ER is really scary tonight

[hercamore]

After the episode, our local news lead with the story of this new stroke treatment being used at Mayo Clinic in the past year. This is a "last resort" treatment and is not always successful. Scary, indeed.

herc.

 

[disney4us2002]

The doctors went up thru a artery in her leg to her brain (wow!) and found the clot, put something thru the iv to dissolve it and almost immediately the stroke symptoms reversed. Whether that could actually happen I have no idea but when she started floating away and the screen went black I thought they were killing her off!

Also, looks like Carter and social worker are over. Maybe? She said she loves him; he said he couldn't say it so she left.

I totally guessed those kids in the ER were alone and picked up a homeless guy to play 'dad'. Of course, I didn't guess mom had died in her bed!!! Wow that was a gruesome ending...

 

[danacara]

She is a tremendous actress (Cynthia Nixon) ... and with Bruschi suffering a stroke today, the timeliness is eerie ...

 

[Planogirl]

Thanks for the update. I was switching between this and Without A Trace and missed the ending. Such a very scary thing.

 

[smilingmouse]

Thank you very much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[ColoradoBuffaloMom]

Great episode. Had me in tears at the end. I liked how they showed her "talking" and what she was thinking.

 

[palmtreegirl]

I have a friend from another board who was in her early 30's when she had a stroke 1 1/2 ago. It happened a couple weeks after she had her 2nd baby. She's been through an extensive rehab and is still working to get back all her movement on her one side. She's an amazingly strong women who's been through hell and survived, I really admire her.

 

[eeyore0062]

I've had to stop watching. It is way too depressing and scary. Thanks Chad for those warning signs, thankfully I am good on all of those things. Someone post later and tell me how the show ends tonight. I think I need to stick with light type shows for a while. Have a great night everyone!!!

If you get the opportunity to see the ending, you really should. Tonight, that particular story had a happy ending.

I felt really bad for those kids. So scared to be split up, and taking good care of each other. That little boy had really stepped up to the plate to take care of his little brother and sister. So sad!

I think it is so funny that one surgeon who has the hots for Abby, and she is dating the student... I love it!

I wonder if they are showing less of Carter so we won't miss him so much when he leaves after this year.

I LOVE Luka and Sam! So cute together. I don't think that Luca was happy with Sam's answer about having babies, though. I hope that s
he changes her mind. Who WOULDN'T want to have Luca's babies????

I loved how Ellie (Cynthia Nixon) kept talking about how gorgeous Luke is... I was thinking, well, at least she still knows a good thing when she sees it.

It was really scary to actually see things through her eyes, and hear her voice, knowing that they couldn't understand her, and then have what was actually wrong slowly dawn on her. When her husband came and she was able to let him know with her eyes that she wanted to try the procedure, I was almost in tears. When she woke up and could talk to her kids, I did cry.... to have to live through everything she did and have her live given back to her was so inspirational. I think this is a good episode for anyone in the medical field to see, as you never know just how much that patient in front of you can understand, even if he/she can't let you know!

This has been a wonderful season on ER, and I am looking forward to next weeks episode with Shariff Atkins back as Michael (the one who had to go to Iraq). He and Neela (his love interest before he left) help some kids who need it. Can't wait to see how it unfolds!

 

[justhat]

I know it's a shot in the dark, but did anyone tape it? I was at a friend's house and she her baby died 7 weeks ago (she was 3 days old) and I just couldn't leave to go home to watch ER while she was telling me about her health problems and the baby. I asked my husband to tape it before he went on call, but he forgot.

 

[chimera]

That's exactly the kind of stroke my ex's grandmother had. She could understand everything, but couldn't commmunicate. I remember how horrible I thought it was at the time. Even after physical and speech therapy, she could only barely talk, couldn't walk. She would get so frustrated when people didn't understand her. She had been so active before the stroke...golfing, entertaining, etc. It was heartbreaking!

 

[zakatak]

Speaking of understanding what the patient might be able to hear, I have a story. When I had my Wisdom Teeth out (I was 18), I woke up in the middle of surgery and they sedated me more. Unfortunately it was too much and when they tried to wake me up, I could hear them but I could not move or open my eyes at all. So I listened to the whole thing! First the dentist delayed calling my parents in, then they did and my Mom freaked out, then they called the ambulance. Then I DID start to cry and THAT's how they found out I could hear them. All through the ambulance ride (it was cold but I couldn't tell them), the ER (the old blood gas needle in the wrist, which usually hurt like *#%*, this time I didn't flinch even though it KILLED), and finally the room. I could hear everything, FEEL everything, but I couldn't move anything, no reflexes, nothing. It was extremely weird and very, very scary. I did eventually come out of it (obviously) about 6 hours later!

 

[slo]

Very scary, but positive to see how wonderful modern mediciane has become.

 

[elgerber]

35 that is three years away! Very scary.

I am 35 and last night's show terrified me. With the exception of the mom who died right after childbirth, this is the scariest show I have ever seen on ER. I was holding my breath while they did the surgery and while they were asking her husband if she should have it. I looked at dh and said "I'm with her". I would never want to be left like that, no matter what the risk of the surgery. Absolutely terrifying, so glad she had a happy ending.

 

[elgerber]

I wonder if they are showing less of Carter so we won't miss him so much when he leaves after this year.

They are now saying that he probably will not leave after all. He will appear in less episodes, but will most likely stay with the show next season.

 

[curlyjbs]

Reading this thread gave me goosebumps all over again! One of the best ER's yet!

~curly

 

[MB MinnieGirl]

I am 35 and last night's show terrified me. I looked at dh and said "I'm with her". I would never want to be left like that, no matter what the risk of the surgery. Absolutely terrifying, so glad she had a happy ending.

I'll be 34 next month. I just kept thinking, that could be me, that could be me! I agree Erika! No way would I EVER want to live in those condidtions. To me that would be a living hell.

The ending was almost unreal to see the drastic improvement and all symptoms reversed. I'm glad they didn't have her die...I think I would have been in tears the rest of the night. A very powerful episode for sure!

 

[Bob Slydell]

DW and I couldn't watch the whole show. It brought back too many bad memories, thinking that's how DW's Dad was in the final hours of his life (he died of a massive stroke a couple years ago).

For FIL, he could have lived a pristine life and it wouldn't have mattered -- it turned out he only had one main artery leading to his brain stem and a very small second one. Once one got blocked, there was nothing they could do.

 

[btass]

Might as well make this statement....

A few things that increase your risk for a stroke:


A few things to do to help prevent a stroke:

link

Watch yourselves folks...

My father had none of these symptoms and had not one but two strokes last September. He still does not see very well but he is enjoying life more, kind of a wake up call for him. Thinking about this stuff is scary but health problems and death can happen at any time, live for the people around you, not the material possesions.

 

[SillyMe]

My step-dad had a triple bypass 3 years ago. He woke up in the middle of the surgery, paralyzed, and could not get anyone's attention to alert them to the fact that he knew everything that was going on. He woke up just as they were re-starting his heart. He listened to everything they said and did. It terrified him.

After the surgery he told the doctors and they didn't believe him until he repeated their conversations back to them and explained exactly what they did to him. They were horrified. They said that never happened to any of their patients. He has sleep apnea, so they thought maybe it had something to do with the amount of anesthesia they gave him.

 

[vettechick99]

How would you like to have Broca's Aphasia? I learned about it in Physio of Psych.

Broca's Aphasia
Persons with a Broca's aphasia can usually understand what words mean, but have trouble performing the motor or output aspects of speech.

Imagine being of sound mind, but unable to form coherent sentences? How frustrating! And this can be caused by a lesion or traumatic brain injury.