A woman dismissed her husband’s life-threatening sepsis for man flu.
Rob Bland, 43, a supervisor, initially started shivering and complained about having a headache.
His wife Kirsten Bland, 36, a nurse, did not take her husband’s symptoms seriously and thought he was being ‘feeble’ and ‘dramatic’, until a bright light in the couple’s bathroom revealed he had turned yellow, ‘like Homer Simpson’.
Turning yellow is a sign of jaundice and occurs due to a build-up of the substance bilirubin in the body. This can occur if gallstones block bile drainage.
After being rushed to hospital, Mr Bland, from Poole, was diagnosed with sepsis caused by gallstones that had blocked the entrance to his bile duct and become infected.
Doctors managed to control his sepsis with antibiotics and removed his gallstones in time for Mr Bland to be home for Valentine’s Day last year.
Ms Bland is speaking out to raise awareness of sepsis, saying: ‘more often than not you probably do have man flu – but just that once, it could be sepsis.’
Sepsis kills around 44,000 people in the UK every year.
Kirsten Bland dismissed her husband Rob Bland’s life-threatening sepsis for ‘man flu’
Mr Bland started shivering and complaining of a headache on February 9 last year
‘He looked like Homer Simpson’
Speaking of Mr Bland’s symptoms, his wife said: ‘I thought it was the dreaded man flu.
‘He was acting feeble. I thought he was being a bit dramatic.’
Yet, seeing her husband under bright lights made Ms Bland realise how serious his condition was.
She said: ‘In the darkened room he looked okay but, under the bathroom lights, he looked yellow. I was incredibly shocked… he looked like Homer Simpson.’
Ms Bland first called her GP, followed by the non-emergency NHS number 111, who arranged for an ambulance to take Mr Bland to Poole Hospital.
Immediately taken to acute care, he was diagnosed with sepsis and given an intense regimen of antibiotics.
After being rushed to hospital Mr Bland was diagnosed with sepsis caused by gallstones that had blocked the entrance to his bile duct and become infected
Ms Bland is speaking out to raise awareness of sepsis, saying: ‘more often than not you probably do have man flu – but just that once, it could be sepsis’
‘I feel really guilty for thinking he had man flu’
Ms Bland said: ‘Rob’s gallstones were really painful, but we never thought they would nearly kill him.
‘He’d been having ongoing issues with them, was on regular pain relief and was due surgery.
‘In the meantime, doctors explained that they would have to hit the sepsis with everything they had.’
Doctors managed to control Mr Bland’s sepsis before removing his gallstones and discharging him the following day.
Ms Bland said: ‘It was a great Valentine’s Day present, having him home, looking a healthy, pink colour.
‘He had to have antibiotics, but he went back to work soon afterwards.’
In March that year, Mr Bland had his gallbladder removed in an hour-long operation at a private hospital, but under the NHS.
Now Mr Bland has recovered, his wife said: ‘I feel really guilty for thinking he had man flu.
‘He had the flu recently, and I was really nervous. I kept panicking.
Ms Bland was supported by The Sepsis Trust.