Real Housewives of Orange County star Vicki Gunvalson has revealed a terrifying health ordeal she faced.
The 62-year-old, who is best known as an original member of the reality series, starring alongside the likes of Tamra Judge and Heather Dubrow, was rushed to hospital twice last week after originally being ‘misdiagnosed’ with a sinus infection.
Speaking on an episode of My Friend, My Soulmate, My Podcast, Vicki grew emotional talking about how she was told she only had a 10-20% survival rate after discovering she had a ‘deadly’ sepsis infection.
She also experienced stroke-like symptoms and memory loss before being taken to hospital when her boyfriend Michael Smith found her unconscious in a bathtub.
‘There’s a lot of hours missing in my life because I got amnesia/semi-stroke,’ Vicki began on the podcast.
She explained that last week she was on her way to the office, but is unable recall a few hours that followed and has no idea where she was at the time.
After reaching her office, she was told that she was ‘talking gibberish’ and that her emails weren’t making sense, sparking concern that she was having a stroke.
However, after being taken to the hospital, Vicki was misdiagnosed and discharged with a sinus infection.
Vicki now has little memory of the hours that followed, she said, as Michael took over explaining the story.
He said: ‘One of the scariest things for me was when I walked in, for some reason, Vicki decided she wanted to take a bath, so she’s in the bathtub with water and I walk in and she’s pretty much passed out.
‘I grabbed her, that was scary, and I grabbed her, pulled her out of the water, put her in bed.’
The doctors had informed them that Vicki would need time to sleep, which she did, for 13-14 hours ‘straight’, Michael said, adding that he woke her up after worrying it was ‘a little much’.
However, when he tried to take her out bed, she had a look on her face that indicated she didn’t know where she was.
‘So I said, “What’s my name?” and she looks at me for literally 15 seconds, and goes, Mike,’ he went on.
Michael added that Vicki was unable to walk properly to the bathroom, and was ‘shuffling her feet’ and ‘so discombobulated’, leaving him fearing she was having a stroke.
After returning to hospital, it was discovered that Vicki had sepsis and pneumonia.
The couple were told that her body was fighting the infection, causing the other symptoms.
‘It was scary for her, because she didn’t know where she was,’ he continued.
After taking steroids and antibiotics, Vicki is now at home recovering, but still suffering from memory loss.
‘There was just a litany of things that could have happened and gone wrong and it didn’t,’ Vicki added, tearing up.
She went on to say that a neurologist told her she had a 10-20% chance of survival because of the ‘deadly’ infection.
‘I’m sleeping enough, probably too much, because I can’t get the energy to walk right now,’ she continued.
She added she was ‘so grateful’ that so many things that could have happened, didn’t.
‘There’s still life ahead of me, things I need to be doing,’ she said, adding she now has some ‘trauma’ from it and ‘cries a lot’.
After a clip from the podcast was shared on social media, worried fans shared their well-wishes, with @debbyngene writing: ‘Septic is serous! So happy Vicki is better.’
@dawnh092 wrote: ‘So happy you are on the road to recovery, Vicki! How in the world did you get sepsis? If I lived closer, I would bring you a casserole. Prayers for your continued healing.’
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‘Glad you’re going to be okay! Sending prayers!!!’ @matt.garza83 added, as @booboobear1974 wrote: ‘Wishing you a full recovery as soon as possible @vickigunvalson. People don’t realise how potentially deadly sepsis is.’
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