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47 Patients Who Thought They Had Something Mild, But Were Very Wrong
Interview With Expert
Doctors share stories of patients who came in for routine checkups but ended up needing major surgery, showing how unpredictable health can be.
Usually, when we visit a doctor, it’s for something simple, a routine checkup, a mild headache, or maybe a weird ache that’s been bothering us for a few days. Most of the time, you expect a quick diagnosis, a prescription, and to be on your way.
But what happens when what seems like a small inconvenience suddenly takes a serious turn? Imagine going in for what you thought was a minor issue, only to find yourself being prepped for surgery within hours.
Well, that’s exactly what happened to these patients. Doctors and patients online are sharing shocking stories of how a “quick appointment” turned into an unexpected trip to the operating room, and some of them sound straight out of a medical drama. Keep reading, you might think twice the next time you brush off a “minor” symptom.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Not a doctor, but a paramedic of reddit.
When I was a brand new medic we got a call Sunday morning for a twenty something year old male vomiting, with a small amount of blood in the vomit. I speak two languages, my partner at the time was from a former soviet-bloc country and spoke about 5 fluently. Believe me when I say this guy got cursed out the entire ride to his house in 7 languages. A twenty something year old called because he was throwing up? On a Sunday morning? Dude. You have a hangover ffs.
We arrive and are met downstairs by his girlfriend who is panicking and confirms they went out drinking the night before. We roll our eyes, grab our gear and head upstairs.
As soon as we see the patient our tone changes. Guy is Asian, but is paler than printer paper, soaked with sweat, is cold when I touch him and is barely conscious. I look next to his bed and “a small amount of blood in the vomit” is in reality a medium sized garbage can, almost 1/4 full of straight blood.
His blood pressure is low, around 70/30, his heart rate is compensating by beating at about 160 times per minute. We get a big IV in him and replace about a liter of fluid. His vitals improve, he comes around enough to answer questions. He says he drank 2 beers last night and smoked some pot. He says he has never been able to have more than a few beers without getting sick for days.
I ask about his medical history and he says he has had general digestive issues his whole life but never anything like this- just has to have a low fat diet or else horrific diarrhea. Bad hemorrhoids, low grade abdominal pain constantly tbat has never been given a clear diagnosis. Nothing on paper to go from.
We get him to the hospital and drop him off in critical. In one of my only true Dr House moments, as I’m walking out I tell the triage nurse exactly what the issue is.
From the deepest depth of a half slept through lecture during paramedic school, I remember all these symptoms. He has an undiagnosed liver issue, which is causing bloodflow through his liver to get backed up. When the liver doesn’t work properly, you can’t digest alcohol or fat effectively. When blood starts backing up it causes portal hypertension which causes hemorrhoids and basically hemorrhoids in the esophagus, called esophageal varices. One of these varices has popped and he was bleeding out through his esophagus.
One of the only times I have correctly diagnosed a problem beyond “hey this drunk guy has been drinking alcohol!”.
Rowan Moustaid 1 month ago
My 17 year old son has liver disease and portal hypertension, some esophageal varices.... Everyone in the family knows the one rule, if he vomits blood he needs to get straight to the hospital.
Geobugi🇰🇷🇰🇭 1 month ago
I am surprised the guy made it. A massive GI bleeding like this could have k****d him pretty quick.
Wonnie-Cookie713 1 month ago
Am I the only one who turned pale when I read the 1/4 filled blood trash can part??
RELATED:
#2
I was/am the patient. I work construction for a living and was working a job removing some very heavy laminated glass. Strenuous lifting all day long. During the course of the gig, my left testicle began to swell and hurt, and wasn’t getting any better. I told my supervisor I suspected I had given myself a hernia, not unheard of in my field, and went to the occupational healthcare clinic in town. The sweetest grandmotherly physician did the whole turn-your-head-and-cough deal. Awkward, necessary, but yielded nothing. She recommends I check myself into the emergency room and get an ultrasound. Well, when the ultrasound tech finished the session by saying “good luck to you, buddy” I suspected something amiss. Well, one removed testicle, a round of chemotherapy, and an abdominal lymph node removal later, testicular cancer hasn’t beaten me down. I’m awaiting my four-month post-surgery CAT scan now. Fellas, check ya nuts.
Ginger ninja 1 month ago
At least OP didnt leave it any longer and the physician told him to go to ER
#3
I'm the patient. I went to my doctor because I was tired. I asked to get my hormones checked, but my doctor is thorough and did a full exam and workup.
During the internal exam (I'm a lady) she said she felt something weird and referred me out for an ultrasound.
I had an external ultrasound and a transvaginal ultrasound that took nearly an hour with the tech snapping pictures the entire time (super fun /s).
Unfortunately the ultrasound didn't show anything clearly. Whatever was wrong with me wasn't an issue with my uterus.
My doctor referred me out for a CT. I went in, drank the gross goop, and they took a bunch of pictures of my pelvic region.
I get a call from my doctor who says I need to meet with a surgeon right away. I get an appointment the next week. If you haven't had a CT scan done before, it's a series of images that are slices of your body shown as contrast in black and white. As the surgeon scrolled through the images, they showed the inside of my pelvic region slowly becoming full of white as he scrolled up and down my body.
I had a tumor the size of a football in my pelvic region.
And the only symptom that prompted me to go in was feeling so tired I couldn't finish a normal gym workout.
Looking back I also realized that I still felt like I had to go to the bathroom sometimes even though I had just gone because it was putting pressure on my bladder.
They scheduled surgery for a few weeks later. Because it was my entire pelvic region, they weren't sure what they would find when they went in...like, what was tumor, what wasn't, and what it was attached to. There were at least 3 specialists in the room with my general surgeon.
It was actually much better than thought. Took about two hours to remove. No major organs involved other than a few internal lady bits, and only minimal side effects. The biopsy showed it was benign.
Anke Dieken 1 month ago
I was in for preparation of a labroscopy and thankfully the doctor also looked at my kidneys. Saw something on my kidney in the ultrasound. A CT was done: tumor, probably malign. Had it removed two weeks later, they could remove all of it and I was left with the greatest part of my kidney still there. And yes, it was cancer. I had had no symptoms, the planned labroscopy was totally unrelated
Visiting the doctor is a universal experience, but let’s face it, it’s not always fun. From the antiseptic smell in the clinic to waiting in a crowded reception area, the anticipation alone can make your heart race. Some people dread injections, while others worry about the possibility of bad news. Even adults, who logically understand the importance of checkups, can feel uneasy before stepping into a doctor’s office.
Anxiety and fear around medical visits are more common than we think. Many patients admit that part of their hesitation comes from guilt or embarrassment about their habits. Skipping workouts, indulging in unhealthy foods, or ignoring small symptoms can make them hesitant to face the truth. They know they should have addressed it sooner, which only makes the anxiety worse.
#4
I was the patient.
