My wife Suzanne is the hospital at this very moment recovering from NF. She came home Tuesday April 21, 2009 from taking our three kids to school and wasn’t feeling good and decided to lie down. She said she couldn’t get warm and went to bed, when I came home from work she was running a high fever, body aches, chills thinking she was getting the flu I started giving her Tylenol and Motrin. Wednesday morning she seemed to get a little better so I went on to work, I called several times to check in on her and at times she seemed fine and others she sounded really tired and just wanted to sleep. That afternoon she noticed a small bump that barely tender to the touch and thought nothing else about it, she did not tell me about it till later in the week. Thursday all she wanted to do was stay in bed and sleep and I was thinking she just needed rest, kept giving her aspirin for her headache (she has a very high tolerance of pain) and she would just go to sleep. Friday she could barely move had vomiting and diarrhea, cold chills, hot flashes but never mentioned anything about the place on her leg hurting and I never thought about checking for any other signs for anything. I told her if she didn’t show any signs of getting better we were going to get her seen about.

Saturday April 25 she had managed to get up and get a bath and called me in to look at her leg because of swelling, when I finally seen her leg I knew we had to get to a doctors office. I took her to an emergency clinic close to our house which was about 15 min. away. When we got her into the room the right upper inside of her leg was a lot bigger than it was 15 min. ago. They started her on IV fluids and waited on the ambulance to take her to the hospital. When we got to the hospital her blood pressure was bottoming out high fever and a surgeon was called in and said she needed emergency surgery to remove the abscessed tissue due to “necrotizing fasciitis”. I had heard of it but never knew what it really was, never in a million years would have thought about it. She went in and when the doctor came out to talk to us he said he had removed the abscess and warned us that it was a good size and that it would look like a shark bite. I was not prepared for what these bacteria can do to a healthy active person.

She looked really good on Sunday after the surgery and was on really strong anti biotics. Monday April 27, 2009 she went back in for a second surgery to clean up any debridement and to make sure that there were not any more pockets. Thankfully there wasn’t any more infection that they could find. They came in Tuesday and applied a wound vac to the area and this is when I seen it for the first time and could not believe what I was looking at. The doctor was right it did look like a shark bite, just like you would see on TV or a magazine. After they got the wound vac in place and after a while she started to show real signs of vast improvement. By Wednesday she was sitting up and talking almost like her old self but still a little weak from all that she has been through so far. Thursday April 30, 2009 they came in and changed out the wound vac and it is already showing the signs that are looking for and the surgeon said he didn’t see that she needed to go back into surgery for anything at this time. I have been staying with her in the hospital till tonight, her mom is giving me a break since she is more vibrant than she has been since all this started. She has had a cat scan to see if there is anything that may have been missed or if any other pockets of infection that may be showing up. As of tonight no word of the results. We are just beginning our recovery from this very serious and deadly bacterium and have a long road to hold so we have been told. With the good Lords guidance and all the support we have received so far I feel really great about her chances. We will update with more changes as they come.

Thanks for allowing people to have some where to go and share what we have gone or going through, this is a life changing event for us and we are still trying to comprehend what has happened to us.

UPDATE May 11, 2009
This is an update to Suzanne’s story. She is at home recovering and doing better. She is finally on oral anti-biotics and a wound vac. She is able to walk around a bit but gets tired easily. I just want to thank God for allowing her to stay with us. This will be a long recovery but with family and friends we are going to get thru this. Thanks and keep up the work you are doing to educate the public on this disease. My prayers go out to any and all who are dealing with this and those who have lost loved ones. May God bless and keep you safe.

UPDATE July 31, 2009
Suzanne is 95% healed with some scaring; the doctors were able to save the leg and more importantly, her life. God has blessed the doctors and everyone involved with her treatments. This disease has brought us closer together and we cherish the moments we have as a family. Thank you and everyone who has kept us in your prayers, we pray that anyone who is dealing with this that God will touch them and see them through. For the ones who have lost a loved one may God touch you and comfort you. Suzanne no longer has to have the wound vac and only has to have a wet to dry a night, being able to go without it during the day.