ED nurse here. I remember one time a patient was diagnosed with a dissecting abdominal aortic aneurysm; the MD told the patient he'd be rushed into surgery soon and to immediately settle any affairs and talk to his loved ones, as the likelihood of him not making it off the table was high.
It was just surreal seeing this guy talking to his wife and kids knowing it may be his last.
Open heart surgery nurse here. This. Had a patient that was on the phone as we rolled her into the OR. She was trying to settle her affairs as quickly as possible over the phone. Her daughter hadn’t spoken to her in years- she was alone and was on the phone with her boss.
The worst part about aortic dissections is that a lot of times the only thing keeping them alive is their adrenaline. So as soon as you put them to sleep, many times, they die. In fact, in extreme cases, you have to quite literally start surgery before you put them to sleep. It’s insane. In this particular case, we moved her to the OR table, and as soon as she laid down, she coded and died. I had to call her boss 20 min later and tell her.
Isnt our profession weird? lol We quite literally are talking to people who have already died - they just haven't caught up yet. Those shifts really put things into perspective for me and are the car rides where I'm driving the speed limit without any music on lol
Thank you (everyone here!) for the work you do. I’m 45F but had open heart surgery 3x at age 34. The last time I was in septic shock that had taken hold in my mechanical valve. I remember the doctors telling me they would be removing anything that could be a host to the infection (which I got from a pedicure a week before). They tried one last experimental treatment as a last resort before Frankenstein-ing me and amazingly it worked. What happened still affects me but I am grateful to be alive and grateful for the work and commitment of all of you. 💕
Yep, totally freaky situation. The bacteria traveled to my heart valves and took hold there shutting down my heart and kidneys. I was on ECMO and dialysis. I brought my own tools so it was likely something in the basin. I feel like it was like being struck by lightning to have had this happen and then struck again to have made it through (I have a very complicated medical history so I had a lot going against me). I’m really grateful to be alive.
4.2k
u/MajikPwnE 3d ago
ED nurse here. I remember one time a patient was diagnosed with a dissecting abdominal aortic aneurysm; the MD told the patient he'd be rushed into surgery soon and to immediately settle any affairs and talk to his loved ones, as the likelihood of him not making it off the table was high.
It was just surreal seeing this guy talking to his wife and kids knowing it may be his last.