Top voted Reddit Comments.
Pathologist here: Had a guy who had died suddenly and unexpectedly. I soon learned he was the recipient of a lung transplant about 15 years prior.
When I opened the man up, his transplanted lung was upside down. I flipped the lung into the proper position, and bloop. It flipped right back to upside down. That was quite alarming. The surgeons who originally performed the transplant incorrectly attached the organ. When he by chance entered the correct position, the lung flipped over, causing his pulmonary artery to seal shut, resulting in his death.
The man lived for 15 years with a lung that was dying to flip upside down. And it was only by sheer chance he didn't move in such a way that allowed it to do so until the fateful day of his death. It is one of the most fascinating cases I have ever witnessed.
A patient I took care of had a car fall on his face. He was underneath it working when it slid off of the jack. The only reason he survived was because he broke every bone in his face (he had a Lefort III) which allowed for his brain to swell (he also needed an additional surgery to relieve the pressure of cerebral edema, but the facial fractures did allow for a great deal of "give" in his skull). I was rotating through ICU so I first saw him just a day after the accident. His head was so swollen, he didn't even look human. Fast forward a few weeks later...I was rotating through a different unit in the hospital and came across the same patient. He was quickly recovering and had minimal neuro deficits.
Guy had an argument with his girlfriend, wanted to leave the apartment. Instead of taking the door, was real angry and jumped off the balcony, fell down 40 feet directly on his heels on cement.
He ended up having an ankle sprain. I wondered how he managed previous issues in his life.
About 20 years ago, I had a patient come in with obstruction of his colon by a large colon cancer. The cancer had spread to his liver, and CT scan showed the liver basically replaced by metastatic tumor. So he wouldn't die on intestinal obstruction (I won't go into detail, but trust me, it is a very unpleasant way to die) the patient, his family, and I decided to try placing an expandable metal stent through the tumor. It worked! His obstruction was relieved and he was able to go home to spend his last days with his family. 18 months later the patient came in for an office visit...for heartburn.. He was even more jaundiced than when I first met him, but he felt basically well and was eating well. The stent was still functioning. I never saw him again and assume he finally succumbed to his disease, but he got at least 18 months of precious and really GOOD time.
Patient stabbed himself in the neck with a thermometer that pierced his trachea. Missed all the important arteries (carotids, vertebrals); just hit some minor nerves.
Good guy patient provided his own temperature reads until they removed the thermometer.
4 comments:
Not sure if this story classifies, but my friends Don and his wife Betty wanted to fix me up with their new neighbor, Mary. So, sitting at the picnic table having some adult beverages with the 3 of them, I ask Mary what she did for a living, and the told me she worked for a gynecologist, and then proceeded to tell me stories about all of the objects that they had retrieved from the you know where. Evidently, there happens to be a lot of food articles removed, and after her telling those stories with the what the food stuff smelled like after stewing in the juices, I got up and left.
Lol Allen, I wouldn't want to be one of her objects either.
How in the world did Jerry Lee Lewis become the Last Man Standing?
My potassium bottomed out one time.
Acceptable low is 3.6. Mine was 2.3. Inconsistent with life, as they say.
Post a Comment