I got into a 60mph motorcycle accident a year ago. I slammed into a guardrail. It seemed like there were no serious injuries than some scrapes and a pain in my back.
I was transported to the ER anyway, they did an X-ray, told me I had bruised muscle, and attempted to send me on my way.
Except when I sat up I couldn't lift my a*s up to put on my pants before stepping off the gurney because my back hurt so bad.
They run another X-ray, do an MRI, and a few minutes later the room is flooded with doctors and nurses.
I had a fracture-dislocation of vertebrae T2-T8. Basically my spine was in half and parallel to itself. On top of this, they missed the fact that my lung had collapsed and was filling with blood. Hemopneumothorax. They had never seen someone like this who could still walk. I had basically won the medical equivalent of the lottery that day. I was life-flighted to a level 1 hospital in my state and 5 hours later had 14 inches of titanium put in my back. I was only in the hospital for 9 days and required no rehab.
#5
I was the patient, not the doctor.
September a few years back I was working 20 hour days in an office chair during "crunch time" for a big event. The day before the big event (in a remote desert location, similar to but not Burning Man), I did another all-nighter and took an hour nap before last push prior to travel. I woke up unable to lift my arms, the feeling of an elephant standing on my chest, and a headache when I never got headaches. My husband took me to Urgent Care, where I was diagnosed with acid reflux, given a painkiller shot in my booty, handed a dixie cup of something chalky and awful, and sent home.
I finished my work and went a day late to the big event. I spent 5 days walking around in 110 degree heat doing my job, still unable to lift my arms, but otherwise got through it.
A few months later, I went to a club with friends and danced all night. The next morning my calf hurt pretty badly. Thought maybe I had pulled my calf muscle. Over the next two days, the calf pain got worse and worse, until the day before Christmas I pulled out some old crutches. My husband wanted to hit up the climbing gym, so I went along and hung out with all our friends while they climbed. we stopped by Urgent Care right after. I was unable to put any weight on my leg at this point.
The doctor did a quick exam and put my leg in a compression boot. Told me it was a muscle tear or sprain, and to keep it iced and elevated for a few days.
The nurse waited for the doctor to leave, and pulled us aside. She said she had a strange feeling about it and asked if we'd be willing to go have an emergency ultrasound done at the nearby hospital. We figured it wouldn't hurt "just in case."
While in the ultrasound tech's room, a lovely Russian-born tech started out cheery and making jokes with us. About 5 minutes in, she got quiet and excused herself. Moments later, a doctor came in, looked at the screen, and told me not to move. There was an 8cm blood clot in my leg.
I was moved to a gurney and rushed to the ER in the same hospital. The ER doc said I was incredibly lucky. He sent me for a CT scan of my chest "just to be sure," saying it was just a precaution. Turned out I had 7 pulmonary emboli in my right lung, and 5 in my left lung. When he saw the results, he had "the talk" with us explaining the gravity of the situation. I spent 4 months in my bed on blood thinners not allowed to move while the clot resolved, with three additional ER visits due to cardiac incidents from blood clot bits breaking off and pushing through my heart.
My docs said it was most likely due to the number of emboli in my lungs and the size and placement of the clot that I'd likely had it back that September, and what was diagnosed as "acid reflux" was actually another piece of clot triggering a cardiac incident.
And that is the story of how my noodle arms and calf sprain turned out to be deep vein thrombosis with multiple pulmonary emboli.
I am very glad to still be here to type to total strangers about it. If that nurse hadn't second-guessed the doctor on Christmas Eve, I would probably not be.
highwaycrossingfrog 1 month ago
Good lord, I, in no way a medical professional, diagnosed this as DVT in the 3rd paragraph. What are these doctors thinking?
Uncle Panda 1 month ago (edited)
I stumped around on a broken leg, convinced it was just a badly sprained ankle, for 10 days before the primary swelling went down enough for me to see it was more than a sprain. I went to Quickcare and saw a doctor and a med tech, both women about my age and we were all joking around. One of them said, "You silly tough guys all come in eventually!" Then the doc flipped on the x-ray and they both froze and, no longer laughing at all, both of their heads swiveled to me like a pair of owls and the look on their faces was a mixture of deep concern and a bit of awe, which I interpreted to mean, "Are you THAT 'cking stupid?" Evidently I was and they had me in surgery a few days later.
Marnie 1 month ago
Glad you came out okay. Reminds me of my cousin. Tough farmer kid. Ended up painting water towers for a living. He fell off of the ladder once. Had some pretty back pain. Took him a couple of weeks, but he finally went to a couple of doctors who just told him to take it easy. He then goes to a chiropractor who luckily did X-rays. After seeing the X-ray, the chiropractor told him to lay very still and not move. She was calling an ambulance. He had a broken neck. (Made a full recovery.)
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Pharmtechgurl 1 month ago
with that many clots, you should have been treated with alterplase and heparin. I'm glad you made it, but they could have done better in treating you.
#6
I remembered a second one. I teach an EMT class on the side and we were going through rare medical conditions that you can identify with little to no equipment.
Your aorta is the biggest artery in your body and if anything happens to it, it’s a big problem. It can develop an aneurysm (think a semi-failure of the wall, causing it to balloon out to the side, pending full rupture). I’m explaining the ways you can identify this in the field, one of which is to take both the radial pulses (wrist) simultaneously. They should beat together. If they are beating off-tempo, that can be a sign of an aortic aneurism.
I tell everyone to partner up and take both their partners pulses so you no what ‘normal’ feels like.
A hand is raised in the rear of the room.
“U/sam_neil! My partners pulses are wrong.”
I start by joking that students need to be more diligent in practicing taking vitals etc etc until I take the students pulses. Hers are indeed “wrong”. The head instructor and I go into work mode and do a barrage of other tests. She shows additional signs in a couple, but not all the tests.
We advise her to go to the hospital immediately. We explain that if you have an aortic aneurysm and it ruptures while you are on the operating table of the most skilled surgeon in the world your odds of survival are around 2%. She refuses and finishes class after we do CYA paperwork. She follows up with her doctor from childhood who, as she tells it, drags her by her ear into the ambulance he called.
It turned out to be a very minor aneurism, and she had a procedure to repair it and takes medication to keep her blood pressure low, but otherwise has a completely normal life.
Ginger ninja 1 month ago
Why would she refuse to go to hospital? She’s lucky her childhood doctor made her go
According to Harvard Health, anxiety around medical visits is growing. In 2023, nearly half of American adults reported feeling anxious before a doctor’s appointment, a noticeable increase from 39% the year before. The survey, conducted by OnePoll on a nationally representative sample of 2,000 people, highlights that pre-appointment nerves are a rising concern across age groups.
Dr. Alka Pradhan, a general physician with over 31 years of experience in Goregaon, Mumbai, explains why putting off doctor visits can be risky. “Putting off doctor visits due to anxiety can lead to serious consequences for your overall health,” she says. Whether it’s high blood pressure, cholesterol, or diabetes, leaving these conditions unchecked can lead to more serious complications later on.
