Not sure my post goes with the content of this thread, but I figured I’d share it here.
This week I had the chance to observe (in the operating room) two open heart surgeries in kids. It was a mind blowing experience and a testament to the advances that medicine has made (too bad there’s so much other crap associated with medical care).
The first surgery was a repair of a congenital heart defect in a week old baby girl. I started watching since the time the baby was being prepped for anesthesia, and by far the most shocking part was seeing the sternum being sawed off so that the surgeon could access the heart. The surgeon then went slowly burning off tissue to access the area of the heart being worked on. At the time they got to the area being repaired, they put the baby in the circulator and stopped the heart from beating. It took like 45 minutes of work at that point to make the repair, suture all the areas back up, and remove the baby from the circulator. The heart started beating again and they started closing the baby up. Seemed like the surgery went smoothly.
I then moved to another OR where a heart transplant on a 1 year old was going on. I got there in time to see the surgeons remove the old heart. Then all you could see was a cavity open and waiting for the new heart. When the new heart arrived (within a few minutes, it’s all well timed), they took it out of the ice box. The surgeon handled it, cut some tissue off to make sure they could make the right connections put it in the open chest cavity, and started sowing it on. It looked more like art than science. Tiny little stitches, one by one, all the main arteries and veins were connected to the new heart. And just on its own, the new heart started beating. So surreal.
In both surgeries there was a complete sense of calm in the ORs. No loud instructions being shouted. No sense of desperation for something not going according to plan. Just a small team of bright people giving life back to two little kids. It was really amazing to watch.
Man that truly is incredible. Thanks for sharing your experience observing those operations. When I get annoyed or stressed with my job I’ll sometimes think about the work that surgeons do, and it’s just on a whole different level. The responsibility, the skill and knowledge, the miniscule margin for error, and the ability to save lives when you don’t fuck up. Takes a special type of person to be a good surgeon.
Update on what is going on with my situation. My doctors office called yesterday and said that they finally got the MRI approved. My xray came back and showed disc degeneration in the C5/C6 region. They said they tried to schedule my MRI for me but the MRI place they are referring me to has a staff shortage (???) so the MRI place would have to call me to schedule it which so far has not happened.
I am feeling a little better. I would say my 24/7 pain is down from a 6-8 range to more like a 4-7 range. I still have weakness and radiating pain in my left arm that varies but it is a little better. Gripping anything or lifting anything with my left arm/hand is still at maybe 30% of normal. I still have neck pain and a weird feeling in my neck but it is slightly better than it was at the beginning of the week. I am not sure if I am just getting used to it or if the arthritis meds/steroids they gave me are working or what. Hopefully I am getting better and can avoid surgery.
Ask a boomer for help making the appointment. They can give you helpful advice like just walk up to the guy who owns the MRI machine, shake his hand and look him in the eye, and tell him you’re looking for an MRI.
This really is the classic all American story. Thought you had insurance? Lol no you don’t. With the only proposed solution being to beg your feudal lord sorry I mean boss to try and use their power to force the insurance company to cover something that should clearly and obviously be covered.
I did finally get the MRI this morning. I’ve never had one before and it was quite the experience. I imagine quite a few people freak out being in that tiny tube head first for half an hour. It was all I could do not to.
To add another laugh to the insurance battle it turned out that almost none of the MRI was even covered by my insurance anyways because I still had a ways to go to meet my deductible. So after months of battle I ended up paying for about 90% of it out of pocket anyways.
