any of the following are at risk of having more severe abscesses.

Long-term steroid therapy

Chemotherapy

Diabetes

Cancer

AIDS

Sickle cell disease

Leukaemia

Peripheral vascular disorders

Crohn’s disease

Ulcerative colitis

Severe burns

Severe trauma

Best wishes

Nick

LAinNYC profile image
LAinNYC

I'm wishing you well...my husband just finished his first chemo treatment, is in the hospital....this is so hard for loved ones....all the best to you...

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