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?

Fascinating thread. And I wish I'd known about the gastroscopy - the literature made it sound as if they really didn't recommend sedation. A hideous experience.

in every way. Transplant surgery is major surgery, so e.g. in the case of a heart transplant, the chest is cut open, the patient is placed on bypass, the old heart is removed so to all intents and purposes the patient is dead. And then the new heart is stitched in, and as the heart lung machine is reduced the heart hopefully starts beating on its own. Except there’s a 10% chance of not coming through the surgery.

And post surgery with any kind of transplant surgery, the patient is on immunesuppressents for the rest of their life. Essentially, a transplant is not a cure, it is swapping one set of medical problems for another, but with the hope of a greater quality of life.

A better set of problems, with the promise of a better 🙏

It’s not that simple. They will avoid transplant surgery at all costs. Transplant is a last resort.

I need a heart transplant. Currently I’m stable enough not to be on that list but it’s a fine line, and the surgeon explained it to me like this. She said that while you’re living relatively normally it would be a bad idea to put you through a transplant which had a fairly high rate of you not surviving, plus the added issues afterwards, increased risk of cancer for instance, rejection, etc. It’s not plain sailing, and if they can avoid transplant, then they do.

My father was in hospital but not expected to die there. He had been delirious and having hallucinations but then, at afternoon visiting time, my daughter said she had to go because she was going on holiday in the morning. He suddenly seemed to come round and wished her a lovely holiday and said Goodbye. At evening visiting time he told me he wasn't getting better. I told him he was in the best place and they were doing their best etc. but he insisted he wasn't getting better. He said similar to my sister and then died unexpectedly that night. We all think he willed himself to die and it was certainly in line with his character to do that.

We were phoned in the morning but I have no idea if the window was opened. He was in a ward of 6 and not near the window.

It is tripe.

This brought tears to my eyes - thank you, thank you, thank you!

Interesting. I distinctly remember having gas for a tooth extraction as a child and, to this day, I can remember the conversation the dentist was having with the dental nurse - it was about her having just bought a car, it was a Wolsey (around 1965).

Exactly how much time and money do you think is wasted even if it is a superstition?

Indeed.
Nursing isn't medical. I'm surprised how many posters think opening a window falls under 'medical things you didn’t know'.

Lochia, the excessive shedding of blood/womb lining after birth, took me unaware, for some reason very few women seem to talk about it. It's quite heavy in the first days of breastfeeding. You need about four packs of towels in your hospital bag if there's a chance you stay in, the NHS were I was didn't give them out beyond a handful.

I think a lot of nurses would disagree that ‘nursing isn’t medical’.

And that some posters don’t get why inflicting your own superstitious beliefs about souls flying out of windows on someone dead is offensive to many.

@Moranguinho sorry I wasn't clear. When they take an organ donor to theatre there will be teams of people waiting from all over the country for individual organs

It is not a pleasant experience to watch

However I am still down to be a donor

I love this!

My poor DC had two baby molars out that were growing wonky and stopping adult teeth coming through. Dentist was practically sat on them leaning all her weight on shoulders and chest. Was brutal to watch. But DC insists they couldn’t feel anything! They’ve a pretty hardcore pain tolerance though.

Who would find opening a window offensive even if they didn't believe in the soul?

@bog Sorry to hear about your loved one and sorry about using the words I did - I wasn't intentionally trying to upset, I was being flippant as a sort of defence/distance because I'm kind of horrified that that is the process. Your loved one did a wonderful thing in donating.

Argh, tag fail! Trying to tag @Bogofftosomewherehot

Some one upthread mentioned some patients hanging on for loved ones. When my lovely Mil was dying I’m convinced she hung on for my dh to get there, he was 160 miles away when I got the call from the hospital, he was already at the heliport and walking to the car to come home, after he’d finished his two week stint offshore.
Mil was in a side ward and her face lit up when she heard his voice, she turned to us and gave us the most beautiful smile. She died about an hour later, the nurse who’d been coming in and out of the room was lovely, she opened the window said she’s at peace now. She let us have some time alone with MIL and then told us she needed to prepare Mil “I need to do some things for her”, she pointed to little family room where she’d made us tea and coffee with an assortment of biscuits and a cheese and ham sandwich for DH as knew he’d just finished work.
When she called us back in to the room, MIL had a new nightie on, her hair had been brushed, she’d been washed, her hands were on her chest and she looked serene, the syringe driver, IV, monitors all gone.
the blinds on the windows to the main ward were down and the curtains closed. That same nurse came to MIL’s funeral.

And I don't mean horrified in a bad way, mostly just shocked!

I can imagine the stress of it! I dream of a future with 3D printing machines for organs.

Well said! 🌈👏🏻

The cervix changes shape and dips into the top of the vagina during an orgasm. It's possibly why it's harder for women to orgasm so they do it after the man.

I am interested to know where this strange window opening ritual happens? Never heard of this in the hospitals I have worked in ,in England or Australia .

@Snowpaw yes I knew that but it was lovely that my mother got a letter after my father died explaining who benefitted from his organ donations, including his corneas. He was a doctor and it just felt right that even in death he was helping others.
My daughter and I have watched a lot of medical dramas (ER, Greys Anatomy, House, and now The Good Doctor) to the point she almost feels she has a medical degree! I hope they are accurate!
And watching West Wing when she was diagnosed with MS earlier this year made her feel better about it.
I didn't know that low blood pressure made you nauseous until just before my c- section - I really felt like I was going to throw up. And that they tilt you to the left to prevent aortocaval compression.

As a young nurse I was taught to do this by a qualified nurse. It is nothing to do with smell.