Britagne Miller went from sitting by a campfire at Cheney Lake in late May to hearing doctors say she might have only days to live. The Kansas mother of four was bitten several times on her leg, and within days the swelling and pain in her calf had grown so severe that she was admitted to Wesley Medical Centre in Wichita on June 4.
Her pain was not the sort that eased with rest. Miller told KAKE News it felt like a fire stir made of metal, shooting down her leg into her foot and leaving her feeling as if she was being stabbed. By the time she reached the hospital, doctors had found a large hematoma that required emergency surgery, and she later spent 10 days in ICU as her condition kept worsening.
What made the case so dangerous was not just the bite itself. Jake Miller said his wife's pre-existing end-stage liver disease made surgery and routine care far more hazardous, because doctors were also worried she could bleed out. During the hospital stay, she underwent surgery to remove blood clots, then developed Staphylococcus and gram-negative bacterial infections at the site of a drain placed in the wound. The infection became severe enough to trigger sepsis, and the tissue around her stitches began to die.
Doctors responded with two bedside procedures to remove dead skin and put her on additional antibiotics, but the warning from her family was blunt. Jake Miller said multiple doctors told them she might have only days to a month to live and recommended hospice after just two weeks in the hospital. Britagne Miller said she was told the same thing and said the message was frightening because her levels could not be kept above critical.
She is recovering now and says she feels lucky to be alive, but the hardest part may still be ahead. Jake Miller said she will need a lot of home health care and weekly visits to specialists, and doctors will keep watching her liver and blood clotting closely. For Miller, the bites were the beginning of the story; the longer fight is what comes after.
