53 Patients Who Defied Every Medical Odd, According To Doctors Mindaugas BalčiauskasSeptember 23, 2025 at 2:25 AM 0 We humans are full of contradictions. On one hand, we're fragile to the point of absurdity.
- - 53 Patients Who Defied Every Medical Odd, According To Doctors
Mindaugas BalčiauskasSeptember 23, 2025 at 2:25 AM
0
We humans are full of contradictions.
On one hand, we're fragile to the point of absurdity. We bruise from the slightest bump, catch colds that wipe us out for days, and stumble over nothing at all.
On the other, we can survive things that seem downright impossible. Proof of that came in a Reddit thread where doctors shared the most shocking cases they'd ever encountered—patients who endured so much that even professionals were left wondering how they were still alive. Keep reading for their most unforgettable stories.
#1
Patient st*bbed himself in the neck with a thermometer that pierced his trachea. Missed all the important arteries (carotids, vertebrals); just hit some minor nerves.Good guy patient provided his own temperature reads until they removed the thermometer.Aaronsaurus:It's amazing how humour can be present in unpleasant circumstances.aujthomas:You really need it, especially in the medical field. Stress and burnout are a really bad mix.
Image credits: gettheread
#2
Blood alcohol of .730.the_gift_of_g2j:...how is that even possible to live through? Like, he should've been d**d way previously to that.Asks_for_no_reason:LOTS of practice.Supa_Snipa:I rotated through a trauma ICU a few months back. Patient that was living off a vent had tried to self withdraw for a looming custody battle. Seizure, hit his head, permanently in the ICU with very little brain activity. Mother worked at the hospital, somehow warped it to be her fault. Sad situation. Get professional help people, no judgement from those people. They want to help you.
Image credits: Asks_for_no_reason
#3
Simply meeting someone who was 110 years old.WishIWereHere:Working as a phlebotomist, I've been slapped by a patient old enough to remember a good chunk of WWI. I wasn't even that mad, it was like getting hit by History.Anon: I used to do elder care and was constantly amazed at some of the tough badasses I took care of. Never as old as 110, but...Man - 99 - Once ate dinner with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Made sure to serve me ice cream as his wife of 73 years lay dying (I was caring for her, she was in a coma and on her last journey), because it was a warm afternoon and manners must be followed, regardless of circumstances. I tried to refuse, but...he's 99 with a dying wife. It was strawberry.Woman- 96 - Was in the Nursing Corps in the Navy/Marines in WW2. She married a Marine. She told me, "I always like 'em rough and ready!" Her lecherous grin spread its icy fingers into my soul, and I had to laugh.Woman - 101 - Tried to murder me with a clothes iron because dementia can change people into superheroes when they think the care aide is a stranger breaking into their house.Woman - 96 - An atheist Jew from New Jersey, with the accent to boot. WW2 Navy nurse. She would threaten spam callers with murder. Graphically. It was hilarious. She also had me pick up a package for her. Turns out, she gets her weed delivered. (Calif.)
Image credits: anon
#4
I have thought that after seeing some CT scans of lungs in severe COPD. It's like there is no normal lung tissue, just huge air pockets. It is hard to see how they exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide at all.Arsinoei:Currently nursing a 65 year old woman with severe COPD. Ventolin, corticosteroids & oxygen. Still smoking. Frightens the heck out of me. I threw my cigarettes away and hope my lungs can repair somewhat.A HUGE wake up call.blackday44:My grandma has COPD very bad, plus suspiscious spots on her lungs. She doesn't smoke but lives in am apartment full of smokers. Refuses oxygen due to pride. She can barely walk 10 steps, literally, before gasping for air. Scary.
Image credits: Medcait
#5
My dad's a doctor, so I asked him. When he was an intern in the ER, someone walked in the front door with a kitchen knife sticking out between his eyes to the handle. The knife went through his sinus cavity and ended with the tip in his throat, millimeters from his brain stem. He goes into surgery and walks out of the ICU the next day. My dad says he is the luckiest man he ever saw.PaganJessica:I like to imagine that, when this happened, he proceeded to beat the shit out of whoever st*bbed him (assuming he wasn't a wrongful aggressor.)Imagine the terror you'd feel if you st*bbed someone through the face (not in the face, but through the face) and they were still ambulatory.
Image credits: mac785
#6
Guy had an argument with his girlfriend, wanted to leave the apartment. Instead of taking the door, was real angry and jumped off the balcony, fell down 40 feet directly on his heels on cement.He ended up having an ankle sprain. I wondered how he managed previous issues in his life.g33kch1c:Holy s**t. That's insane.My dad fell a mere 15 feet and it killed him.40 feet with just a sprain? Damn.Edit: since people keep asking, my father died because he fell on his neck. Or that's what I was told, anyway.Svankensen:Yeah, its just out of this world luck. Check the 5 survivors from falling from planes. 4 of them were on the hospital for months. Of those, one had to get a limb reattached. The 5th one, Nicholas Alkemade, who jumped from a 6km height (4 miles), got a leg sprain. A f**king leg sprain.