#7
Not a doctor, but I worked in an emergency room in nursing school. I was sitting out in triage late one night, my nurse had ran to the back for a minute and a guy comes in, only complaint was a sore throat. Nothing else at all. Just a sore throat. But something was off, he had a slight grayish tone.
As a tech, I figured why the hell not. Told him to follow me and took him to our EKG area. Few minutes later, my nurse comes back and is looking at me like I'm nuts because I'm doing an EKG on a sore throat. I handed her the printout and she had an 'oh darn' look, he was having a STEMI (massive heart attack.)
My charge nurse came out later after the dust had settled and asked me what made me check him, I told her I didn't know he just didn't look right. Intuition can be a funny thing. Poor guy, he was slightly confused about the whole thing, he just wanted something to fix his throat irritation.
Marnie 1 month ago
This is quite different but reminds me of it. In my early 20s, I just felt like crying for no reason at all for about two days. I rarely called my Mom, but I did this time. She said, "Well, when you were little you would always cry when you were sick." So, I go to the doctor (nurse practitioner actually). She said, "I don't really know what to do here....But I think I'm going to do a strep test." It was positive. As far as I know, that's the only time I've ever had strep.
Ginger ninja 1 month ago
That man got d**n lucky OP followed his instincts when they saw he was looking off and didnt just dismiss him
#8
A couple years ago, my mom was experiencing crazy back pains. She went to this one doctor every so often to get some pain medication and that doctor, for the life of him, couldn't find anything wrong with her, but could tell she was experiencing major pain, so gave it to her. One day, she's going in again and her doctor is out so she has a different one. While being checked up, the doctor says "So you're here for the broken back, then?" and my mom was really confused. Apparently, in 1999, she had been in a car accident where a tanker truck carrying gas rolled over her car and crushed her inside but nobody had apparently noticed that her back was broken for almost 16 years. She had surgery on the day of my birthday and she's been a happier and more easy going person since.
Kayleigh 1 month ago
This happened to me, in 2011 I went rollerskating while drunk, fell backwards and landed smack on my coccyx, didn't even have time to use my hands to break my fall and it sent a riptide of pain up my spine. For the next couple of weeks I couldn't walk at all, never crossed my mind I might have broken it, eventually I was able to walk again but always had pain, then in 2019 I fell and hit my head and had a seizure, suffered brain damage and developed epilepsy, because of the fall and me mentioning back pain they did an MRI and found a badly healed, old break in my spine. Proper gobsmacked. Looking back now, the whole not being able to walk thing should have given me a clue.
#9
I'm the patient. Went in for a recurring pain in my throat. Quadruple bypass a week later.
KatSaidWhat 1 month ago
Ha, I just read the doctor's report which was 2 posts higher than this at the time (NFI where these might end up)
Dr. Pradhan, who completed her MBBS from Grant Medical College and Sir JJ Hospital in Mumbai in 1994, emphasizes the importance of regular monitoring. “Some conditions don’t show obvious symptoms initially, which is why regular checkups are essential. Early detection can prevent complications and give you peace of mind.” Preventive healthcare is not just about avoiding illness, but about maintaining overall wellness.
Annual health checkups, she explains, are crucial even if you feel perfectly healthy. “We often think, ‘I feel fine, so I don’t need a checkup,’ but many health issues develop silently. Blood pressure, sugar levels, and cholesterol may not have visible symptoms until it’s too late.” A simple routine appointment can sometimes reveal important information and guide lifestyle changes before problems escalate.
#10
Doctor here.
I had one a few months ago sent into the hospital by his primary care doctor with 'shoulder pain'. He said he felt absolutely fine, just a really uncomfortable right shoulder pain that hadn't gone away for a couple of weeks. He maybe felt a bit more tired than usual and oh, come to think of it, had lost quite a bit of weight recently and none of his clothes fit him any more.
I went to examine him and had what we describe in the profession as a "heartsink" moment. He was jaundiced, and his abdomen was absolutely solid in the right upper zone from a huge, craggy liver.
Get him in the ct scanner and he is just fulllll of cancer. Everywhere. Couldn't even work out which was the primary.
The shoulder pain is what we call "referred pain" and is commonly caused by diaphragmatic irritation, in this case from all the liver masses pushing against it.
Bless him. I think about him a lot.
#11
I went to my doctor thinking I had a bladder infection. I felt like I had to pee every 5 minutes. Doctor found nothing but sent me for an ultra sound.
Turns out I had a cyst the size of a grapefruit on one of my ovaries that was resting on my bladder. 5 days later I was in the hospital having my ovary removed.
#12
My mother was the patient. She and my grandmother had been in a car accident with a drunk driver, and were being checked out for whiplash and such. As they're signing discharge papers, a surgeon comes running into the room and says my mother can't leave.
Apparently she was missing her top 3 vertebrae. Her neck was being held in place purely by muscle. She was one of a handful of people ever found with this problem past the age of 2, and most are only found on autopsy.
So they ended up taking a chunk of her hip bone, sculpting it, then fusing it all together with enough wires to set off metal detectors for years.
Anxiety can make even a short visit feel overwhelming, but there are ways to manage it. Dr. Pradhan suggests bringing a familiar face along — a family member or friend who can distract and comfort you. “Having someone you trust in the room or waiting area can make a huge difference,” she says. Even small acts like holding a hand or sharing a laugh can calm nerves significantly.
#13
I'm not a doctor but I still have a story.
My dad had a bad stomach ache, didn't know the cause. It was bad, but we thought it was just a bad case of food poisoning. He was in emergency and the doctors saw a burst appendix, so they took him in for surgery.
Opened him up and it was stage 4 cancer.
He had several tumors removed and had to go to chemo. On chemo, got better, then got worse, another surgery, deteriorating health. Just pure chaos.
This was 4 years ago. He died just last year..
Brian Droste 1 month ago (edited)
I had a older friend that every now and again would get sick for no reason whatsoever. His wife would try to get him to go to his doctor. He would refuse. Finally he made an appointment. Found out he had some kind of cancer in his small intestine. Had to have 3/4 of his small intestine removed. He had some kind of bag hooked to his body. He died last year a little bit before he turned 80. The doctor thought that he had it for at least ten years.
#14
Not a doctor, but my dad had a bit of pain that wouldn't go away 3 years ago, sat through all of Christmas morning, then as soon as my family and my sister's family left, he took himself to the emergency room I grant, but only because it was Christmas so there weren't any walk in clinics open, ER was only choice.
He had pancreatic cancer, and in the end he got the Whipple procedure done, then chemo after and latest news from his doctors is that its 100% gone, which is phenomenal for pancreatic.
Edit: He was super lucky there were any symptoms at all early enough for it to matter.
