All it took was a piece of fermented swordfish the size of a quarter to land an Arizona woman in the hospital with a rare disease that left her paralyzed and gasping for breath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trinity Peterson-Mayes, 24, said in a telephone interview from her bed at a Phoenix rehab center that she’s on the mend after her bout with botulism and expects to be discharged as early as Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Obviously I can talk again,” she said with a chuckle. “And I can walk again. But I get tired very fast. I still can’t believe how fast, and how sick, I got from that tiny bite of fish.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Peterson-Mayes, who is a wedding planner, added that she survived childhood cancer twice and knows it will be a while before she can “do all the things I used to do before I got sick, like eat normally, like take long walks.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I’ve been down this road before,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Peterson-Mayes said that a friend of hers had fermented some swordfish and that she and a half-dozen friends sampled it in February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It wasn’t a dinner party,” she said. “We tried the swordfish because we are all very health conscious and we heard this was supposed to be good for your gut.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How did it taste?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Honestly, it was horrible,” she said. “It was so bad I figured it might give me a stomach ache. But I did not expect this. It was a piece the size of a quarter. That’s all it took to get so sick.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Peterson-Mayes said she tries to stay hydrated but a few days after sampling the swordfish, she found herself having difficulty swallowing water. And when she nearly choked on a cup of coffee, she headed to the hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The ER doctors at first couldn’t figure out what was wrong and talked about sending me home,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Peterson-Mayes said her body was already shutting down and she was diagnosed with botulism after she was transferred to the St. Joseph\u2019s Medical Center and Barrow Neurological Institute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBotulism is extremely rare, and most emergency physicians go their whole career without seeing a case,\u201d emergency physician Dr. Frank LoVecchio told NBC affiliate KPNX of Phoenix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On average, only about two dozen cases of food botulism are diagnosed per year in the United States, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt causes this paralysis of your muscles, and most important being, you know, your chest muscles, those that are responsible for breathing,” LoVecchio told the affiliate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Peterson-Mayes said that at one point, she lost the strength to breathe and lost consciousness. When she awakened, she was on a respirator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It was very scary,” she said. “I woke up and I couldn’t move at all. I wasn’t able to talk. I wasn’t able to walk.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Peterson-Mayes said the antitoxin was kicking in and she was starting to recover when she learned that two of her friends who had also tried the swordfish had contracted botulism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both of them were briefly hospitalized and are now recuperating at their homes, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, Peterson-Mayer’s mother started an online fundraiser to help cover the crushing medical care costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I’ll be getting outpatient therapy for while once they release me,” the wedding planner said. “I’m definitely feeling better, but I don’t know how long it will be before I’m back to normal.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also, Peterson-Mayor said, she’s making a big change in her diet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I mean, I love things like sushi, but I think it\u2019s going to a while before I eat fish again,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n