Grey's Threw Me a Bone!
As a doctor, last nights Grey's Anatomy brought a smile to my face. And I'm not just talking about Christina's intense brown nosing, which did crack me up.
I know you guys hate it when I disrespect the show too much, so I've been trying to lay off the criticisms and enjoy the craziness. But it seems like Grey's writers have been doing their homework -- or maybe they just listened to their medical consultants this time.
You can break your "butt." Your brain can swell very quickly if you pull a pencil out of your brain. And the Chief actually ordered the right test when Dr. Bailey's "friend" developed a pulmonary embolism, a blood clot in the lungs.
The cheerleader didn't actually break her butt. I just went with it because one of the editors at WebMD asked me, "Can you actually break your butt?"
She actually broke her coccyx, or tailbone, which is fairly common for someone who lands hard on their rear. Surgery is rarely needed but Callie wouldn't have had much to do if they just treated it with a "doughnut," a pillow that you sit on to cushion the area. And that's not nearly as exciting as surgery - although it probably would have lent itself to some good whoopee cushion jokes.
Onto the pencil. McDreamy mentioned that the pencil was lodged near the "ACA." If you know what that is, then here's your honorary MD degree. The ACA is the anterior cerebral artery, one of the main large arteries in the brain.
It's completely reasonable that the brain would bleed profusely if the ACA were nicked. And like McDreamy said, since the brain is encased in the skull, the blood and the resulting swelling has nowhere to go. Not only does this lead to severe brain damage, oftentimes this will cause "brain herniation," where the brain is essentially pushed down into the spinal canal, causing severe brain compression and death.
Now, Dr. Bailey's high school crush. While that was really the focus of that storyline, for me, I was quite interested in the series of events around his pulmonary embolism.
The guy had atrial fibrillation, which is the most common heart rhythm problem. The main problem with atrial fibrillation is that the blood doesn't get pumped out of the heart like it should and can form a clot inside the heart. The clot can then be pumped into the lungs, blocking blood supply to part of the lungs.
When the man "crashed," the term doctors use when a patient goes downhill quickly, the Chief rushed in to save the day since Dr. Bailey was acting like a "blithering idiot" (Dr. Hahn's words – not mine). And he actually ordered the right test – a spiral CAT scan. It made me feel all warm and cozy inside.
There are probably few of us that actually get this kind of joy out of watching TV medical dramas. Hopefully for my sake, and the few others out there who get their joys this way, Grey's writers will keep up the good work.
Does accurate medicine really spoil Meredith's inability to commit to the man she loves or Izzie's lack of sexual electricity with George? I think not. Throw me a bone, please.
Related Topics: Technorati Tags: Grey's Anatomy, TV, medicine, McDreamy
I know you guys hate it when I disrespect the show too much, so I've been trying to lay off the criticisms and enjoy the craziness. But it seems like Grey's writers have been doing their homework -- or maybe they just listened to their medical consultants this time.
You can break your "butt." Your brain can swell very quickly if you pull a pencil out of your brain. And the Chief actually ordered the right test when Dr. Bailey's "friend" developed a pulmonary embolism, a blood clot in the lungs.
The cheerleader didn't actually break her butt. I just went with it because one of the editors at WebMD asked me, "Can you actually break your butt?"
She actually broke her coccyx, or tailbone, which is fairly common for someone who lands hard on their rear. Surgery is rarely needed but Callie wouldn't have had much to do if they just treated it with a "doughnut," a pillow that you sit on to cushion the area. And that's not nearly as exciting as surgery - although it probably would have lent itself to some good whoopee cushion jokes.
Onto the pencil. McDreamy mentioned that the pencil was lodged near the "ACA." If you know what that is, then here's your honorary MD degree. The ACA is the anterior cerebral artery, one of the main large arteries in the brain.
It's completely reasonable that the brain would bleed profusely if the ACA were nicked. And like McDreamy said, since the brain is encased in the skull, the blood and the resulting swelling has nowhere to go. Not only does this lead to severe brain damage, oftentimes this will cause "brain herniation," where the brain is essentially pushed down into the spinal canal, causing severe brain compression and death.
Now, Dr. Bailey's high school crush. While that was really the focus of that storyline, for me, I was quite interested in the series of events around his pulmonary embolism.
The guy had atrial fibrillation, which is the most common heart rhythm problem. The main problem with atrial fibrillation is that the blood doesn't get pumped out of the heart like it should and can form a clot inside the heart. The clot can then be pumped into the lungs, blocking blood supply to part of the lungs.
When the man "crashed," the term doctors use when a patient goes downhill quickly, the Chief rushed in to save the day since Dr. Bailey was acting like a "blithering idiot" (Dr. Hahn's words – not mine). And he actually ordered the right test – a spiral CAT scan. It made me feel all warm and cozy inside.
There are probably few of us that actually get this kind of joy out of watching TV medical dramas. Hopefully for my sake, and the few others out there who get their joys this way, Grey's writers will keep up the good work.
Does accurate medicine really spoil Meredith's inability to commit to the man she loves or Izzie's lack of sexual electricity with George? I think not. Throw me a bone, please.
Related Topics: Technorati Tags: Grey's Anatomy, TV, medicine, McDreamy
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