Medical things you didn’t know?

[Emptychairdoasolo]

Just watching a medical drama and wondered what happens if you die on the operating table? Do they just sew you back up without repairing anything inside?

but also had me thinking what other medical things didn’t you know until you maybe experienced them or learned?

That a lung condition can be indicated by eye inflammation

When someone has squint surgery they do not take the eyeball out of the socket

No matter how many times someone tells you they remember it being taken out and hanging down on their cheek it didn't happen

Drives me mad this one. Although I guess this sits under medical thing I know not medical thing I don't know

That when you get a cannula put in they don't leave the needle in. Even though I knew this the last time though I was still too much of a scaredy cat to actually bend my arm much.

Oh I actually thought of one. They can use animals for surgery purposes. Pig valves on human heart surgery and fish scales for burns

That the ‘old’ kidney or kidneys aren’t usually removed when you have a kidney transplant. They’re left in your body unless there’s a medical reason to remove them

Scientists aren't sure how exactly paracetamol works. They have a general idea but aren't sure of the exact mechanism.

Oh lots

At post-mortem they put all the organs in a clinic bag in your abdomen and sew you back up

Donor transplant is brutal but amazing

Children don't have knee caps

When you die most nurses will open a window to allow your soul out

OMG last time I said “it doesn’t feel very comfortable” and the nurse said “oh don’t worry, that’s just the tubing for the needle, we don’t leave the needle in. THIS is the needle!” and waved it triumphantly in my face 😫.

I had no idea about the fish scales!
if that happens to me, i am 100% telling my children it’s because there is some mermaid in their ancestry.

When you die most nurses will open a window to allow your soul out

I doubt that's the reason. I think it's more likely to prevent any smell.

That babies have no proper foot bones. They slowly ossify throughout childhood.

Recently deceased bodies don't smell any worse than they did just before they died.

I've carried out last offices for many patients over the years. We were definitely opening the window to let the soul out. Superstition I suppose.

It's endless, actually, the interesting stuff.
I have a relative who was declared dead while their heart was still beating. How weird is that? What a strong heart. Their pulse was long stopped by then and consciousness longer still gone.

When you die your blood pools to the side you die in so that part of the body looks darker . Die on your back to keep it away from your face !
It's called liver mortis.

Deaths actually on the operating table are very rare - I can count mine on one hand in 10 years of anaesthetics. More common (but still rare overall!) to get through the operation but die a few days/weeks later on ICU. But yes, they would not complete the operation - just close the wound. They may have to leave all lines etc in place in case a post-mortem is required.

As a nurse I can confirm this is the reason. It just seems respectful we are very humbled when dealing with death. It may seem silly but it feels right.
People don't really tend to smell when they die.

I think that is very similar to the 'dentist kneeling on my chest' to take a tooth out. A type of urban myth.

You can't get heart cancer.

No, it’s to let the soul out.
And I always put a flower on the dead patients chest before we wrapped them up for the morgue.

As a nurse i concur with opening the window to let the soul out - challenging in a department with no windows!

You can't be declared dead until the heart stops beating. The attending doctor has to listen for heart sounds for one minute and cannot declare death until this is absent.

Your cervix moves up and down between periods.

Yep but thankfully death on the table is so so rare

Yes you can. Haemangiosarcoma and lymphoma are both cancers that can occur in the heart.