Surgeons, what was your "this just got even worse" moment?

When i heard that the drive by woman survived to make an almost full recovery i felt like cheering. I know enough about medicine to be able to visulize what they were doing as stated in the story, and good god its bad. The measures they took were the extreme of extreme to say the least. The fact that she not only survived, but RECOVERED is genuinly nothing short of a miracle. That woman has INSANE will to live, and i couldn't be happier that shes doing well. I don't even know her, and yet her and the medical team impressed the hell out of me.

I can't imagine sneezing and instantly going blind. This video is just a list of reasons why I could NEVER go into a medical-related field.

That first story. Glad the kids and mother came out fine.

That drive-by woman is so strong. The will to live is an incredible thing, saved this woman’s life, in fact.

I have some serious respect for medical professionals. Even more after hearing these stories. Therapy should definitely be provided as part of the job.

First story out the gate hit home so, so hard. I had a similar story. 37 weeks pregnant, had been complaining of it being hard to breathe for a month. Was told I was 9 months pregnant and I’d feel better after baby dropped. Two days before his birth, I was in ER due to almost passing out at the grocery store. The day of, my O2 was 86 and HR was 159 when we i waddled my way into the ER. They didn’t even make me check in, just immediately rushed me back to triage. Turns out, my lungs were absolutely FULL of blood clots. We went from “we’re delivering by c section in the morning” to “we are going N O W” in the span of 10 mins. A minute after my son’s delivery, I threw a clot, had a saddle pulmonary embolism and coded on the table. My OB was sewing up my uterus while they were doing chest compressions and intubating me. I coded twice more and ended up on a vent and ECMO (last stage life support) for four days, with my mother and husband being told I wouldn’t live the night. Baby was rushed off to NICU due to being stunned, as he had been surviving off low oxygen for a month. I have no memory of my son’s birth whatsoever. I walked out of the hospital 8 days after the incident. Due to a Covid misdiagnosis (what they believed I had initially before the clots were discovered), I wasn’t allowed anywhere near my baby the entire 20 days he was in NICU. I thank God every single day I had the medical team I did. If things had even slightly been delayed, it probably would have killed both of us. My son is healthy and has zero complications from the event, and I’m now banned from any further pregnancies. Super, super lucky to be alive.

My wife is an ICU nurse. She calls me nearly every morning after she gets off from her shift. It gives her a chance to decompress, so I'll listen no matter how much I'm screaming inside my head. It's amazing what we can do in the way of interventions. Especially at a large, incredibly well-funded university hospital. I have two takeaways from all of I've heard from her and other medical professionals over the years. Make your final wishes known. Clearly so. And document it. Sometimes health systems allow you to have them on file. It takes away the judgement calls that loved ones would otherwise have to make in a highly stressful and likely emotional moment where they might not be able to think objectively, or if they make that call and you die, they'll carry that with them. Get it notarized as well. And no, a tattoo on your chest with DNR is not legally binding. Life saving procedures will still be attempted. The other thing I can't stress enough is for those of us who aren't the one on the hospital bed. Know when it's time to accept reality and let your loved one go as peacefully as possible. Personally, I think doing compressions on a 90+ year old person borders on cruelty. Yet families want it done, and medical professionals are obligated to in most situations regardless of how pointless it is. It's nothing like TV or movies. Even for young people. It's a violent process, cartridge breaks, and people are slow to heal. They don't just pop up awake, say thanks and go about their day like they often do in TV or movies. Always ask yourself - are you instructing the medical staff to do "everything they can" for the sake of your loved one or yourself? At some point you aren't instructing people to do something for your loved one. You are instructing them to do things to your loved one. There's living and then there's existing. The latter is something I hope I never end up being in that position. As much as it pains me to think of my parents passing, I know what they want their quality of life to be. They've been very clear on that. My wife, having been a nurse for so long has also been very clear about what is or isn't acceptable for her if something comes up and I'm left having to make decisions. Luckily most of her friends are either nurses, doctors, NPs or PAs. As such, if something happens, I can contact them and go over the details as they'll be straight with me about the likelihood of possible outcomes. Be optimistic, but also be pragmatic.

My grandfather was legally blind, due to diabetes, had Lasik and went back to nearly perfect eyesight. Less than 3 yrs. later he was truly, completely blind. Diabetes is a horrible, devastating disease.

That first story is exactly how someone would do a first ISBAR handover in the moment to deliver the points of the presentation RAPIDLY QUICK. I have no doubt that that happened, and I’m glad everyone got out of it okay despite the way it all spiralled.

As an obgyn myself, i got chills during the first story; i've had cases almost as bad, congrats on the teamwork, it saved mom and the babies

I lived the first story except I had delivered my 33 week twins after a week ofIV fluids & couldn’t breathe. Everyone told me to just calm down until I said it felt like there was an elephant on my chest. When I say everyone came running, I mean EVERYONE. At my chest CT, the Radiology Resident said my lungs were unremarkable. My husband was a Radiologist but did not have privileges at that hospital. He was allowed to review my results and told them, “She’s in heart failure” without him there I could have died. I had an “Amniotic Fluid Splash”which has a low survival rate. Thankfully we are all fine!

My heart sank when the pt went into DIC. I just knew she was not gonna make it, then BAM. Full on badass.

That optometrist really said "we won't talk about the socioeconomic factors" aka "nevermind the fact that she literally did not have the money for this surgery just think of this patient as remarkably stupid."

Wife is an emt. She had a call a few years ago that I think will fit here. Tones drop, man collapsed at the football game while walking down the bleachers. A minute later, tones go off again. Man is unresponsive and not breathing, cpr in progress. They book it to the highschool field. What still haunts my wife, was the man's wife yelling 'you have to save him'. Wife said that she didn't sound human. But the man and his wife was watching their kid play football. The guy was walking down the bleachers, got to the bottom and had a massive heart attack. He was dead before he hit the ground

Her breathing getting heavier. Arms are heavy. Cholesterol on rise already, twins are ready.

Story 2 sounds like the young man had Vascular Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome.

Scary fact, but it's possible that the 23 year old guy who had the aortic dissection had cardiovascular Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. It's basically a disorder of the body's collagen which results in stuff like hypermobility, stretchy skin, easy bruising and the like. Except, for the cardiovascular version, it comes with the risk of sudden, otherwise unexplained aortic dissections. So, if you get diagnosed, you have the threat of essentially having your heart explode at any minute, and you can't do anything to treat it, because it's a genetic disorder. There are multiple types of Ehlers-Danlos, so, luckily, this is one of the types that you can get genetically tested for.

NICU = Neonatal intensive care unit, it can be pronounced "Nick-U"

As a hypochondriac and super anxiety haver, these stories have me Googling and freaking tf out! Cannot imagine dying from eye drops!

I'm not associated with any part of the medical field (I don't think I have the memory needed), but I am a weirdo who has spent many hours just learning about medicine in his free time. That first story sent shivers down my spine in just the first minute! Not only exquisite writing on the author's behalf, but also hearing a few of the symptoms leading up to the emergency; it was a deep unsettling fear in the pit of the stomach. The procedures done, the codes called, the sheer pandemonium that must have been the operator lines; it all just reinforces my awe and respect those who work in the medical field!