Miraculous recoveries aren't just for the movies!
Doctors are used to seeing patients in bad conditions, and tirelessly work to turn around even the bleakest of diagnosis.
However, some patients manage to survive against all odds, shocking even the most seasoned of medical professionals.
Redditor u/samthekitnix threw HIPAA laws out of the window, and asked doctors to share their 'How Are You Alive? We Need To Treat You STAT' stories.
10. Just reading this makes me breathless
"When I was in med school we were shown a patient who had both lungs fully collapsed, yet he came into the hospital all by himself and was only complaining about it being slightly difficult to breathe."
9. Syrup for blood sounds like it would be painful
"As a med student, I saw an asymptomatic diabetic patient with a blood glucose level so high our portable glucometers couldn't quantify it. When I did a blood draw (students do procedures here), I noticed that the plasma looked pretty syrup-y. Hyperglycemic hyperosmolar state is a very dangerous condition that usually leads to mental obtundation and neurologic deficits yet this guy was sitting and chatting with everyone who came to monitor him, without so much as a headache."
8. This lucky fisherman
My father is a doctor , we live in a coastal area , and fishing is pretty common . Not just fish , fishing for whales and stuff . I am unsure of the details , but a man came with a spear passing through the back of his neck . He came out safe after hours in the ER . It went on the local newspaper.
7. The average is around 120/80, by the way...
Giphy
"I was on rounds in the outpatient clinic with our internal medicine doctor. A patients walks in and complains of blurred vision. Routinely one of us, the students, would get up and check the blood pressure manually for practice. It was my turn. Mind you this is the first time I practice on real person that's not one of my friends.
I confidently wrap her arm and place my stethoscope and start pumping. I hear the first throb on the reading too fast.. I pause .. and start again. Again, the first throb comes too fast and I check the reading again. I slowly lock eyes with our doctor. She finishes explaining something to our round group and makes eye contact with me, 'So? What's her bp?'. I pull down my stethoscope and slowly pass it to her, 'Ummm..not sure..but I THINK you should check it out yourself' Her face went pale, it was 240/120."
6. ... And a normal blood sodium level is between 135 and 145
"Doctor here. Alcoholic dude brought by EMS after being 'found down', which is doctor speak for anyone who is unconscious. Homie had a serum sodium of 104! Basically that should have killed a regular person but this dude slowly diluted his body's solute over years to finally get a sodium that low. Dude spent a week intubated in the ICU and then another week on the floor. Homeboy walked out of the hospital after 2 weeks"
5. Medics see a lot of insanity out there
"Medic here. Had a dude wrap his car around a tree, split it in two, and the front half rolled down a 20ft cliff and landed in a tree. Broke his pelvis and an arm. What saved him was him being drunk as a skunk. Also scared us because he was borderline unconscious"
4. This patient should buy a lotto ticket
"We had someone with three pieces of rebar in his chest and it missed everything vital. It was fascinating and utterly frightening to work on"
3. Glad to here that this new mom survived
"We had a lady come to the ER with a couple days of headache and blurry vision. We saw this on MRI.
About two weeks prior, she had an epidural while giving birth. She ended up having a CSF (Cerebrospinal Fluid) leak. The pressure in her central nervous system was so low that she developed bilateral subdural hematomas, compressing on her brain from both sides. She went to the OR and had Burr holes placed on both sides. She made a full recovery."
2. This patient was tougher than most
"Not in the medical field anymore but I met a guy in clinic with a hemoglobin of 3 and a hematocrit of 12. He walked in on his own power, was talking, seemed totally normal except he was tired and we couldn't find blood pressure. Then the labs came back and it was like "hahaha GO TO THE ER RIGHT NOW YOU NEED A TRANSFUSION"
We also couldn't figure out how his blood levels got so low"
1. Is this a horror movie?
Giphy
"Guy with diabetic neuropathy so bad in his feet they were starting to rot/obtain gangrene. His cat started eating his toes and he didn't realize bc he has no feeling"
In fact, some mistakes are so astronomical that they're remembered for decades afterwards, leaving the one who made the mistake a legacy of being a dumba**. Here are a few of them!!!