Image credits: Elhehir
#7
Guy comes in with a bit of chest pain. tells me the big coronary artery on the front of the heart was 100% blocked. I tell him "who told you that?" he says his doctor did about 10 years ago. I don't believe him since patients never ever get any of the stuff their doctor tells them right. I let the cardiac surgeon know what this guy said and he too goes "haha 100%? so he's dead?"If the biggest coronary artery is totally occluded and for 10 years no less, you are a dead man. Lo and behold...we get an angiogram and it was f*****g 100% occluded. The artery on the back of the heart made a connection with the front of the heart to pick up the slack. It was some lucky s**t.Ambien0wl:I HAD THIS HAPPENStarted getting chest pains at 35 while mowing the lawn. Was alarmed, but with no family history I assumed it may have been the adhd meds I had recently started.Fast forward 4 months, I'm in for a med check. At the end of the checkup, I mentioned the chest pains and "it seems to be less bad than it was..."Dr sent me in for a stress test, failed it. Sent me in for a nuclear stress test, failed it. Cardiologist set me up for a cardiac cath, told me that if they find a blockage they'll put a stent in.Apparently my LAD was 100 percent blocked and "new paths were opening". I was just like..."so I have better cardiac blood flow than most people now?" and he just gave me a hopeless look.Been running 5 days a week for 8 months now...
Image credits: jackapple89
#8
I'm an ER nurse. Had a guy walk up to the front desk after hitting himself in the throat with a chainsaw.All the flesh of his neck was flayed open. I could see his trachea and his right jugular vein. If he had cut in just a tiny bit deeper, he would have sliced right into both. The only thing that saved him was that he was a big fat guy with a huge neck. A skinnier man would have d**d very unpleasantly.Anon: The unseen benefits of obesity.
Image credits: auraseer
#9
I used to work as a clerk in diagnostic imaging at a hospital, and we had a man come in for an x-ray complaining of chest pain. His records showed his last visit was two years prior when he got drunk and fell into a fish tank, breaking it. ER stitched him up and sent him home. Fast forward two years, and we are all gathered around the computer screen looking at an X-ray that showed a 12 inch long piece of fish tank glass sitting in his chest, with his aorta resting right on top of it (it was on an angle running from his left shoulder down towards his right hip). There were other shards of glass too, but this one was the biggest. Emergency surgery happened right away. Edit: to help clarify, this happened in Canada.BuzzKerOfFire:This is actually the reason plastic and ceramic shrapnel is banned in warfare. It's difficult to detect and remove, causing undue suffering, even by way standards.
Image credits: raybarks
#10
Had a patient come in confused and delirious because his kidneys were shutting down. He had multiple myeloma and a history of colon cancer plus a bunch of other things. He was jaundiced and needed to be shocked several times. The physicians, residents, and even the family thought he was going to d*e. The man insisted on full measures to keep him alive.He recovered in the span of five days. His kidneys improved, his delirium evaporated, and the man walked out of the ICU.Then there was the guy who had to be castrated but that's another story.Buhlakkke:I want to hear the castration tale.OP:Guy around 50 y/o had necrotizing fasciitis in his groin. He had genital warts, did not care for them, they got infected until he got septic. He came in and the surgeons had no choice but to completely castrate him along with removing a good part of the pannus there. The man was quite obese; maybe 5'9" but 350 lbs? I never saw him stand. He never spoke, never looked at the doctors, and barely ever moved. He had a lot of other problems happen later and I was surprised to see him still alive 6 months later. His quality of life had dramatically decreased. They had to cut away d**d tissue every 3 days or so. It wasn't pleasant.Buhlakkke:Ok maybe I didn't want to hear the castration tale...
Image credits: deliriousgoomba
#11
Not a doctor but... encountered a woman that was s**t blank in the head by her boyfriend. Bullet entered one of her eye sockets and exited above her and ear on the same side. She called 911 on her own and survived, was in ICU for weeks, and testified against the b*****d who is now thankfully in prison!willingisnotenough:Crazy how one person can get shot in the head and survive while another can trip on the sidewalk and hit their head in just the right way...surrounded_by_ghosts:My mom ran into a sign two years ago. She was jogging and turned to yell at my dad and hit the sign with her head.She'll never return to work. She can barely handle a half hour conversation. She can't go into stores or anywhere with loud noises or bright lights. Her entire life has changed.It's insane how something so tiny affects so much.
