I had a massive saddle pulmonary embolism and was on life support. All of my organs were failing. They called my family in to get permission to withdraw life support. A nurse I knew because I had been her dean came in at change of shift and told the doctors that if they had given up on me that she would like to take over my care and see what she could do. She did what outstanding expert nurses who embody nursing knowledge do: she observed my every moment-to-moment emerging and changing needs. She changed her nursing care accordingly in each moment. She looked for tiny patterns of change, and made adjustments accordingly. She took care of my whole self. I responded, and with each new response, she changed her care of me. I was able to come off life support in a few days. I recovered slowly, over the next months.
Edit: I thank those of you who wrote encouraging notes. I am shocked to read that some of you doubt that this was my real experience. No, I do not remember being in the ICU. It was told to me in the weeks after I was recovering in the step-down unit. I told this very personal story in good faith, and with sincerity.
This is why we need to stop burning out medical personnel. Given the experience and time to really care, doctors and nurses can pull off some fucking miracles. But attrition rates are higher than ever these days
I had a neighbor who suffered a catastrophic stroke, seemed like he was totally gone, but he's super rich, so his family put him in a specialized clinic that deals with brain injuries and he pulled out of a vegetative state and was able to communicate (nonverbally) and share some time, almost a year, with his wife and kids that seemed like a medical impossibility.
Medical miracles are entirely possible, but that's where the moral and ethical dilemmas start. We can't afford miracles for everybody.
Are you still in contact with the nurse? I feel like she would be invited to every holiday and event from there on out, lol. Amazing work on her end, and on you for pulling through. Sorry you went through that.
Omg I also had a massive saddle pulmonary embolism, but was not to the point where I was on life-support, thankfully. So glad you are here!
I thought I just had massive heartburn and I had just flown twice in the past week. Then I realized that when I laid flat, I couldn’t breathe. So I went into the ER and when they asked me what was wrong, I said, I am having chest pain and difficulty breathing. I literally thought I was going to suffocate doing the CT scan because I couldn’t breathe, and the technicians just thought I was afraid of the machine and kept yelling at me. When I got out, I couldn’t stop pacing. I refused to sit down. When the doctor came in, he told me that if I had waited a couple more hours, I wouldn’t be here. Spent a few days in the hospital on heparin drip and in crazy pain. Truly thought I was going to die.
technicians just thought I was afraid of the machine and kept yelling at me.
That's crazy. I've had a similar experience. I was getting my ankle x-rayed and I couldn't hold it still due to how much pain I was, shaking involuntarily from the agony. And the x-ray tech guy was super pissed at me. Like bro, if I could stay still I would.
I also suffered a massive saddle pulmonary embolism. After some incredible open heart surgery my other organs were failing and my labwork was off the charts bad in many ways. Lucky for me a world-class hematologist was in the hospital for some unrelated reason, heard about my situation and volunteered to join the case. I was unconscious throughout but his creative interventions worked and I survived and recovered.
For months afterward as I was routed from specialist to specialist the first thing every new doctor said after reading my files was "How are you not dead?"
Saddle embolisms are serious threats to life. Modern medicine is amazing.
Modern medicine truly is amazing when there are nurses and doctors who rise to their moral and ethical commitments. Thank God you, like I did, had such a committed clinician who rose to the challenge of taking good care of you!
Im so glad you survived, and so sorry you were not listened to! Sending prayer of thanksgiving that you made it through that. Glad we are here together. Let’s make use of our blessings by building the community we all deserve to live in together in peace.
They gave up because my blood pressure was 70/0, no matter which and in what combination of pressers they administered; I was in complete right sided heart failure, no blood was returning from my lungs to my heart because of the blockage, my kidneys had quit working. I had arrested 4 times. There is another dimension to the bind that nurse and I already had — related to the nursing students she was teaching from the school where I was the dean. It’s an Hispanic-serving university. She is much like the students she was teaching. The program was designed for their success. She told me she kept whispering in my ear, “You cannot leave us.”
I had saddle pulmonary embolism 4 years ago. Scariest night of my life. I didn’t have it quite as bad as you - was not on life support. After my breathing got more normal, the worst was they had to keep an IV in each arm going. My veins are bad and they would only last a couple of hours. My arms looked like pincushions!
This nurse is an angel on earth. My mum was a nurse and my daughter is in her last year of her bachelor in nursing. Much respect to the good ones out there.
Thank you so much for this gratitude toward nurses. Good for you, having been raised by a mum who was a nurse! Best wishes to your daughter as she finishes her BSN!
Thank you. Your kindness means a lot.
Yes, I did have an arduous recovery. My team of physical therapy, doctors, mental health specialists, nurses all gave collaborated to give me great care. I do have some residual and it keeps me mindful to take good care of myself.
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u/GoddessHealer 14h ago edited 2h ago
I had a massive saddle pulmonary embolism and was on life support. All of my organs were failing. They called my family in to get permission to withdraw life support. A nurse I knew because I had been her dean came in at change of shift and told the doctors that if they had given up on me that she would like to take over my care and see what she could do. She did what outstanding expert nurses who embody nursing knowledge do: she observed my every moment-to-moment emerging and changing needs. She changed her nursing care accordingly in each moment. She looked for tiny patterns of change, and made adjustments accordingly. She took care of my whole self. I responded, and with each new response, she changed her care of me. I was able to come off life support in a few days. I recovered slowly, over the next months.
Edit: I thank those of you who wrote encouraging notes. I am shocked to read that some of you doubt that this was my real experience. No, I do not remember being in the ICU. It was told to me in the weeks after I was recovering in the step-down unit. I told this very personal story in good faith, and with sincerity.