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Original poster

Medical things you didn’t know?

738 replies

Emptychairdoasolo · 04/07/2023 21:09

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?

OP posts:
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8
anythinginapinch · 06/07/2023 19:25

FelicityBeedle · 04/07/2023 23:25

Not a nurse but a healthcare, I was taught in my training to open the window, it’s not a superstition so much as a ritual.

For anyone interested, when someone dies (expected) this is what tends to happen in my hospital.
We’ll lay them flat in the bed, arms by their sides and a pillow under their head with the window open. We gently close their eyes and mouths with a bit of gentle pressure.
Family can visit in this time.
After half an hour or so (minimum) to let them settle we go to them, we remind them who we are and let them know what we’re going to do.
We get warm water and soap and give them a good wash, taking out any needles or catheters and some sorts of dressings, chatting all the way. We clean their teeth or dentures, and if they’ve got perfume give them a squirt of that
We dress them in the nicest of their own clothes they have with them, or a shroud if they don’t.
They then get put in something to be transferred to the mortuary, and before they go, pretty much everyone I’ve worked with has given their hand a last squeeze and said goodbye.

Oh that's so lovely thank you

CharityJane · 06/07/2023 19:30

MrsPelligrinoPetrichor · 06/07/2023 19:25

Nope, my arm is MUCH longer.

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No, that’s just you and your weird tiny feet 😉

I really wanted this to be true - mine and my family’s are all the same size as our inner arms. Obviously just coincidence!

JustBeKinder · 06/07/2023 19:37

titchy · 04/07/2023 21:39
You can't get heart cancer

Sadly, you most certainly can get cardiac cancers

Stravaig · 06/07/2023 19:46

CharityJane · 06/07/2023 19:08

I don’t think this counts as medical, but it’s a body-related thing. Your foot is the same size as the inside of your lower arm (from wrist to elbow). Someone told me this recently and I thought it was bonkers, but mine certainly is!

I read this looking at my arm thinking what bollocks, but I've just contorted myself to check, and sure enough, heel snugged in crook of arm and tip toes at wrist crease!

ThistleTits · 06/07/2023 19:57

Catchasingmewithspiders · 04/07/2023 21:13

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

Oh I have a terrible fear of eye ops because of this "lie". Had to have a GA for cataract surgery. Although, I was perfectly fine gtg eye lid surgery.

ThistleTits · 06/07/2023 19:58

Iloveanicegarden · 04/07/2023 21:10

That a lung condition can be indicated by eye inflammation

And a drooping eyelid.

Isaidnomorecrisps · 06/07/2023 20:15

@Trainsplanesandfeet yes thanks - I’ve done everything for the uti. Am with an excellent consultant. D-mannose has its place with certain types of bacteria (E. coli).
Mine is linked to oestrogen decline / menopause we have found.

The honey though is a blinder. Try it for thrush !

Emotionalsupportviper · 06/07/2023 20:27

Stressedmum1966 · 06/07/2023 18:53

That there are such things as parathyroid glands! Apparently they are tiny, we have 4 & they regulate calcium in the blood. Only knew they exist when I was told I had had 2 removed!

Although 4 is the usual number, there can (fairly commonly) be as few as 2 or as many as 6 - on very rare occasions they may be up to 9 (odd numbers occur) but this is very, very rare.

WibblyWobblyLane · 06/07/2023 20:30

When i had appendicitis, I didn't have any tummy or side pain at all. The only symptom I had was excruciating pain in my upper back between my shoulder blades. I've tried googling it and never found why that might be and only ever found reference to pain in the lower back.

Emotionalsupportviper · 06/07/2023 20:31

MrsPelligrinoPetrichor · 06/07/2023 19:25

Nope, my arm is MUCH longer.

Show quote history

My arm is, too, but I do have abnormally small feet (and hands).

Stressedmum1966 · 06/07/2023 20:38

neither my consultant or surgeon told me that E but they didn’t tell me lots of things! All I know until the remaining ones ramped up I was on some intravenous calcium which made me sick & wasn’t allowed to go home until they did!

TomorrowsPrincess · 06/07/2023 20:42

@notagain2020

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

I had a dentist literally straddle me to pull out a back molar..... (he was a lovely young man as well 😉) with the dental nurse behind me clamping my head still and straight.
Apparently I have good roots and he had a slight sweat on when the stubborn beggar finally came out!

Boysnana · 06/07/2023 20:42

Spidey66 · 04/07/2023 21:30

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.

Nope it's definitely to let the soul free... ask any nurse or Dr...

MrsPelligrinoPetrichor · 06/07/2023 20:48

Emotionalsupportviper · 06/07/2023 20:31

My arm is, too, but I do have abnormally small feet (and hands).

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I have size 7 feet so must have abnormally long fore arms 🤣

Incognito1975 · 06/07/2023 20:54

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.

when I was nursing I always opened a window. It was to allow your soul out. A tradition I was taught by a more experienced nurse.

