Coolest/Weirdest/Most Disgusting Shadowing experiences - you know you have 'em!

[DarkFark]

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I've got some stuff, besides your run of the mill MGSWs, stabs, and MVCs (complete with chest cracks!) I've got a few from the highlight reel of my ongoing volunteer experience at Shock Trauma.

- A middle aged man with his throat slit from ear to ear, inside of his neck completely exposed- and survived. One tough bastard.

-Elderly woman, car crash with the following broken bones: 2x femur, 2x tib/fib, 1x humurus, 2x forearm, 2x wrist, etc- 13 total. On my first night, too.

-Roughly 60 year old woman hit by a cement truck. That didn't end well.

- Person shot 10 times, mostly to the back but a couple to the head, chest cracked, and survived.

Theres alot more than that but it would get repetitive to list more. Suffice it to say, I've seen alot of stuff there, and probably grown a bit desensitized, but I wouldnt trade it for nuthin.

 

[MrDreamWeaver]

I've seen some pretty amazing things at the local E.R. There is one thing that stands out in particular, however.

I was waiting in the Trauma Room for the man's arrival, "this one looks pretty juicy" said the nurse. I was excited, I've seen some pretty gruesome things, but nothing very "disturbing."

In come the paramedics with a man who fell asleep at the wheel, causing his car to collide with the center barricade. Car accidents can be fatal, but what happens when limbs are out of the car during the accident? In this case, the man fell asleep with his LEFT ARM outside the window, which directly nailed the barricade. His ribs punctured his lungs which called for a chest tube. If the doctor cutting away at his flesh to enter the lung wasn't disgusting enough, the following was.

"Is his arm bleeding badly?" said the Trauma surgeon. The nurse, who was cradling his arm, took off whatever was wrapped around it and turned the arm 90 degrees to the man's body. I glanced over and couldn't believe what I saw. Blood quickly rushed to my head and I felt nauseous. His arm was cut in half and hanging by the bone. Just imagine how an arm would look after hitting the center barricade at a speed of 60mph...

This wouldn't be that bad if the man was sleeping or on pain-killers, but he was completely awake and could feel every second of pain. He yelled "SOMEBODY F*****N KILL ME GOD, NOO!!!!, AAAHH!!!!!, PLEASE GIVE ME SOMETHING FOR THE PAIN, SOMETHING FOR THE PAIN!!!" Unfortunately, his blood pressure was too low to adminster pain killers.

That's it, I thought. As nauseous as I was, I was about to pass out. Out of the Trauma Room I go.

What an experience. Keep in mind this was my first gruesome thing I've seen. The nurses said "you'll get used it it" -- I wonder what else is in store for me.

 

[Pyroclast]

My most unpleasant ER experience was probably a 5-year-old boy who was climbing a rusty fence and had his scrotum ripped open by a sharp piece of wire halfway across. He only needed minor surgery to make sure nothing was damaged, plus a tetanus shot. But the entire procedure was performed without anesthesia, because the doctor decided that it was unnecessarily dangerous to anesthetize a child that young. So he was just held down spreadeagled by a group of nurses while he screamed the entire time.

I really wish I could say that happened while I was shadowing, but it actually happened to me. If I ever meet the doctor who made the decision to skip the anesthetic, I'm going to kick him in the crotch hard enough to make his ghoulies pop out his mouth. 😡

And ladies, for the record, everything was fine and functions perfectly. 😉

 

[rpkall]

He yelled "SOMEBODY F*****N KILL ME GOD, NOO!!!!, AAAHH!!!!!, PLEASE GIVE ME SOMETHING FOR THE PAIN, SOMETHING FOR THE PAIN!!!" Unfortunately, his blood pressure was too low to adminster pain killers.

That's it, I thought. As nauseous as I was, I was about to pass out. Out of the Trauma Room I go.

What an experience. Keep in mind this was my first gruesome thing I've seen. The nurses said "you'll get used it it" -- I wonder what else is in store for me.

I don't blame you for slipping out. I probably would have done the same. I think if you're completely okay the first time you see something like that, you're more crazy than anything.

I'm sure there is a certain amount of desensitization that happens. Must be quite an experience. Looking forward to going to school in the fall.

Re: experiences...

I volunteer at a local hospice, and while bathing a patient, was surprised to notice that her entire perineum, anus, and vulva had been replaced by a fungating, ulcerative tumor which oozed urine, pus, blood, and feces all together out one very large (and very uncomfortable-looking) axe-wound sized opening between her legs. It extended all the way through and around to her mons, where it had started replacing the skin there, too.

The only bearable thing about it was that she seemed to have adequate pain control, as long as she kept her legs close together and wasn't moving.

Just thought I would share. 👍

 

[NKCC1]

I was shadowing a doc in the ER. They were running low on techs, so he asked me to assist in putting a stint in the femoral artery, take into account I had on a nice shirt and tie. The lady weighed about 300lbs, so my job was to lift up her huge fat rolls so the doc could access the artery. I did this for about 10 minutes while they shaved and prepped her. As soon as he was done, he pulled the long metal thing out, (dont' know what its called) and blood sprayed on my shirt and in my face!! ER's are fun!

 

[CanIMakeIt]

It was while I was attending SMEP at case and I was to shadow this CT surgeon for a day. He asked me to scrub and then as we started he handed the suction to me and said you won't be just a spectator .. you will participate as well. So down the road I get to see this quadruple bypass double valve repair surgery. I got to hold the beating heart in my hand while he was doing some work and when we about to finish he goes so you want to be a doctor? I said yes and then he goes ok today is your first lesson on how to suture and then he hands me the needle and asks me to start at the top while he begins at the bottom. I was so scared and excited at the same time and then he let me staple up on top of the stitches. It was a grueling 11 hr surgery and the man recovered successfully.... 👍 👍 👍

 

[liverotcod]

My first day at the ER, a man ran through the door carrying his 8-year-old son. His mother was close behind with the boy's finger in a bloody towel. It had been bitten off by a horse.

 

[tigress]

bump
these are really interesting stories, I'd love to see more

 

[LabMonster]

 

[RubRoss LSU]

Shadowed with OBGYN for a day:

Saw two histarectamies (sp?), a woman who had endometriosis, and genital warts

I handled everything fine except genital warts. It smelled awful and it looked like caulliflower. The doc let me see it through a microscope so that was a real treat. The worst part was the smell of burning flesh when he "lasered" off the warts. Needless to say that was a great deterrence for no sexual activity for a while....

 

[LJDHC05]

I work in a neuroscience lab, so we want the brains as fresh as if the mice were still alive. To do this, the mouse gets injected with drugs which puts it to sleep. It is then cut open and a needle is stuck in it's heart. First a buffer is pumped through it's bloodstream so the blood doesn't clot - then paraformaldehyde is pumped through. Definitely deserves the term "sacrificed".

Yeah, I work in a hearing lab with 1-2 week old chicks. We sacrifice by a barbituate injection directly into the heart. Since their little chicky hearts are so small it's pretty easy to miss, so we have to wait for the sedation to kick in systemically. We then decapitate the birds and extract the ears. One time I didnt wait long enough, blood spurted, the body flapped and contorted for a few seconds and the head that I was holding in my hand blinked alot and was attempting to let out a cheep of horror.

Needless to say, I have trouble eating peeps and I know that I'm going to hell for killing hundreds of yellow fuzzy chickies