KatSaidWhat 1 month ago
I worked for a Whipple surgeon - it's a f*****g massive operation sometimes dubbed the "miracle op" because it's a miracle if a person with pancreatic cancer catches it in time and can be operated on for anywhere between 4 and 12 hours.
#15
Not a doctor.
This one is completely on me because I did some questionable things as a kid.
I was 12. And growing up in Maine. I had a pellet gun that was advertised as shooting a .177 projectile at 1200 FPS. I had been shooting it for a few years so my parents would let me shoot it on my own out back as long as I wore safety glasses.
That afternoon during the summer I found a small piece of piping along the road in the front yard and brought it out back to shoot.
I took the first shot and instantly felt something hit me in the head.
I have a younger brother so I thought it was a pebble or something, And put the gun down to investigate. I think the only reason i didn’t immediately think I got hit by ricochet was because it didn’t hurt at all. The only thing I felt was a bump, like a small rock hit me in the head.
I didn’t notice the blood till I wiped my face to clear what I thought was sweat. I was greeted with a completely red hand. At this point it didn’t click that I got hit by a ricochet and I didn’t feel anything when I touched the cut so I didn’t worry.
I couldn’t stop the blood with anything outside and I couldn’t find my brother so I assumed the bullet just hit me but didn’t stick, because the cut was so long. so I had to open the front door and yell for my mom.
As soon as she passed the corner she turned white, *And started freaking out.* At this point the blood was covering the whole front of my shirt and was starting to drip onto the ground. I told her a total lie because I didn’t want them to take my pellet gun away, so I told them I hit myself with a metal pipe while flipping it in the air. She looked at my cut and could immediately tell I needed stitches and they rushed me to the urgent care in the next city.
When I got there the towel my dad wrapped around the top of my head was showing a lot of blood. When the nurse made me take off my towel, her eyes opened wide. You could see my skull in the cut. They took me within like ten min.
The doctor took a look at the wound and made me tell the story again while stitching up the inch long gash which started at my hair line at about 11 o’clock on my face.
The doctor decided to take an X Ray. I waited for them to come back with the results with my dad and after like 15 min the doctor came back in. He asked me to tell the story again. His next question was what kind of pipe shoots metal four inches under your scalp. He made me tell the real story and showed my dad the x ray and my dad was visibly pissed.
The next thing I knew I was in an ambulance on my way to the OR. Those guys didn’t even put me to sleep while they cut into my scalp. And pulled out a perfectly circular saw shaped piece of mushroomed lead That was almost 5 inches from the entrance point. They couldn’t remove one of the fragments because of its location and it was small.
My pellet rifle still got taken away.
TLDR:
Got hit by a ricochet, lied to my parents because I thought I could get away with it, still got punished because doctors had to remove a piece of lead from my head.
Preparation also helps. Before your appointment, take some time to understand the process. “Ask the clinic what the visit will involve. Knowing what to expect reduces uncertainty, which is often the root of anxiety,” Dr. Pradhan advises. Many patients find that understanding the flow of checkups, tests, and consultations removes a lot of the unknowns that trigger stress.
#16
Actually a doctor — pediatrician — so many stories....
Teenager comes in for ear pain and turns out there is a hornet stuck in the ear biting his canal and ear drum — had to have it surgically repaired
Kid comes into ER for cough for a couple weeks, parents are very worried and the kid looks “off”, so I order a chest xray. His mediastinum (the white part between the lungs) takes up almost the entirety of his chest. Massive tumor.
Kid with belly pain and vomiting for 12 hours. Belly exam is hard — not like she is flexing but like rigid as a board. Ultrasound for appendicitis shows a massive kidney tumor that went from right lung to bottom of the right pelvis. Wilms tumors are crazy!
Most recently had a little one in for a regular check up that parents had kept postponing. Kid can’t sit up alone and parents still have to feed — not normal for a 9 month. Ultrasound of the head shows too much water in the brain and the kid gets surgery within 24 hours.
Upstaged75 1 month ago
My mother was diagnosed with Wilms tumor in 1950. They removed her kidney as well as a bunch of muscle tissue around it. There was no chemo back then so she did radiation - while sitting on my grandmother's lap! Grandma never could figure out why they weren't able to have more kids after that. 😁
Amused panda 1 month ago
Well, it probably wasn't very happy being stuck in there.
Load More Replies... #17
Not a doctor, mom was the patient. She went in to get a regular check up, renew her prescriptions, etc. Mentioned that she had been having pain in one of her fingers. She had put off getting it checked cause she was thinking it was just arthritis. Doctor refers her to a hand doctor, turns out it's a tumor that's wrapped around her bone and tendon. She gets surgery to remove it tomorrow.
#18
Not a doctor but the Jon Dorenbos story is pretty incredible. Long story short, upon being traded to the Saints he had to undergo a physical (which he wouldn’t have needed to do if he had still been tenured with the Eagles) and it was discovered that he had a massive aortic aneurism and he immediately went in for open heart surgery.
Music and relaxation techniques are surprisingly effective. “Listening to your favorite playlist, practicing deep breathing, or even doing short meditation exercises in the waiting room can help calm your mind,” she explains. These small tools give patients a sense of control and reduce the overwhelming feeling of being at someone else’s mercy.
#19
The reason there aren't a lot of responses from doctors is probably because when we see our patients, the thought process is never "This person is here for a small problem". We are constantly thinking "What is the worst possible thing this person could have right now? How do I make sure these things are not happening?", so when we discover something serious it was already something we were worried about and trying to rule out. I try to think of every problem as a big problem until I'm absolutely sure it's not.
Anywho my contribution to the thread: I saw an elderly lady for a 'sore toe', and when i asked her to take off her shoes both of her feet were cold, purple, and pulseless from a loss of blood supply. Cue urgent CT and vascular surgery consult. She saw me in a walk-in clinic so I'm not sure how she did but the surgeon I spoke to did think they would be able to save her feet.
Marnie 1 month ago
I don't think that's true about doctors, at least not in the US. Many go for the simple obvious thing first and only investigate further if the problem persists. (And this can be difficult for autistic people. I only just figured out in my 50s that the doctor says it might be X, but the problem doesn't get resolved, that you can go back. I just would never go back. Suffered from some hormonal issue for 2 1/2 years that changed the course of my life forever because of this.) Of course, not just autistic people, but it's common for autistic people.
Lily bloom 1 month ago
My dr(s) blamed everything on my diabetes. Now that it is controlled, my anxiety and depression is the cause of any/all ailments. This also reminds me of when my husband, avoider of Dr's, insisted on going to urgent care because of how terrible he was feeling and all they did was a covid test. It was negative so they just said "well it's not that one possibility so it couldn't possibly be anything else so buh-bye now"
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Huddo's sister 1 month ago
My GP is really good, even if I think something is because of my fibromyalgia, she will try and rule out other things first. Sadly this isn't the case for all doctors.