Image credits: grevans1429
#12
I live in an underdeveloped country, and a man had fallen of a tree trying to collect fruits, 9 years ago...He had discal hernia for 9 years and didn't even care to go see a doctor.Beecakeband:What's... What's a discal hernia?dosetoyevsky:You know how there's those discs of cartilage between your spine bones to keep them from rubbing each other? One of those slipped out of place and pinched a nerve between it and the bone.
Image credits: JakeFakeBreak
#13
I was in school to be a paramedic and I was doing my externship in an ER. A guy came in happily complaining about a sore on his belly that wouldn't heal. He was really pleasant and didn't seem to be in much pain. When he lifted his shirt, we could see his liver.telperiontree:Well, that sounds like bacteria and agonizing slow death.... did he die?OP:I don't think so. He definitely went up to surgery - still smiling!
Image credits: unicyclemaverick
#14
I was the patient. I drove myself to the hospital after having bacterial meningitis for 5 days. Had flu like symptoms Tuesday and got a bad headache Saturday evening. Drove myself to the hospital very early Monday morning. The doctors were absolutely amazed I was alive let alone checked myself into the ER.spank_my_taco:That is amazing. I did the same thing except with viral meningitis. Obviously my chances of survival were way higher than yours, but the ER docs were still amazed that I had the wherewithal to drive myself in. They weren't clear on the viral diagnosis until the CSF cultures failed to grow anything. Worst flipping pain I've ever been in.
Image credits: anon
#15
Also not a doctor, but my very elderly great-great uncle just had a sextuple heart bypass. Had four prior heart attacks. How he was still functioning somewhat normally before his last heart attack I honestly don't know.Anon:My dad too! No heart attack though. Started having angina then is immediately flown to a heart surgeon. The heart surgeon said he'd never seen anyone need so many bypasses but have no heart damage. This man though thinks he's dying from a paper cut still though.xanthraxoid:My grandpa had a heart attack in his 40s. Lived to be 91 while playing tennis frequently into his 90s. He just passed away about a month and a half ago.
Image credits: anon
#16
(Not a doctor) I met a guy the other night who got hit by a jet ski. It broke his femur, crushed his shoulder and split his head. He was floating in the ocean for a while and said that after 30 minutes when he finally got into the ambulance, they took one look at him and said he didn't have much of a chance of making it to even the hospital because of the blood loss. I'm happy to say that he's alive and well, and after several surgeries is walking!Anon:The paramedics shouldn't have said that. Their job is to be reassuring. Not to make false promises, but not to scare the s**t out of people.
Image credits: Hayseus
#17
Saw a guy with a machete lodged up into his skull. Asked him if he was ok (not sarcastically, just threw a generic question to check his ability to respond), he said "yup!".M0N5A:A man walks into the doctor's office with an axe lodged into his head."Hello, I've come for a stomach examination"The doctor, shocked, says:"But - But what about the axe!?""Yeah, actually, that bothers me quite a bit. Every time I sneeze I hit myself with the handle"
Image credits: madkeepz
#18
Not a doctor but 2 months ago my boyfriends brother (29 years old) was on a craigslist gig trimming a large tree, pretty high up, 30 feet to be exact. When he slipped and fell down feet pointed to the ground. The harness failed or he just thought he was invincible (typical of him) and didn't buckle in. He fell all that way only to be severely impaled by a broad metal fence post about as thick as a medium sized persons wrist. Did I mention the top of the post had barbed wire wrapped around it? It went in through his inner thigh, passed through his pelvis and nicked it. Punctured the main artery to one of his legs (they thought he was going to lose his leg if he even made it through) and nicked his lower intestine. The rod finally stopped just inside the lower rib cage. He Vlad the impalered himself and literally ripped himself a new a*****e. He was in one of the top trauma wards for 2 weeks. They day he was released was when they found out his pelvis was fractured. They said he wouldn't walk for 6 months and he would NEVER be the same. He would be crippled for life. He has spent the last 2 weeks doing his thing , without his wheelchair, Walker or cane playing Frisbee golf and fishing. Running around doing everything he used to. He is extremely lucky.Edit: Also I forgot to mention he was fully awake and conscious the entire time until first responders could come to him , about 10 or 15 minutes until firefighters could remove him. Post and all. The lady he was doing the gig for held him up with all her little might to keep the post from slipping further in. She probably saved his life the doc said.
Image credits: 23eulogy23
#19
Old guy comes in with his wife. She tells me "he passed out last week and I couldn't wake him up. After about two minutes he came around and he didn't want to go to the hospital so we booked an appointment to see you." I'm a little concerned by this, and his heart rate is a little slow so I send him for an EKG (heart rhythm tracing). I get a call about an hour later from the cardiologist reviewing the EKG calmly thanking me for sending him in because the wiring in his heart essentially wasn't working and he could drop d**d at any moment...again. Because the week before, he hadn't passed out - he'd d**d. Through some lucky miracle his heart started again. He's got a pacemaker now and he and his wife are doing just great.