U/ronjans24 asked: What was the biggest mistake in human history?
Some may argue that the existence of the Universe was a mistake. I disagree. It was clearly Zayn leaving One Direction. But these next few were pretty bad too.
If you do the math, this is also the reason why Hentai exists.
I'll say the wrong turn Franz Ferdinand's driver made that went right in front of Gavrilo Princip.
EDIT: yes I'm aware war may still have broken out even if Franz Ferdinand wasn't assassinated
Imagine you're Gavrilo Princip. The assassination plot you and your friends had been cooking up for about the last year or so has been a complete and total disaster, just a monumental f*ck-up of the highest degree. You're staked out at this deli thinking maybe, just maybe the car will pass by, and by some stroke of sheer luck, it does.
If you're Princip, this is nothing short of serendipity.
Petition to return to the ocean.
Ocean Surf GIFGiphy"Many were increasingly of the opinion that they'd all made a big mistake in coming down from the trees in the first place. And some said that even the trees had been a bad move, and that no one should ever have left the oceans."
"In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move." - Douglas Adams
This was, in fact, a monumental mistake.
Sears not beating Amazon to the punch.
Blockbuster not buying Netflix.
You thought THOSE were bad? Well gear up for their next few, because they are 100% accurate. Except the one about Cats, that movie slaps.
I don’t know sports, but sure.
Seahawks not running it.
I used to wear a Seahawks jersey whenever I took a test because I knew I would pass when I shouldn't.
CATS is great, y'all are just boring.
GiphyThe Emoji Movie.
That live action movie about Cats is also up there.
Very fair point.
Social Media.
Humans are not wired to have that many social interactions and maintain that many relationships. Plus the echochambers it allows people to create for themselves, no matter how conspiratorial or vile their beliefs, means that stupid/evil people are no longer shunned into changing their mind.
Not sure it was worth being able to see what a celebrity had for lunch or what new "dance" your younger cousin and her tween friends are doing.
But in all seriousness, some horrible things may now have happened if the right thing was halted at the right time.
Washington called it.
George Washington Disney GIF by Hamilton: An American MusicalGiphyVoting for people based on what side of the political spectrum they're on. George Washington himself advised against political parties because he thought they would cause too much division in this country. Unfortunately for everyone, he was right.
Big oops on that one.
Barack Obama mocking Donald Trump at the Correspondents Dinner might have led directly to his 2016 run....
"Now, I know that he's taken some flak lately, but no one is happier, no one is prouder to put this birth certificate matter to rest than The Donald," Obama said. "And that's because he can finally get back to focusing on the issues that matter — like, did we fake the moon landing? What really happened in Roswell? And where are Biggie and Tupac?"
Then he turned serious: "But all kidding aside, obviously, we all know about your credentials and breadth of experience. For example — no, seriously, just recently, in an episode of 'Celebrity Apprentice' — at the steakhouse, the men's cooking team did not impress the judges from Omaha Steaks. And there was a lot of blame to go around. But you, Mr. Trump, recognized that the real problem was a lack of leadership. And so ultimately, you didn't blame Lil Jon or Meatloaf. You fired Gary Busey. And these are the kind of decisions that would keep me up at night. Well handled, sir. Well handled."
This is the best Star Wars and no one can change my mind.
I'll take 'Star Wars Christmas Special' for $100.
That atrocious pile of manure gave us Boba Fett, so without the Christmas Special there won't be The Mandalorian.
Wow, in this article, I openly admitted my love for Cats AND The Star Wars Holiday Special. So maybe my existence was the biggest mistake of all.
ANYWAY, I hope you enjoyed, and I hope you all feel a little bit better about yourself. Because when push comes to shove, at least you didn't accidentally start World War I