Ginger ninja 1 month ago (edited)
I clearly need your GO, mine blame everything on my fibro with little, if any, investigation
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Learner Panda 1 month ago
According to several TV programmes, this is exactly how they process patients. Rule out anything that might k**l the patient, then work out what is actually going on.
CatD 3 weeks ago
Unfortunately most doctors still use the "hoofbeats mean horses not zebras" mindset. I've had Okapi problems...
Load More Replies... #20
Not a doctor, daughter of a patient. For years my dad complained of gut pain. He went from doctor to doctor and they all said "oh it's just a stomach ache" or even "It's all in your head." Dad went to one doctor that took him seriously and did a scan. Turns out his gall bladder had died.
2x4b523p 1 month ago
I’m 4 months post removal, following 8 years of being told it’s just acid reflux. My gallbladder was calcified and buried inside my liver. The absolute champion of a surgeon still managed to remove it keyhole, she said it took about 2 hours to unpeel it off my liver and dig it out. I feel better than I have in ages.
Anke Dieken 1 month ago
My husband had back pains - at least that's what he thought. It was a gall stone the size of a nutmeg
Aileen Grist 1 month ago
I had that. When it was finally removed it was gangrenous and the surgeon said he was just glad I survived, and apologised for not being able to do it as keyhole surgery. I told him I don't mind - I'm still here
CatD 3 weeks ago
I did dialysis on a patient that happened to. He didn't survive.
Load More Replies... #21
Not a doctor, but my dad has a pain in his back for a week or two, so he went to the doctor’s to make sure it wasn’t more than a pulled muscle from catching for me when I practiced pitching in middle school. They did some scans, and he ended up being diagnosed with lymphoma.
I like to say my wild pitching saved his life. He’s been in remission for a few years!
Never figured out what the back pain was.
CatD 3 weeks ago
I used to have gallbladder pain that referred all the way down my leg.
Load More Replies... KatSaidWhat 1 month ago
The last GP I worked for saw someone with back ache but it didn't seem to be mechanical. Ran a panel, cancer.
If anxiety feels extreme, it’s important to speak up. “Tell your doctor how you’re feeling. They can offer guidance or recommend therapy to manage medical anxiety,” Dr. Pradhan says. Patients often feel embarrassed or guilty about admitting their fear, but acknowledging it is the first step toward overcoming it. Professionals are there to help, not judge.
#22
Not a doctor yet but a student. I haven't seen the worst kind of stuff yet but this was a "fun" one.
I'm shadowing a GP at her office and a guy comes in for a routine check-up a few weeks after surgery on his toe for an ingrown nail. Doctor asks how he's doing, guy is like "fine I guess, a little tender." She says ok, how does it look when he cleans it? Guy says he doesn't know.
Turns out he was still in the same dressing they gave him at the hospital after the surgery, never even opened it. Had just been walking around in the filthy thing for weeks. Even the experienced Dr was struggling to keep a neutral face when she opened that dressing and the Smell came. It was bad.
Amused panda 1 month ago (edited)
This begs three questions: 1) Was the patient given clear post-surgery wound care instructions? 2) Did the patient have the flexibility to access and remove the dressing, and clean the wound, or alternatively a family member who could do this for me? 3) Did the medics check (2) at time of (1)?
Tammy Tolan 1 month ago
If in the US 1 most likely yes 2 and 3 they would not ask just assume it can be handled. Patients have to be able to advocate for theirselves or have someone around who can.
Load More Replies... #23
Not me, not a doctor.
A "friend" who is the definition of anti-establishment anti-vax anti- anything-science-backed always had a little bump on her nose. She put her oils on it, smuged with sage "to remove the toxins", and regarded it as her "beautiful bump".
The bump gets bigger. Darker. Her grandmother supposedly tricks her into going to the doc about it. I think she was supposed to be helping grandma to her own appointment, but sneaky grandma had other plans.
Anyway, miss olis-cure-everything is currently in hospital having the entire left side of her nostril and part of her cheek removed due to skin cancer.
#24
14 year old cancer survivor comes in for his routine post-chemo screening echocardjogram. His heart was barely moving. I don’t remember the EF, probably in the low teens. We sat him and mom told for some bad news, put EMLA on his arm for a PICC and walked him to the cardiac ICU. A few months later he has a heart transplant.
Kids, man. They can look great on the outside when compensated. Then you look at the images and just get nauseous for them. Scariest thing about pediatrics and #1 reason why kids need kid doctors.
Visiting the doctor is more than just treatment: it’s about prevention, early detection, and mental reassurance. These posts show how routine visits can uncover unexpected health concerns, allowing timely intervention. Even minor symptoms, when addressed early, can prevent major complications. A simple checkup might literally save your life.
#25
Not a doctor - but my dad's skin was itching a lot and creams or allergy meds weren't giving relief. Went to the doctor and found out it was stage 4 liver cancer. He died 2 weeks later.
We were all nuts for a while after that one.
Dragon mama 1 month ago
Itching is a common side effect of liver problems. It's worth remembering
Upstaged75 1 month ago
Yup. I had some liver issues a while ago and I was SO itchy!
Load More Replies... #26
I went to the after hours A&E centre quack about a cough i had from a bad flu. As part of the visit she went to put the stethoscope on my back to listen to my heart and she said "oh whats this?" and I said ah thats just a small fungal rash ive had for a year and havent bothered getting looked at.
Turns out she was the local skin cancer doctor and I had a basal cell carcinoma. Had to get surgery to cut it out of my back and two layers of 12 stitches to seal it back up. Its been about 2 months and I still cant reach forward to my keyboard very well.
But I can say I have been stabbed in the back and have the scar to prove it.
Bartlet for world domination 1 month ago
... and still calls "the local skin cancer doctor" a quack.
#27
It happened to us. We took our daughter for scheduled well baby check. She had a strange little bruise on her head that we wanted to ask about, plus it was time for vaccines, etc.
Left 2 hours later by ambulance to peds ICU. She had a brain tumor the size of my fist. The bruise was caused by pressure inside her skull. A few more days and she likely would have had major symptoms (seizures, etc.) We were totally dumbstruck, had not idea there was a problem.
12 surgeries, 2 years of chemo and years of therapy have her doing pretty well. She has permanent disabilities but she's happy and relatively healthy.
Ultimately, the key takeaway is balance. Regular visits, understanding your body, and managing anxiety go hand in hand. Friendships, family support, and open communication with your doctor can make a routine appointment far less intimidating. So tell us, how do you feel before a doctor’s appointment? Nervous, calm, or somewhere in between? And what’s your go-to trick for staying relaxed during visits?
#28
Not a doctor and not me, but my dad.