Image credits: deecaf
#20
The guy who was hiking around his d**g rehab place who picked up a baby rattlesnake, which promptly bit him. When asked why he picked up a baby rattlesnake, he said (in a Russell Brand-type British accent), "It just looked so friendly.".
Image credits: enchantix
#21
Haemoglobin of 35 (3.5)! In a 35 year old guy with a chronic rectal bleed he refused to have looked into for months because he didn't want anyone lookin' at his b*m hole. Finally brought to the ER by ambulance when he fainted (aka "started dying") in a grocery store.
Image credits: LCranstonKnows
#22
About 20 years ago, I had a patient come in with obstruction of his colon by a large colon cancer. The cancer had spread to his liver, and CT scan showed the liver basically *replaced* by metastatic tumor. So he wouldn't d*e on intestinal obstruction (I won't go into detail, but trust me, it is a *very* unpleasant way to d*e) the patient, his family, and I decided to try placing an expandable metal stent through the tumor. It worked! His obstruction was relieved and he was able to go home to spend his last days with his family. 18 months later the patient came in for an office visit...*for heartburn.*. He was even more jaundiced than when I first met him, but he felt basically well and was eating well. The stent was still functioning. I never saw him again and assume he finally succumbed to his disease, but he got at least 18 months of precious and really GOOD time.
Image credits: OldEars
#23
A patient I took care of had a car fall on his face. He was underneath it working when it slid off of the jack. The only reason he survived was because he broke every bone in his face (he had a Lefort III) which allowed for his brain to swell (he also needed an additional surgery to relieve the pressure of cerebral edema, but the facial fractures did allow for a great deal of "give" in his skull). I was rotating through ICU so I first saw him just a day after the accident. His head was so swollen, he didn't even look human. Fast forward a few weeks later...I was rotating through a different unit in the hospital and came across the same patient. He was quickly recovering and had minimal neuro deficits. Edit: For patient privacy purposes, I cannot give the age of the patient or location of the accident. I'm also not disclosing how long ago this was for the same reason. (And of course I do not have photos!!)As for "minimal neuro deficits", I saw this patient very briefly a few weeks after the accident. At that time, he still had edema and was in the process of getting better every day. I used that wording considering the severity of his injuries. He still had progress to make, but was able to walk and talk, had no memory deficits (not including immediately after the accident and his time in ICU, of course). I did not follow his care all the way through to discharge, so I don't know what he was like then or in the months following the accident. I wouldn't be surprised if he went on to go to college and is living a normal life. He was a younger patient and younger brains tend to be more "plastic" in that they can recover from injuries better than someone who is older. Edit 2: A few people have asked why they don't break facial bones as a last-ditch effort to relieve brain swelling. They do break the skull, just not the facial bones. They can make small holes called burr holes, or if the swelling is really bad, they can temporarily remove entire pieces of skull (a craniotomy). Sometimes pieces of skull are stored in the abdomen to keep them alive so that they can put them back later.
Image credits: xGiaMariex
#24
Not a doctor, but been a paramedic 15 years. Had an 8 year old kid on a ripstick (similar to a skateboard) lose control and roll into the path of an oncoming SUV in his neighborhood. He was hit by then run over by it. We arrived to find him face down under the vehicle, unconscious, barely breathing. After all was said and done he had: bilateral femur fractures, one lower leg fracture, multiple rib fractures, a blown pupil, and open skull fracture, subdural brain bleed, a tension pneumo (air escaping lungs into the chest cavity- will squish the lungs and heart if untreated), and when we were bagging him (breathing for him) we felt subcutaneous emphysema (free air that crackles like rice crispies/bubble wrap) in his hip... yes- hip. We flew him to the children's hospital expecting him to d*e within the hour. He was in a coma for days and had to have multiple surgeries, but made a complete recovery (100% neurologically intact as well) and graduates high school in the spring. His was such an amazing case the hospital made him one of their "miracle kids of the year". Parents- please make your kids wear helmets. Even in the neighborhood. It wouldn't have prevented all of his injuries, but would have substantially lessened the brain trauma he suffered.
Image credits: firefightin
#25
Paramedic here, so many but two come to mind. Responded to a well being check (basically check on someone no one has heard from in a while). Get there and police advise the woman is d**d and appeared to be so for a while (middle of summer). Can smell her before getting close to house, put on protective gear and airpacks to move the body. She is rotting, maggots and flies, can see organs. We go to carefully move her into body bag and she opens her eyes and gasps. She was alive and rotting alive, we got her to the hospital alive and she lived for several days more.Second was a s*****e, s**tgun to the face. He held it under chin but it slipped and he blew off front of face except one eye. He was awake and tried to talk but obviously couldn't. We ended up sedating and entubating but he lived and walked out of hospital after tons of reconstructive surgery.