Dragonfly97 · 06/07/2023 21:00

ComeTheFckOnBridget · 04/07/2023 23:23

Flowers

I come from a family of nurses, they have lots of little rituals that they carry out when someone dies. Opening the window to the the persons soul free is one, they'll also talk to the person who's passed. In care homes, when laying a person out they might place a flower in their hands...Nurses learn to read the signs when a person is going to die imminently and will keep a close eye, pop in as much as they can. In better times for the nhs, one would often sit with the person to keep them company until they'd gone.

Also - when they reach the end, many people seem to demonstrate an element of control over their passing. Its been commonly observed for decades (if not longer). While some people, even if comatose, seem to hang on until their loved one arrives to say goodbye, many others can only go when they're alone and will hang on until that brief window of time when they're by themselves. Even if that's just when their loved ones or the nurses have popped out of the room for a few minutes. It seems that they need to be alone in order to let go of this world.

I hope this brings you comfort, if you ask around you'll find so many people who work with those at end-of-life corroborate what I've said. X

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Yes, this resonates with me- my Mum was in a hospice and we were with her at the end; she was unconscious by then, we sat with her, talking to her, there was a brief window when we stepped out of the room so a nurse could make her comfortable, and Mum had passed away while we were out. I think maybe she wanted that space to herself to let go. Thank you for all you do ❤️

JudgeRudy · 06/07/2023 21:01

TomAllenWife · 04/07/2023 21:22

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

Children don't have knee caps? You sure. I distinctly remember falling and cutting my knee as a child and seeing my knee cap. I was about 12/13

Bluetrews25 · 06/07/2023 21:05

The lividity (blood collecting, looking like bruising) that develops when the remaining blood (even after embalming) drops to the lowest level of the body can still move after several weeks. The body we used (over two terms)for dissection had the lividity around her back when she was lying on her back. But when she was lying on her chest it collected on her front.
So don't stress about having to die lying on your back so that you look better!

Cancer chemotherapy is fairly specific to the type of cancer. So drugs that work against one type of cancer will not be effective against other types of cancer. When cancer spreads, it's still a bowel cancer (for example) but could be found in the liver or spine.

TTCournumberthree · 06/07/2023 21:22

C sections or trauma to the uterus can lead to a condition called placenta accreta spectrum. When growing a baby the placenta seeks out muscle to attached to, if it happens to attach near any scarring it can continue to grow into and (in my case) through the uterus in search of muscle and can even attach to nearby organs. In these circumstances the mother has to undergo radical C Hyst on delivery. Undiagnosed it can be fatal

SingleMamaG4 · 06/07/2023 21:22

When my nan was dying, she kept asking me if she was falling. I said “No, Nan you’re in bed. Safe and sound”
I played The Power Of Love to her by Jennifer Rush. It was her and my grandpas favourite song. But I always wondered why she felt she was falling.

Daffodilsandtuplips · 06/07/2023 21:24

JudgeRudy · 06/07/2023 21:01

Children don't have knee caps? You sure. I distinctly remember falling and cutting my knee as a child and seeing my knee cap. I was about 12/13

Show quote history

Children don’t have proper kneecaps until they reach the age of about 6. At 12/13 your knee caps would have been developed.

user1497561561 · 06/07/2023 21:46

My father died in my mother’s arm and she actually saw his spirit leave his body and fly through the window.

MrsPelligrinoPetrichor · 06/07/2023 21:47

user1497561561 · 06/07/2023 21:46

My father died in my mother’s arm and she actually saw his spirit leave his body and fly through the window.

What did it look like?

vipersnest1 · 06/07/2023 22:09

For people talking about the circumstances in which their loved ones can let go and die:
My DM insisted when my DDad was very ill (and it was certain that he would die) on going home for the night. (She couldn't deal with it and it was very traumatic for all of us, so please don't ask me for the circumstances.) We arrived to find he wasn't breathing and had no pulse (my sister is a nurse). He was so warm that he must have held on until he knew we were there. I still don't understand how, to this day.
On the other hand, my DM who died recently, knew she was dying and told me so, and I was able to get my siblings to come over from abroad. She chose to go at a time when we were all there, very quietly getting on with something (reading, just sitting and in my case making a kumihimo bracelet). Her breathing changed and then she was gone. It was very peaceful even if the lead up to it wasn't.
For the posters who are still debating the opening of windows, respectfully, please don't. It does seem to be something that is traditional rather than religion-based now, and is in no way intended to be disrespectful to the deceased person (and definitely has nothing to do with odour - a deceased person doesn't smell if they have recently passed away). In fact, it's the opposite - for those who believe in it, it's a way to release the soul, and for those who don't believe, it's just some fresh air. My sister did it for my mum - as a nurse, she's done it many times before and it's instinctive.

JudgeRudy · 06/07/2023 22:09

Thank you. I knew that was incorrect

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