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Vicki Gunvalson Beat “Deadly” Infection That She Had A 10-20% Chance Of Surviving

Aug 26, 2024 By Ashley B What do you think?

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vicki gunvalson health scare rhoc

Vicki Gunvalson got emotional discussing her recent health scare which she described as potentially “deadly.” During an episode of My Friend, My Soulmate, My Podcast, Vicki detailed what happened with her boyfriend, Michael Smith, and her co-host, Christian Gray Snow.

Vicki’s health scare:

The Real Housewives of Orange County star began, “There’s a lot of hours missing in my life because I got, like, amnesia.” True to form, it happened while at the office. “There seems to be about an hour or two that I was missing and I don’t know where I was. So I got to the office … I had a client coming in and she said I was talking gibberish and I wrote an email out and the email didn’t make sense.”

Luckily for The OG of the OC, her client was a “retired ER physician.” Vicki explained, “He got up and told [Michael’s daughter] Olivia that I was possibly having a stroke, we didn’t know. I don’t remember anything and [Olivia] took me to the hospital.”  

While the RHOC legend doesn’t “recall much,” she said she was misdiagnosed with a sinus infection before being discharged that night.

Michael gave insight into Vicki’s condition:

Vicki’s boyfriend confirmed she did have a sinus infection a few weeks prior that felt “different” than usual. “It lasted a little longer and she was really not feeling that well.”

The reality star took antibiotics and “was doing better” before heading on a trip to Europe. “Everything was OK” … until it wasn’t.  

Vicki “was lethargic and she really didn’t understand where she was.” Michael noted that the doctors “kind of ran with” the sinus infection diagnosis after hearing Vicki’s recent diagnosis.

Details of how Vicki’s health scare went down:

Michel got home to a passed out Vicki in a bubble bath. “I walk in and she’s pretty much passed out.” After describing this as “one of the scariest” moments, he described how he helped his girlfriend. “I grabbed her, pulled her out of the water, put her in bed. The doctor said she just needed to sleep, so I put her in bed and she slept literally 13, 14 hour straight.”

Since the Bravo TV star woke up disoriented, Michael worried she had a stroke. He brought her to the hospital and she was quickly put into an exam room. “She had a massive infection. It was actually sepsis, but it was pneumonia.”

“And what happened — and I’m no doctor, but when they explained it — is that when your body is fighting that big of an infection and that dangerous of an infection, your whole body attacks it, which affects the brain and everything else in your body because your body sends everything it has to fight it.”

The aftermath:

Recovering has been “a long process,” and Vicki has taken “everything under the sun” to get better. It was dangerous,” he said. “I mean, I’m just trying not the play into it, but it was scary.”

Vicki thanked her “guardian angels,” saying that she “would have probably died” if she had been alone. “I don’t remember much, and that’s the trauma of the brain,” Vicki explained. “It’s very similar to a stroke or PTSD where the brain kind of just goes into quiet mode. … There was just a litany of things that could have happened and gone wrong and it didn’t.”

The Coto Insurance Founder and CEO confirmed her diagnosis and recovery rate. “I wanted to be sure I was understanding everything correctly. … I said, ‘Did I hear this right, that I had a 10 to 20 percent [chance of] survival?’ And the lady said on the phone — she’s been calling me every day — she said, ‘Yes, the sepsis that went to your body is deadly and you survived it.’”

The “trauma” from Vicki’s experience has taken a toll on her. “I cry a lot. And Michael keeps saying, ‘Why do you keep crying?’ I don’t have an answer. I mean, rewind a week ago, we were in Barcelona walking 16 [to] 20,000 steps and we were having the time of our life. Three days later,” I’m in the hospital.”

Michael assured Vicki’s fans she is “doing better” thanks to her friends and loved ones. “She will be fine; She’s coming out of it.”

Does anyone else feel compelled to send a casserole over to Vicki? Is it possible Vicki is literally working herself to death? Drop your thoughts (and your well wishes for Vicki) below.

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Bravo TV Real Housewives Bravo TV Buzz Christian Gray Snow Coto Insurance Michael Smith Real Housewives of Orange County RHOC Vicki Gunvalson

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