#26
After I had my first kid, I was very tired and felt like I had to literally force myself out of bed. I was freezing cold all the time and felt like I was walking through a fog. My doctor had me do some routine blood tests postpartum and I mentioned the symptoms. She said that I should go to therapy for post partum depression even though I didn't feel depressed. Then I get a call the day after the blood test. Doctor wanted me in ASAP. Apparently my TSH was over 200 (it's supposed to be 2 at the most). My body had cannibalized my thyroid and without proper function, it was wrecking serious havoc on my body. Her exact words were "how exactly are you functioning without a thyroid?"My reply?"Pure stubbornness and spite.".
#27
Not as doctor but I would probably fit onto one of their lists for this question. When I was 10 pain in my side brought me into the hospital (after a few other events). Turns out that I had 3.5 liters of fluid surrounding my right lung. I was breathing on one lung for a while. A few days later, after the doctors analyzed the fluid, they found cancer cells. I had lymphoma. During the treatment I managed to find a rare reaction that cause most of the top layer of my skin to die simultaneously called Toxic Epidermal Necrolisys (You shouldn't look if you have a weak stomach). This caused a lot of open sores and almost caused me to contract sepsis. After that I ended up with internal bleeding. It took the doctors about a week to find that actual site of the bleed. I probably had my blood supply replenished once or twice over that week. I used up 3 or 4 vials of a medicine called Novoseven which is a blood clotting agent used by soldiers in the field when they are bleeding out. After they found the source they put me into surgery asap. After that It was pretty smooth sailing other than the cancer but now I'm all done with chemo and cured.
#28
I have a mate who is a doctor in the major trauma section of the ED at Bundaberg Hospital (in North-Eastern Australia). He's got quite a few tales of trauma being in that part of Australia, but one of his best that springs to mind is when he had a guy drive his ute to the ambo entrance, walk himself into ED with one arm firmly holding his abdomen and proceed to demonstrate (by removal of his arm from his abdomen) that he had been disemboweled by a 6ft kangaroo.
Image credits: White_Noise_83
#29
Presented after crashing his truck in the hospital parking lot (he was there for a wound care appointment) when his legs suddenly went numb and limp. Found to have acute aortic occlusion and bilateral saddle pulmonary emboli. Survived an aortic bypass and is still alive.ORPresented with abdominal pain, walked into the ED with a pH of 6.9, lactate of 24 and acute renal failure from metformin toxicity. He got a dialysis catheter placed and some idiot left the wire in, nobody realized that, got dialyzed through the line and coded in dialysis. Resuscitated, they discovered the wire in his heart on the post-code chest x ray, transferred to us for removal of the wire in IR. Walked out 5 days later.ORWoman had lots of kids, had terrible placenta percreta and was told she would d*e if she had another kid. Didn't believe that so she decided to have another kid. Had to have a caesarean hysterectomy, during which she bled so much she got transfused >150 units and had to be transferred in the middle of the case from one OR to a different OR that had an angiography suite in it so they could try to embolize the bleeding vessels. Went to the ICU with an open abdomen and clamps still on her vessels. Had several more stages procedures to get hemostasis and eventually close her abdomen. So technically she was right about the whole not d**ng thing.
Image credits: anon
#30
Had a gentleman in his late 50s come in with multiple myeloma. Short history of progressively worsening breathlessness, turned out he had a pulmonary embolism (blood clot in his lungs). He was a good candidate for surgery, so he had the blood clot removed but unfortunately the clot had caused such bad issues with his heart (acute right heart failure) that he couldn't be weaned off the bypass machine. Instead, he went to ICU on ECMO (like a circuit for your heart and lungs outside the body to give your heart/lungs time to 'rest'). His chest was still open (cannulated centrally) but covered up with sterile stuff.After 3 days, he was booked to be weaned off the ECMO or at least have the tubes put in peripherally so his chest could be closed. Morning of the procedure while he's waiting to be moved, somehow the tubing of the ECMO machine broke (oxygenator tube) and blood spilled all over the floor and he went into cardiac arrest. The Cardiothoracics consultant had to do internal cardiac massage (basically CPR on the heart by squeezing it via his still open chest) until the circuit got fixed and he returned to a normal circulation. He ended up going to OT and having his chest closed but he had more clots pulled out of his pulmonary arteries (clots had recurred).At this point I thought this guy was utterly f****d. I figured if he even lived long enough to be woken up he'd have some degree of ischeamic brain injury. After about 2 weeks the guy left ICU and a week later went to rehabilitation. Speaking, walking, cognitively largely intact.It was one of the most unbelievable things I've ever seen during my short career.