I took him to the hospital for a check-up prior to a planned knee surgery. The knee had been playing up for years, so he needed to get a new one. It was just a routine check and pretty boring so I was in the waiting area outside, while my dad got his knee looked at. The doctor also noticed a red, bloody moskito bite on his right forearm and asked my dad about it. Dad told him, that it's nothing to worry about. It's just a moskito bite, that he scratched until it bleed. The doctor has a short look at it and calls me into the office.
Doctor: I am afraid, but we need to do surgery on that bite. It needs to be opened and cleaned
Dad: No worries, I'll schedule an appointment for that on my way out.
Doctor: No, you don't understand. We are preparing the surgery for you now. When did last have something to eat?
Turns out, the arm was severly infected. They cut his arm open and he had to stay in the hospital for almost two weeks, while the drained loads of nasty fluids out of the arm. If the check-up would have been a couple of days later, he might have died from blood poisoning.
KatSaidWhat 1 month ago
My dad got really lucky - he went to his doctor with flu type symptoms, he never gets sick. Doc did bloods, all came up ok. Doc phones my father the next day and says please come back in, I have a hunch. That hunch landed my father in ITU and very close to death a couple of times from cerebral malaria.
#29
Not a doctor, however I feel I have a good example to contribute.
Couple years ago my grandfather was complaining about minor chest pain. He said it was only when it was cold outside and he found it a little hard to breathe. This is the first time in his life this happened so he didn’t know what it was. We ended up taking him to the doctor, expecting it to do with the cold weather taking a toll on his 81 year old body. After a couple appointments, he found out he needed a triple bypass. (In very brief terms for those who don’t know, a triple bypass is clearing any obstruction from 3 of the 4 sections of your heart)
Had we not taken him for this small doctors appointment, who knows how much longer he had before the lack of blood stopped his heart. He got the surgery ASAP and he’s still alive and well today.
Catherine Graves 1 month ago
Good news for your grandfather. But actually, a bypass means that a piece of the artery is removed and replaced, or the new piece of artery takes a detour around the obstruction. This used to be the only way to improve circulation to the heart muscle when dealing with obstruction, but more commonly now you may see angioplasty done.
#30
Not a doctor, but a patient.
I was in school and caught a cold. It wasn't going away for a while, but I didn't really notice it because I was so focused on school work. Eventually, I went to the doctor because I developed a little bit of a cough, and since I have asthma, colds that affect my respiratory system are horrible.
I go to the school's medical center, and get triaged by a nurse. She takes my temperature while asking a few questions and looks puzzled. Takes it again, and asks me if I'm in uncomfortable. I tell her something like "No, I got this cough". She tells me "Your temperature is 104.6° F (40.33 ° C). You don't feel hot?". I didn't.
After triage, I was first priority to see the doctor. She tells me that my tonsils are huge and that I most likely have strep throat (even though my strep test came back negative). So she prescribes me antibiotics and an electrolyte solution and sends me on my way.
That night, I'm drinking that Gatorade electrolyte stuff, but my friend is holding the cup. My body is shaking violently, and even though I took a prescribed fever reducer, my temperature kept going up. I thought I'd just sweat it out, and the antibiotics would take effect soon. I began hallucinating shadowy figures, and the room became hazy, my friend's walking looked like stop motion.
I went to the hospital with my friend after I told them what I was seeing, and after he noticed my fever was still rising regardless of the medication. We went to the ER, and they did bloodwork, cultures, X-ray and a physical exam. They gave me IV fluids to bring my fever down from 105.4 ° to 100 °ish. The doctor diagnosed me with some unknown virus, and said good thing I went to the ER. If I hadn't, the fever could have caused me to seize and give me brain damage.
Long story short: It was not a cough, just a crazy virus that could've ended a part of my brain.
Lady Eowyn 1 month ago
In addition to his other failings, Hugo doesn't have a clue as to the accuracy of modern thermometers.
#31
MEDIUM, TLDR at the end.
Me, a patient: I was about 14 and I kinda felt like "something´s loose inside me". Whenever I leaned forward I could feel something inside moving (eww). It was in lower chest/abdomen but since it felt only uncomfortable, I didn´t pay attention to it. But then I was supposed to participate in skittles tournament (something like bowling but balls are smaller and without holes and there is 9 pins) and I could not carry on after like 20 rolls. Next day we went to doctor´s to get RTG pix and as soon as we arrived home (we weren´t supposed to wait for results) my parents got a call from doctor that indicated a week in hospital. What they found you ask? I had punctured lung and I spent like a month using only one (which does not really put your life in danger but breathing would be harder) and as it deflated it pushed on diaphragm. Since I did not recall any falling or hitting myself, the doctor deducted from my medical sheet that the reason is that my height increased by 16cm in one year. My body (I´m pretty slim so that was also one of the reasons why it happened) could not keep up with my body growing up and the lung popped and deflated.
But the hospital staff, surgeons and lung-specialist were reassuring me that everything will be fine, that it is not as uncommon as I thought. But man, how I was scared at first!
TLDR: Felt something "loose inside", found out it´s punctured lung because I grew up too fast and I needed a surgery.
Learner Panda 1 month ago
This literally just happened to an acquaintance. One lung collapsed, sorted (to some extent), then the other one went. Surgery needed to fix properly. And yes, he is a tall and slim youngster.
#32
Went in to check why I had such bad period pain, ended up getting my kidney removed.
#33
Obligatory not a doctor, this happened to an old co-worker of mine.
I was a supervisor at a truck terminal. One of our delivery drivers was moving a pallet in his truck when the wheel of the jack caught some debris on the floor of the trailer, and he pulled something in his abdomen.
He went to the doctor either that evening or the next day, and in the middle of the exam, the doctor basically just stopped and told him to go to the hospital like right away.
It turned out he had a baseball sized tumor in his abdomen, and it wound up being malignant. He died like half a year late.
RIP Jimmy.
#34
I am the patient.
Went to my doctor complaining about leg pain in September, to the point where I couldn't continue working out. Got an X-ray that showed pelvic tilt. I did what they asked.
Pain continued. Went back in October, got an ultrasound that showed bursitis and tendonitis. I did physio, it didn't help.
Pain continued. In January I went to a new doctor. She diagnosed me with a SECOND tendonitis and gave me an MRI. Tendonitis treatment didn't help.
Had an MRI a few days ago. It revealed a 3cm Tarlov cyst at the bottom of my spine. Will need surgery to remove it.
#35
My wife in her third trimester. Her blood pressure had been going up, so she was assigned bed rest over the weekend.
On Sunday, I flew across country to a training class for my new job.
On Monday, wifey goes to the OB. They measure her BP and it's astronomical - like 160/120 or something. She's in full on preeclampsia. "You need to go to the ER right now."
She went to the ER, did five rounds of, uh, lithium? (Can't remember which element they give you) None of it worked, so they did an emergency caesarian. Our kiddo was 9 weeks premature, and spent the next month in the NICU.
Meanwhile, I was frantically trying to get home. I was sitting in the airport in Minneapolis while all of that was happening.
