The Time Bomb

4/4/07 | 60Gunner

[60Gunner]

You can find an excellent explanation of aortic dissection, as well as causes, treatment and prognoses, here. He may not have literally had an explosive device implanted in him, but his own body had manufactured something that would have killed him just as quickly. And when the aorta ruptures, it is over in seconds. We had a patient a week previously who was not as fortunate as my patient. But the MD who tended to the patient who died also tended to my patient. And this MD is fantastic.

[Logophile]

You need to make a book of these stories.

That is what I was going to say.

Keep writing, and find a publisher.

[60Gunner]

Almost a sure death sentence.

If the aorta lets go, it is 100% fatal. Nobody survives it.

[null and void]

and what exactly is it?

Imagine you have one of those pressure hoses with the braid between the inner and outer tube. The braid is what keeps the inside tube from swelling up like a balloon and bursting, the outer tube is just there to protect the braid from getting frayed.

Now imagine that the inside tube has a hole. The water quickly pours into the gap that has the braid, the inside tube starts to collapse and the outer tube begins to swell up.

Very soon you are going to have a wet floor...

[Gator113]

Great read.

Being one that has been in the hospital 6 times in the past 4 years, I really appreciate the A-Team.

Great job....you gave that guy a fighting chance.

[Lazamataz]

Unlike everyone else, I DON’T want to know how it turned out.

[streetpreacher]

And you don’t know if he made it?? This story stinks!!

[streetpreacher]

You’re probably right.

[TASMANIANRED]

My worst one died but took a while to do it.

She were on a monitored unit when it blew.

She got to OR pretty promptly and they managed to fix it.

She had about 27 liters of fluids and blood and I was trying to keep her alive in ICU from about hour 8-12.

DIC was so bad she was bleeding from her eyeballs. I couldn’t pump in blood fast as fast as she was loosing it.

We fought the good fight but the Grim Reaper won .

[60Gunner]

Oh, I know the ending. You will be amazed. But the process of describing it will take another entire post. I am working on it. Please stay tuned.

[MHGinTN]

I love these narratives. Used to turn to them first thing when my Discover Mag arrived.

[exit82]

Laz—check post 30. Maybe your tagline is prophetic.

We already know that it is true.

[Judith Anne]

My grandfather had a big aortic aneurysm. He went to his dr, unbuttoned his shirt, and said, “My heart dropped” and sure enough, it looked just like his heart had dropped into his abdomen—a big pulsing lump.

He lived for over a decade, after the surgical repair.

*sigh*

[Dr.Zoidberg]

Well get to it man, we’re all hanging here with baited breath.

And right now the bait it trying to wriggle off the hook!

[KoRn]

I’m interested in hearing the end of this. Please add me to your ER list. My wife is a nurse. I often show your stories to her and she reads them when I find them.

[REDWOOD99]

Please add me to this ping list. And tell us what happened to the guy!

[streetpreacher]

Thanks. I’ll be keeping an eye out for it. You do write really well.

[Dr.Zoidberg]

Oh and while you’re at it, please add me to your ping list as well.

Thank you.

[swmobuffalo]

Please add me to the ping list! Your stories are great!

[verum ago]

now, I have no medical training, but for what it's worth both my older brothers (one is a paramedic, the other in med school) like to show me pictures of medical problems, especially sample xrays and CAT scans. One, I do not recall which, has shown me pictures of various aortic dissections. Now, in the picture above, I think the line that the red arrow points at is the intima, meaning that the entire lower left third of the aorta in the pic is false lumen. Is my interpretation correct? Because if so, whoa! That's waaaaayyy larger than any dissection my brothers have showed me a pic of (like, Good G-d!). when I first saw it and decided that's what it was I said Wloud 'I'm looking at death'. Please tell me I'm an amateur idiot (which would be redundant) and that I'm wrong. Because I hope for the sake of the patient I'm really way off. That's just frightening.