Image credits: transientz
#31
Not a doctor but, a few years ago I was called into the hospital to go see my friend unexpectedly. Once there, the doctors told me my friend should be d**d if not in a coma. What had happened was, that day my town had a beer-fest on the Main Street, $20 all you could drink. We all partook but I was sober at the time so I just enjoyed watching my friends get ripped. Fast forward to later that afternoon where all my friends had moved on to a friends house but now hard alcohol was involved. I went home to by this point because I wasn't in the party mood. My good friend hit it hard though, he was GONE, three sheets to the wind, pissed off his a*s. He ended up taking another friends moto scooter out for a joyride. Ended up wrecking it pretty d**n hard on to his head. When I showed up at the hospital there were bloody rags everywhere! He was conscious and a big smile went across his s**t faced mug when I walked in. Then he tried to escape. Pulling IVs and wires off him but I stopped him. He blew a .35 a few hours after the accident (he was a pretty heavy drinker, tolerance saved him). Doctors told me they were in shock he wasn't in a coma or d**d. Needless to say it humbled him out pretty well.
#32
Not a doctor, but my dad was in a major dirtbiking accident a couple years ago, he broke his c2 and pretty much decapitated himself internally. His ER doctor said that the only break he's seen like it was on people in the morgue. No one could understand how he was alive. Anyways, by a complete miracle, he did live, and after months in a hospital, he's breathing, eating on his own, walking, and even driving and dirtbiking again. Completely a miracle, he's numb from the head down, but it is still incredible. His doctors told their friend doctors who told their doctor friends because of how crazy it all was.
Image credits: MooseandTristan
#33
Not a doctor :My grandfather had a heart attack . He went in for a simple stent in his heart. Hours go by and we hear code blue over the intercom. Doctor comes out to tell us his left ventricle has an inch and half tear in it. They had to transport him to another hospital ASAP. He d**d three times that night and went through 11 pints of blood. The surgeon successfully repaired the torn ventricle. They woke him up on my birthday and he sung me happy birthday. 3 weeks in Cardiac ICU my grandfather walked out. The surgeon told us for a man of 75 years to have lived through a left ventricle tear is unheard of. The doctor wrote a Journal on him as well. He's still alive today. He even got his hip replaced a year after .
#34
Not a doctor or anything,but my grandmother has had 7 strokes. I couldn't help but laugh at the 7th one, she said, "Aww s**t, I'm having another stroke". She said this during a phone call abruptly. She's a very tough lady, she runs a garden and eats her in vegetables.
#35
Blood glucose of 5, with a CD4 count of 0, and a hemoglobin of 3, bal of .6. This is what happens when HIV meets chronic/acute alcoholism with a GIB from a Mallory-Weiss tear. Edit: To clarify, that is a very low blood sugar level that causes coma/seizure, a CD4 count that low means his HIV was out of control and can likely be infected with pretty much any fungal/viral/bacterial thing anywhere in his body. Hemoglobin is your ability to carry oxygen, anything less than a 7 is considered a reason to give blood back. A blood alcohol level of .6 is very high, most people are brought to the hospital for a fear of d**th by friends at .35-.4. A gastrointestinal bleed caused by that type of tear is due to forceful vomiting for quite some time. It causes a tear in the esophagus that usually can't entirely heal on its own and a LOT of blood can be lost rapidly. If you aren't intoxicated to the point of d**th/coma you'll usually notice that your vomit looks like coffee grounds or straight up blood and seek medical attention. So this person likely is infected with everything, is very tolerant of alcohol, hasn't eaten anything substantial in a long time, and has no blood. It's amazing because any one of these will likely put you in the hospital for treatment. When combined you end up with something weird: The infections aren't really "felt" because you can't make an immune response, the alcohol stopped him from seizing in the acute hypoglycemic state, and his low blood sugar basically made him go into a coma and stop moving which likely prevented death from such a low hemoglobin as his oxygen demand was incredibly low.
#36
Not a doctor....but my best friends BIL during the superbowl this year was acting totally normal until about halfway through and started talking gibberish, walking into walls, taking all his clothes off, and generally being NOT himself. It took about 5 EMT's to even get him in the ambulance because he was fighting them all off, and he continued to do so until they took him to the local hospital where he was put into a medically induced coma and airlifted to 'The S**t Is Real Hospital'. Turns out he had bacterial meningitis and he had been acting like that because his brain was had gotten so swollen. Everyone was convinced he was going to d*e because of how severe it had gotten before he presented any symptoms. It took him weeks to recover, relearn how to talk, understand where he was, etc...but he did. He completely 100% recovered. Doctors think it was caused by a dog bite. Which I've never heard of...his wife and kids also tested negative thankfully.
#37
Not a health professional but once had to take a girl I knew to the ED - she had been prescribed psych medication that had caused her to have a psychotic break. She was hearing voices that were telling her they would k**l her boyfriend and family and the only way she could prevent this happening was by carving great hunks of flesh off herself. Her boyfriend couldn't get near her and eventually ended up tackling her with a blanket, hog tying her and putting her in the back of my car so I could drive them to the ED. I was six years younger than them, this was almost 18 years ago - I think he didn't call the emergency services because he was worried they wouldn't make it in time. She was absolutely covered in blood and shrieking in tongues and tried to attack the nursing staff when we got there. I was only 17 and utterly terrified. Thankfully, she got the help she needed and last I heard was living a productive healthy life.