#36
Not a doctor but I’ve got two stories where I thought I was fine/being ridiculous over the whole thing.
First one I thought I had really bad period cramps which kept getting worse to the point I couldn’t walk. Turns out I had an ovarian cyst burst on me, and I spent six hours in the waiting room hunched over in a wheelchair because the nurses thought I was just trying to get out of school.
Second time I just thought I had a sore throat, did the strep test and everything which came back negative at the walk-in clinic. It proceeded to get so bad that I couldn’t swallow and I was vomiting up whatever I ate but I was determined that I was just being a wimp over the whole thing. My sister came home, felt my forehead and immediately called our grandparents to take me to the hospital. I sat in the ER for four hours because she made me take an all-in-one sorta thing for sore throats which also included reducing fevers so the nurses probably thought I was being ridiculous. Turns out I had cellulitis in my uvula and it had swollen to three times its usual size. Don’t know how I got it, but work sure was thrilled about me calling in sick for a whole week during busy season. There’s a difference between your soft palette and your throat, and that definitely makes a difference when doctors are trying to diagnose you!
Tim Douglass 1 month ago
Triage nurses have so many patients trying to exaggerate their condition either to get d***s or to get to the head of the line that they sometimes really s***w up someone with a serious problem. I went in to the ER with severe vertigo. I was vomiting a lot because of the perception of motion. They gave me a bag to barf in and basically acted like it was no big deal. Fifteen minutes later my wife took the full bag back to the nurse, handed it to her, and said "He needs another one." Suddenly they found room for me in the back.
Huddo's sister 1 month ago
I also thought I had really bad period cramps when I in fact had an ovarian cyst and ovarian torsion. Despite never getting bad period cramps ever before. Thankfully my dad called an ambulance (after the 24hr 'nurse on call' number didn't answer!) because I would have just kept suffering (but not in silence, which is why my dad was concerned). I was given heaps of pain meds, but it took hours for them to actually work.
#37
Not following the rules of the thread, but a girl from my high school was on vacation with her family somewhere in the Caribbean and went to the hospital for what they figured was a mildly serious jellyfish sting that was bothering her. I guess after some evaluation the doctor came out and said 'good news, I think we can save the leg'.
#38
Not a doctor, but the patient in question. Last December, a week before Christmas, I made a doctors appointment because my hemroids flared up and I noticed a decent amount of blood in my stool. Right before I left to go to the doctor I threw up. I drove the the clinic clutching my abdomen in agony. It took me a few minutes to get myself out of the car, but I did and I also managed to get my kids (2 month old daughter and 17 month old son) out of the car but as we were crossing the street I suddenly felt a sharp, stabbing pain in my abdomen and I doubled over in pain. A lady, who had stopped for me while I crossed the street with my kids, got out of her vehicle and helped me get my kids into the clinic. Since I was doubled over in pain the nurses rushed me into a room and helped keep my kids, mostly my son, occupied. They ended up sending me up to the hospital, luckily my step mom worked 2 blocks away and was able to walk over to drive me up. My boyfriend was working out of town at the time and rushed home to help me and the kids. We discovered that my crippling pain was from a gallbladder attack. Since it was a week before Christmas I had to wait until the new year to get the problem taken cars of. In fact, I just had my gallbladder out last week.
#39
A friend of my mom's went backpacking once with a very heavy backpack, and ended up somehow breaking his neck with it in a crowded bus. He didn't notice right away, but later he collapsed on the road in the middle of a city and someone called an ambulance for him.
CatD 3 weeks ago
My son broke a vertebrae in his back from a seizure. He was on a mattress, the muscle spasms broke it.
Load More Replies... #40
Lady came into the ED with substernal exertional chest pain that she'd had for a day or so, but she had never had it before prior to this episode. She was active, shoveled snow regularly over the winter, etc; it just came on out of nowhere. In the ED, had a mild trop elevation of 0.06, I thought ok, indeterminate trop but whatever, we'll throw her on a heparin drip, ASA, etc, and we'll see if she is cath in the morning vs stress test. Her chest pain stopped, and I figured it would be non-cardiac since she had been tolerating serious exertion without pain up until yesterday...but her trops didn't stop going up. They went up and up, peaking later that night in the low hundreds, and her EKG clearly showed NSTEMI. She went for cath, and had horrible multi-vessel disease with tons of collaterals; stenting would be insufficient, but there weren't any good targets for CABG either. She ended up getting listed for heart transplant.
tl;dr previously very active lady came in for a twinge of chest pain with exertion and ended up having to get listed for heart transplant due to the widespread and inoperable nature of her failing coronaries.
highwaycrossingfrog 1 month ago
Trop=troponin, a protein that's released into the bloodstream during a heart attack. NSTEMI=a type of heart attack. CABG=Coronary Artery Bypass Graft.
Learner Panda 1 month ago
Troponin tests have to be taken from an artery, which is painful. Ask me how I know...
Tami Morales 4 weeks ago
You are incorrect. Troponin level uses venous blood is drawn from a vein using a green or a serum separator tube. Blood gases and Ionized Calcium are just two examples of tests that need arterial blood so they are drawn from an artery.
Load More Replies... #41
When I was two I had a really bad ear infection and fever so my parents took me to the doctor's office. Turns out I had an infection in both ears, my sinuses, something going on with my tonsils (remember that for later), and a fever of 104F and climbing. My parents ended up getting some antibiotics, and everything cleared up for a while. But then for the next few months all of that would come back and then go away again.
Remember my tonsils? Those were why I was getting so sick. I can't remember exactly how, but they were causing all of these infections. So my parents took me to the hospital and I had surgery to have them removed.
Then the doctor almost ended me by giving me too much anesthesia. So there's that too. :/
TLDR: I almost died from a bunch of different infections and then the doctor nearly ended me during surgery.
#42
Not a doctor, but a patient.
I had taken martial arts for much of my youth, with a plan of taking it professionally after college. During college, I visited my grandfather for a family reunion, who was an MD (General Practice, to give you an idea of how long ago it was). He noted a lump on the side of my jaw, and I just shrugged and figured it was part of doing martial arts. Occasionally, you dodge poorly, and get tagged harder than you'd prefer. He asked me, as a favor, to see an associate of his. Deciding to humor him, I went.
So, he subjected me to an FNA (Fine Needle Aspiration... also known as a 'needle biopsy', or in common language 'jab this huge needle in your jaw until it scrapes bone and see what comes out'), then an MRI and a CAT scan. Well, results were concerning but inconclusive because the swelling from the FNA obscured the results of the MRI and CAT. Do it again.
Did it again in the right order this time. After some ominous 'hmmm''s, he referred me to someone he knew out at M.D. Anderson. Turns out, it was Periosteoscarcoma, or 'cancerous tumor growing out of the jaw bone' for those of us who did not take Latin.
