Grey's Emotional Exhaustion
If you came here wondering what aortic dissection, placental abruption, and DIC are, hang in there. I'll get to that in a minute.
First, I have to comment on the other issues in last night's Grey's Anatomy.
Was anyone else as exhausted at the end of the show as I was? It was just one storyline after another about unrequited love. I have to admit that I generally prefer shows on the lighter side. Give me a comedy over a drama anytime. And last night reminded me why.
I was talking to someone here in the WebMD office and she said it was definitely an episode for women. Do women really like all that intense emotion?
Laughter is great medicine. Keep that in mind next time you're planning your next TV night.
The characters on Grey's have an unwieldy amount of issues. Thankfully my life -- and I hope yours -- would make for pretty boring TV. I'll take boring over out of control any time.
OK, now that I got that off my chest, let's get to the good stuff -- all the scary pregnancy issues in last night's Grey's. I actually enjoyed that part quite a bit.
First, there was the aortic dissection in the young woman pregnant with twins. The aorta is the largest blood vessel in the body and carries oxygen-rich blood away from the heart to the rest of the body.
In an aortic dissection, there is a tear in the aorta, which gets progressively worse. Blood surges through the tear and separates (dissects) the layers of the aorta. Chest pain, often accompanied by pain in the back and between the shoulder blades, is the key symptom.
It's a very serious condition, with the death rate near 50% in the first 48 hours without emergency treatment, which includes medication to lower blood pressure and surgery to repair the tear. Grey's writers were right on with the treatment.
Although aortic dissection is three times more common in men than women and more common after age 50, pregnancy is one factor that increases the likelihood of an aortic dissection. Thankfully it's still rare during pregnancy.
I really liked the storyline between the Chief and his ex (are they actually divorced yet?). There was just something really nice about it -- maybe it just seemed particularly special next to all the heartbreak.
The writers never really gave us much info on exactly what happened to her, but Dr. Addison Montgomery-Shepherd did throw out the possibility of a placental abruption as an explanation for her bleeding.
Normally, the placenta is firmly attached to the inside wall of the uterus until the baby is born. In a placental abruption, the placenta prematurely separates from the uterus. Not only is this life- threatening to the fetus because it's source of nutrients and oxygen is cut off, it can also be very serious for the mother due to loss of blood.
And a placental abruption can lead to the second complication that Dr. Shepherd dealt with last night -- DIC. This stands for disseminated intravascular coagulation (you can see now why we just call it DIC).
This is a complicated condition that combines blood clot formation and bleeding caused by a blood clotting system gone awry. Thankfully the Chief's wife had a fairly mild case of it because it can also be quite serious.
For a minute we thought she was dead until she opened her eyes when the Chief entered the room. Then we find out it was actually the baby that didn't make it.
Last night's Grey's was quite the roller coaster ride -- emotionally and medically. I guess we'll have to wait 'till next season to find out how they explain George and Burke up and disappearing.
And I am interested to see Addison's new show Private Practice. She's actually one of my favorite characters. She seems to be a bit more together than the rest of the characters, which isn't really saying a lot.
Related Links: The Health & Baby Center at WebMD
First, I have to comment on the other issues in last night's Grey's Anatomy.
Was anyone else as exhausted at the end of the show as I was? It was just one storyline after another about unrequited love. I have to admit that I generally prefer shows on the lighter side. Give me a comedy over a drama anytime. And last night reminded me why.
I was talking to someone here in the WebMD office and she said it was definitely an episode for women. Do women really like all that intense emotion?
Laughter is great medicine. Keep that in mind next time you're planning your next TV night.
The characters on Grey's have an unwieldy amount of issues. Thankfully my life -- and I hope yours -- would make for pretty boring TV. I'll take boring over out of control any time.
OK, now that I got that off my chest, let's get to the good stuff -- all the scary pregnancy issues in last night's Grey's. I actually enjoyed that part quite a bit.
First, there was the aortic dissection in the young woman pregnant with twins. The aorta is the largest blood vessel in the body and carries oxygen-rich blood away from the heart to the rest of the body.
In an aortic dissection, there is a tear in the aorta, which gets progressively worse. Blood surges through the tear and separates (dissects) the layers of the aorta. Chest pain, often accompanied by pain in the back and between the shoulder blades, is the key symptom.
It's a very serious condition, with the death rate near 50% in the first 48 hours without emergency treatment, which includes medication to lower blood pressure and surgery to repair the tear. Grey's writers were right on with the treatment.
Although aortic dissection is three times more common in men than women and more common after age 50, pregnancy is one factor that increases the likelihood of an aortic dissection. Thankfully it's still rare during pregnancy.
I really liked the storyline between the Chief and his ex (are they actually divorced yet?). There was just something really nice about it -- maybe it just seemed particularly special next to all the heartbreak.
The writers never really gave us much info on exactly what happened to her, but Dr. Addison Montgomery-Shepherd did throw out the possibility of a placental abruption as an explanation for her bleeding.
Normally, the placenta is firmly attached to the inside wall of the uterus until the baby is born. In a placental abruption, the placenta prematurely separates from the uterus. Not only is this life- threatening to the fetus because it's source of nutrients and oxygen is cut off, it can also be very serious for the mother due to loss of blood.
And a placental abruption can lead to the second complication that Dr. Shepherd dealt with last night -- DIC. This stands for disseminated intravascular coagulation (you can see now why we just call it DIC).
This is a complicated condition that combines blood clot formation and bleeding caused by a blood clotting system gone awry. Thankfully the Chief's wife had a fairly mild case of it because it can also be quite serious.
For a minute we thought she was dead until she opened her eyes when the Chief entered the room. Then we find out it was actually the baby that didn't make it.
Last night's Grey's was quite the roller coaster ride -- emotionally and medically. I guess we'll have to wait 'till next season to find out how they explain George and Burke up and disappearing.
And I am interested to see Addison's new show Private Practice. She's actually one of my favorite characters. She seems to be a bit more together than the rest of the characters, which isn't really saying a lot.
Related Links: The Health & Baby Center at WebMD
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