#38
I was on a rotation in a rural place where I met a guy who had been out in the woods somewhere when he felt suddenly faint, sweaty with severe pain in his belly. He collapsed but somehow managed to crawl out toward the main road where he got the attention of a passing car that brought him to the hospital. He had an abdominal aortic aneurysm that had ruptured with all his blood pumping out into his belly and somehow survived till he got to a hospital and had emergency surgery. When I met him he had recovered and was nearly being discharged home. He showed me his scar telling me how he didn't know how he made it either except that he knew he wasn't going to if he didn't keep crawling. They were really made tough out there.
#39
(Not a doctor, but I'm a nurse and my story is good too.)I had a college student come into the unit on the night of their 19th birthday. They wanted to party, but had a test the next morning. One of their "friends" told them that if they took one adderall for every drink that they had, they'd be sober by the morning. They had 15 shots and 15 20mg adderall tablets. If you were wondering, no, that does not make you sober. It does, however, make you rip off all your clothes in a hallway, spit at the nurse that is trying to help you, s**t all over everything, and then literally f*****g d*e. Luckily for them, they weren't d**d for good. We got them back and they spent most of their sophomore year of college in a hospital, with a hole in their neck, learning how to walk again.
#40
Not a doctor but I work in cardiology, and my doctors all do rotations at our hospital. Our hospital is a level 5 trauma and it's the closest hospital to a lot of rural area, so a lot of traumas that happen way out in the middle of nowhere end up at that hospital.This guy came in having been in a car accident; he was covered in road rash and his chest was more or less torn open. Apparently, as we all later learned, he'd been drinking and riding passenger in his friend's car. He wanted out of the car, his friend said no, so this guy (once again, very drunk) decided to try and jump out of the car window. He somewhat succeeded, but his shirt caught on the side view mirror and he got dragged until the driver stopped flipping out enough to come to his senses and stop.
#41
My story is from a guy in the town I used to live in. Guy was working with an acetylene torch and passed out (unsure what precipitated it), falling down on it while it was still operating. Burned a huge hole in his abdomen, serious injuries.
#42
Paramedic, not doctor. Had a patient who used a circular saw that snapped and a fragment broke off and penetrated the side of his neck. Scan at hospital showed it came ridiculously close to a main artery.
#43
A young woman came into emergency complaining about abdominal pains.She looked to be about 5 months pregnant,the nurses got her into a gown and called me.Upon entering her room she was laying on her back,I asked if she would mind putting her feet in the stirrups on the table.Then I proceeded with the examination,using a bright light,saw what looked like a tiny piece of skin way up in her v****a.Getting a pair of forceps,I stood immediately in front of her spread legs and reached up to grasp the piece of skin.It wasn't a piece of skin as it turned out.Getting a firm grip I pulled and nothing happened,so I tried to get a better angle to pull from, now with both hands.The skin like flap started to move,then all of a sudden.A 5 month old tampon burst out of her along with this huge clot of rancid smelling blood.Having come directly from a meeting with the hospital's board of directors.My brand new dress pants and best dress shoes, did a great job of sopping up the brunt of the initial dam overflow.After throwing out all my clothing,showering and putting on hospital scrubs.I inquired as to how the young woman could confuse pregnancy with a lost tampon.Apparently she and her boyfriend would go out drinking alot, and always had s*x when she was on her period.He some how had convinced her she was pregnant,and they continued to have regular s*x.Unfortunately for this pair of individuals I was sorry to tell them,that my roster was full and could not take them on as new patients.
#44
Not a doctor, but a 3rd year med student. During my neurosurgery clerkship this year, a patient came into the ER after being hit by a car. While looking at the head and neck CT, one of the residents said "holy s**t y'all come look at this." The patient's dens of his C2 vertebra (axis) had jumped under and to the front of his C1 vertebra (atlas). Basically the guy was internally decapitated and any sudden neck movement could k**l him. Weird part is he had zero neurological deficits. No paralysis or loss of function. He should have been dead but lived with no lasting effects of the injury.
#45
Med student here. There are a couple1) 54 y.o m who developed mycotic aneurysms everywhere after a treatment with BCG vaccine for his bladder cancer. This included a 5 cm aneurysm of one of his coronaries. To put in perspective, a 5 cm aneurysm of your largest artery, the aorta, is BAD and will likely require intervention. Now imagine an artery that is wayyyy tinier. CT surgery wouldnt touch him. I left that rotation and he was still alive a couple of weeks later. Not sure of the end result. 2) 64 y.o m with severe septic shock (from severe cholecystitis + perf'd abcess), on ALL the pressors, failing kidney requiring bedside dialysis, failing heart. Circled the drain for about a week. Recovered enough to be taken out of ICU in about 2 weeks and sent home a couple of days after. 3) Someone with a pH of 7 walking around like nothing was wrong (your body hates anything below 7.4).
