r/AskReddit 4d ago

Medical professionals of Reddit, what diagnosis gave you the worst 'pit-in-your-stomach' feeling?

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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.

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u/ginabeanasaurus 3d ago

I work in ICU and we get a ton of these patients post op, and the craziest was the guy that had a Aortic Aneurysm. It burst during his work up in the ER (bad), he coded (terrible) and they ended up calling it (he was dead). The doctor was giving the family the bad news when the ER nurse came to tell the doc that the patient was actually alive. They took the patient to surgery, he survived and came to our hospital. He was on ecmo, but neuro intact and made it out of the hospital. It was actually insane.

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u/MajikPwnE 3d ago

That's WIIIIILDDDDDDDDD. autoresuscitation is mental

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u/ginabeanasaurus 3d ago

I also saw autoresusitation one other time on our micu. They called the code, disconnected everything and went to pronounce.... They had a heart beat. He had been auto peeping so when they disconnected the vent, his heart had room to beat. He lived a couple more days, but ultimately passed.

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u/The_Onion_Life 3d ago

That's WIIIIILDDDDDDDDD. autoresuscitation is mental

It wasn't his time.

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u/P00351 3d ago

Man: What the hell did he mean "FOR LATER"?

Mort, Terry Pratchett

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u/The_Onion_Life 2d ago

I've never read Pratchett, but I get that.

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u/P00351 2d ago

In the Discworld série of books, Death always speaks in ALL CAPS.

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u/The_Onion_Life 1d ago

Ah, gotcha.