So yea, prognosis went from 'bone bruise' to 'bone cancer'. That... was not the most pleasant discovery of my life. Fortunate, of course, but not particularly pleasant.
#43
Not me but a kid from my high-school broke his collar bone during a football game, had an xray where the doctors actually found a tumor. Had the tumor removed (plus the bottom half of his scapula and 2 rotary cuff muscles) and was on chemotherapy for 9 months. Guy made a full recovery.
#44
Not a doctor, but it happened to my FIL. Went in to have his stent replaced, as he has done a few times already, but this time doc says there is too much blockage and schedules an emergency bypass asap. Went from a check up to open heart surgery in two days time.
#45
Oh boy.
As part of our medical course, we need cannulas ticked off. Another medical student and I went to the ED, where many patients need cannulas. We found a fantastic nurse willing to supervise us, who recommended a patient with easy veins e.g. young, no urgent problem. Young woman with vague, 3/10 abdominal pain was triaged low down on the list, so she was perfect.
It was the other medical student's turn, so she begins rummaging through the drawers for equipment. It's apparent she doesn't know what she's looking for, the nurse helps. Student sets out an enormous needle, 14G, the kind you'd use for a blood transfusion. Nurse gives her a weird look and replaces it with a smaller one.
It becomes apparent this is the student's first cannula. After poking several random areas, she enters the vein. And then she....does nothing. Doesn't release the tourniquet, doesn't put a bung (cap) on it. Does nothing, while looking at the pathology tubes blankly.
The nurse is telling her to put the cap on it, but the student is still obviously trying to figure out whether to attach the pink or the yellow tube. Blood is gushing out. The nurse tries to hand her a cap, student doesn't notice. Patient finally looks down. Blood everywhere. Over her arm, the bluey (towel placed under the arm), chair, reaching her pants.
The patient's face goes ghost white. Even her lips turn white. Her eyes roll back into her head. Before I know it, she's passed out. The cannula *still isn't capped.*
The nurse is desperately trying to hurdle over the student and the trolley to cap the cannula or take it out. Student is still standing there, not moving out of the way. Flummoxed, I grab another nurse and we find a bed to transfer the patient onto and elevate her legs. The patient is rolled into resus, where there are bigger bays. There's so much blood on the floor that the wheels of the bed left a long, red trail across the emergency department.
In handover later, I heard she was hypovolaemic and they were keeping her for awhile until her red blood cell count was returned, to confirm she wasn't anaemic from all the blood loss.
TL;DR - woman came in with vague abdominal pain, ended up admitted for violent blood loss.
Afterwards, I heard the student asking the nurse if she would tick her off for the cannula.
Bianca Van Deventer 1 month ago
That student had some nerve asking for a pass on nearly k*****g someone.
Wonnie-Cookie713 1 month ago
WHAT THE ACTUAL FU7KIN HELL?! w-why do they wanna be a doctor if they are gonna……..
Huddo's sister 1 month ago
I had a student (flebotomy, rather than doctor) taking my bloods a week ago. My veins are often bad (mostly due to dehydration) and she tried once on each arm. Apparently where I live, they are only allowed to try twice, before the teacher takes over, which she did and got a vein though it took a long time for the blood to come through. Today on the other hand, I had bloods taken and it was really quick, I was complimented on my veins. It was useful having a 1.5hr drive beforehand, because I was well hydrated, drinking tea the whole way.
#46
The patient here, went to the doctors for minor tonsillitis. However I had been getting it quite frequently and he recommended getting my tonsils removed.
So I arrive at hospital to get my tonsils out, surgery happens and I wake up in my bed struggling to breath. They insisted that I was just tired. I tried to get out of my bed and instantly collapsed. A nurse rushed in and started doing her vital signs, turns out I was breathing quite frequently and heavily. The doctor comes in and checks me and over again, and finds out that during the surgery I had pneumonia and as a result my lung had collapsed. Leading me to stay in hospital for another 2 weeks.
#47
I went to the doctor trying to get a sick note so i could cal out of work because my stomach hurt and i threw up a few times. i ended up in the hospital for 24 hours needing emergency surgery. i was pissed off. all i wanted todo was go home and play video games but i was stuck watching hospital tv.
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Skywitness 1 month ago
A coworker was living in SF a number of years ago. He had a massive headache and found out his diastolic pressure was higher than his systolic. The doctors he was seeing had no idea and were ready to send him home. Another doctor wasn't dismissive and realized he'd torn his aorta and needed emergency surgery. The graft was supposed to last longer than he did but he managed to get Valley Fever and it caused paralysis of his right arm and caused inflammation to his heart. A new patch was needed.
Johnny Rodriguez 1 month ago
I had a sever pain on inner left thigh, went in to urgent care and they ended up sending me to the ER. At the ER they took some blood and then left me there for about 2 hrs. while they ran some test. 2 hrs. later they came RUNNING back into the room, shoved a clipboard at me and said I needed to sign a consent for surgery - and I would either have stiches, a hole in my leg, or they may have to take my leg off.... no other info given at that immediate moment! I looked at them and said "why?" - long story short I had a developing necrotizing fasciitis (flesh eating virus), and if they didn't operate right away I would for sure loose my leg and might die. Needless to say I signed the consent form.... and got to keep my leg, minus a big chunk cut out of my inner left thigh.
SkippityBoppityBoo 1 month ago
I only got about half way through these. All I can say is? If you feel like something is wrong? Get it checked out. Prevention is better than a cure as the saying goes... And having been through stuff. I do actually care about you all. Just ask. No harm in asking 💜
Skywitness 1 month ago
A coworker was living in SF a number of years ago. He had a massive headache and found out his diastolic pressure was higher than his systolic. The doctors he was seeing had no idea and were ready to send him home. Another doctor wasn't dismissive and realized he'd torn his aorta and needed emergency surgery. The graft was supposed to last longer than he did but he managed to get Valley Fever and it caused paralysis of his right arm and caused inflammation to his heart. A new patch was needed.
Johnny Rodriguez 1 month ago
I had a sever pain on inner left thigh, went in to urgent care and they ended up sending me to the ER. At the ER they took some blood and then left me there for about 2 hrs. while they ran some test. 2 hrs. later they came RUNNING back into the room, shoved a clipboard at me and said I needed to sign a consent for surgery - and I would either have stiches, a hole in my leg, or they may have to take my leg off.... no other info given at that immediate moment! I looked at them and said "why?" - long story short I had a developing necrotizing fasciitis (flesh eating virus), and if they didn't operate right away I would for sure loose my leg and might die. Needless to say I signed the consent form.... and got to keep my leg, minus a big chunk cut out of my inner left thigh.
SkippityBoppityBoo 1 month ago
I only got about half way through these. All I can say is? If you feel like something is wrong? Get it checked out. Prevention is better than a cure as the saying goes... And having been through stuff. I do actually care about you all. Just ask. No harm in asking 💜
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