#46
Obligatory "not a doctor, but..", I have a 67 year old colleague who is a mechanic and has been at sea for all of his working life. I am convinced that he is biologically immortal, a bit like a human lobster. He smokes a pouch of tobacco a day, drinks like a fish, let's himself bake in the sun every chance he gets, refuses to eat ANY fruit or vegetables (with the exception of potatoes) , the bulk of his diet consists of processed junk food and cheese. His idea of a healthy meal is a cup of mashed potato, mixed with a 1:1 ratio of butter with a side of hot dogs. He spends most of his working time welding in the workshop with the extractor fans switched off, surrounded in nasty welding, burning and grinding fumes. The list goes on. How he has got to 67 and is still fit for work, let alone alive, it beyond me.
#47
IANAD, but I do work in an ICU. We had a patient who was in a motorcycle accident and slammed face first (no helmet) into a guard rail. His jaw was literally turn 90 degree. It was basically going vertically up the side of his face. His tounge was also ripped out by the root in the accident.
#48
Saw a 65 year old man who'd broken his femur falling off a roof he had been fixing, landing on a fence and basically snapping. He couldn't move and was rushed to hospital. Once he was stable I asked for his history: 1969, driving a motorcycle in a motorcycle - truck collision, broke back and hips1970, leg was destroyed by a machine gun in a riot in his home country, immobilised for 2 years and became infected 1980, involved as a passenger in two head on car accidents, within two months of each other, everyone else died in each event, he broke his hips and knees again both times 1997 fell off another roof and broke his back 2003 shooting a shotgun on a farm, it exploded in his hands and now can barely move his left hand 2010 workplace accident broke his back 2013 fell off a small cliff and broke his back 2017 his wife tells him to be sensible, then has current accident We're getting there with his rehab.
#49
Former paramedic here: metal fence post, like you see in backyards, through the chest. All the way through. A car crash put it there. He was alive when I got him to the trauma center, don't know if he left alive.
#50
Not a doctor but the patient and excuse the fact that I've told this story before.After a few days for getting trouble for "falling asleep" at a day program (despite not being tired at all) I fainted and was rushed to the ER. My blood pressure was 48/22, and I was found to be severely dehydrated. 2 liters of fluid were given in little over 2 hours, and my blood pressure didn't increase. Crash cart was brought into the room as my pulse rate decreased to 35-40 bpm. Another liter of fluid, no change. I'm in and out of consciousness and convinced I'm seeing my dead aunt. Doctors are talking about a transfer to a hospital in the city an hour away because they can't find a reason why this is happening or how to fix it. My mother wanted me at a different hospital in the area and signed me out against medical advice. On the way there, I asked for KFC, because my screwed up mind figured if I was going to d*e, I could eat fried chicken one last time. I get to the next hospital, they are checking me in... blood pressure is suddenly 70/50, heart rate 55, no signs of dehydration. They gave me another liter of fluids just to be sure and sent me on my way at 2 in the morning with no issues present.Tl;dr I had the blood pressure of a three month old child and a crash cart in my room, only to be miraculously cured by KFC.
#51
My Grandfather. At doctor's office with chest pains. Dr insists he goes to the ER for emergency surgery as he is having heart issues. My Grandfather refuses to be taken there, escapes, drives off, goes and visits his friend for 3 hours then heads to the hospital. Arteries so clogged they had no idea how he was alive, let alone able to drive. Then he gets a rare brain tumor in an advanced stage, doctors gives him 6 months, max, to live. It took him 4.5 years to finally pass away. Miss you Pop-pop.
#52
White blood count of >500, keep in mind normal values are from ~4-12. This was from progressed acute leukemia that should have been caught way before. This person also had multiple brain bleeds at the same time due to low platelets. How they recovered from that to go through chemo is still amazing to me.
#53
Not a doctor but said by a doctor to me: I have quite a few health issues and am currently undergoing tests to identify a heart problem, I have been in emergency probably 30 times this year already. So earlier in the year I started experiencing symptoms (essentially I "have a heart attack" and get all the associated stuff but when checked my heart shows no sign of damage, they don't know what's going on) anyways I went in one time, they check, everything looks normal, they unhook me and the doctor comes over to do a quick manual check before they send me home. In that time my heart jumped from 37 to nearly 300 (his words) doctor starts screaming for the nurse to get back in and hook me back up, they made me stay overnight and wouldn't let me get up to pee because they thought it would k**l me. Poor doctor left scratching his head as to how I was still alive the next morning. Fun times.
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