I almost died of sepsis after scratching myself bowling

The strike that almost took her out.

UK mom Nakita Harden revealed she almost died of sepsis after allegedly cutting her thumb on the inside of a bowling ball.

“I didn’t think anything of it at first. You get scratches all the time,” Harden, 33, told Caters News Agency.

Harden was out bowling with her boyfriend, Jordan, when she cut herself after placing her fingers inside the holes of the bowling ball. Later in the evening, she notified her beau that she felt unbearable pain in her thumb.

” ‘My thumb doesn’t feel very good,’ and he looked at it,” she said. “He saw little red bits on my arm. It wasn’t obviously a tracking line at that point.”

Her boyfriend mentioned that he read an article that said the tracking line could develop from blood poisoning, but the couple remained unbothered.

“We were just a little bit concerned, but I didn’t feel poorly,” she admitted.

“He said, ‘Well, if it gets worse, you’re gonna have to go to the hospital because it could be sepsis.’ “

The US’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes sepsis as “the body’s extreme response to an infection” and a “life-threatening medical emergency.”

Unfortunately, Harden’s condition worsened overnight, and she woke up feeling weak.

“I woke up really, really thirsty at some point in the night. I tried to go downstairs, and I could barely get there. But I needed a drink, so I got there, had a drink, and then clawed my way back upstairs.”

Harden immediately told her partner that she was unwell and needed to go to the hospital urgently.

When they reached the hospital, it was packed with people waiting to be treated. Fortunately, the medical staff noticed Harden’s severe condition.

“I thought I might die between now and getting seen, but they called me through quite quickly,” she said.

The doctor alerted Harden that she would need antibiotics and to undergo surgery to remove the infection from her thumb but revealed they wouldn’t have to amputate her finger. Harden remained awake during the surgery and watched the procedure take place.

“I tried to watch them. I felt them digging around in the bone and felt a bit queasy. I thought I was going to faint,” she said.

The Norfolk, UK, resident couldn’t help but think about her two children while in surgery.

“I’ve got two kids. They were what was going through my head. I was like, ‘What if I don’t see them again? They’d been at their dad’s the day I’d gone bowling with my boyfriend.’ “

The medics removed as much of the infection as possible but couldn’t stitch up the wound because it was on her knuckle.

Harden was worried that she would no longer have a knuckle after the operation, but luckily, the part of her hand that was removed with the infection did grow back, and she fully recovered.

“I had to go back to the hand clinic for re-dressings and things. I had to keep it super sterile, and then it healed,” she said. “If I cut myself now, even if it’s just a tiny nick, I will always put Germolene [antiseptic] or something on it just in case.”

Infections that lead to sepsis most often start in the lungs, urinary tract, skin or gastrointestinal tract. Without timely treatment, sepsis can rapidly lead to tissue damage, organ failure and death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“It is so serious, but it’s so easily preventable if you know what to look for,” Harden said.

Sepsis symptoms to be aware of are high heart rate, weak pulse, fever, shivering, confusion, shortness of breath, extreme pain, and clammy or sweaty skin, the CDC adds.

“If you think you could have sepsis, don’t hesitate about going to the hospital,” Harden added.