Patients that made you go "How are you even alive?!"

Nurses General Nursing

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Ever had a patient who had such a crazy medical history, insanely criticallabs, scary vital signs etc. that made you go, "How are you evenalive and talking to me?!"

Last night we had several such patients.

Every time I entered my patient's vital signs, the computer kept giving mea warning message saying that the numbers were outside the criticalrange and do I really, really want to record that. His MAP wasbasically incompatible with life. Equipment was validated many times.And yet the patient was totally asymptomatic and highly annoyed thatwe keep bothering him.

The phone was ringing and ringing when AM labs were up because we had somany critical values. Crazy electrolytes... and yet patients werestill in sinus rhythm.

A friend was hospitalized and his heart went into the 20s when heslept. No blocks, no cardiac disease, no symptoms... nada. He's justa fit guy, a genetic freak and a thorn in the side of the telemetry techs hehe.

The human body is amazing sometimes. Sometimes it finds a way to keep going despite the numbers.

So tell us about your patients who have made you go, "How are you even alive?!"

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Specializes in ICU.

Haha love the title of this thread. Am tired and will think of some later to post, but am interested to read others' stories! Only thing that sticks out in my mind is a pt with a pH of 6.89 or something ridiculous like that...vented...ended up being ok bc we caught it and fixed his underlying issues! Insane.

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Specializes in ICU, telemetry, LTAC.

Let's see, troponin of 131 (not sure if that was the exact number, it was not recent), the patient survived to discharge. I don't remember the exact values we had on the dude who drank rubbing alcohol, but his stuff was MESSED up and prettymuch impossible to interpret. The doc just shook his head and said, man I don't know what this means!

Then there are all the quads out there with dysreflexia who normally have bp's in the 70's over squat, and you better get 'em their pain meds too, or they get worse. I've seen a woman with a blood sugar of 7 survive. Now that was a bad morning for this nurse!! Up all darn night monitoring my patient's sugar, one last check at shift change just to be sure and woah. The thing didn't tell me, just said "low" but the stat labs we ran said 7. I was fit to be tied.

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I don't work icu so my numbers won't be as impressive...but I had a pt one time admitted with a blood glucose of over 1200. He wouldn't take insulin because he was a truck driver and didn't want to lose his license. I also had an ETOHer with a blood alcohol level of 600-something upon admission. He was walking around and making sense. He seized and ended up in the icu when his level dropped below 400. Who knows what his level reached when he was 3 sheets to the wind.

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Specializes in Emergency.

Had a patient come in with a creatinine over 18. After aggressive IV hydration for about five days, he was fine. I was really surprised.

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Specializes in Oncology.

We had a potassium of 10 on a new admit patient recently...

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Specializes in MICU.

I've seen a couple pH 6.8 patients survive...surprises me every time.

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Specializes in Geriatrics, retirement, home care..
We had a potassium of 10 on a new admit patient recently...
eek!! We had a lady with a pulse of 46 irreg, asked family if it was normal, they said their pulse was normally 43-44 also.I once came on shift anf found a diabetic pt on the floor with BS 0.3. Sent her to hosp and they were able to stabilize her.Also had BP 180/100 an an assisted living facility as a resident's NORM. He refused to take any medications, and his doctor said "he was fine". I'm still amazed the man didn't have a stroke.
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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

I once had an ALF resident who could be alert and talking with a BS reading of 16.:eek: He was the most brittle diabetic I've ever seen.......he also could be in the 600s and you'd never know it until you checked it. His FSBS were scheduled six times per day, but we usually had to do it at least 10 times per day to make sure he wasn't either in the dumper or about to go into DKA.

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My grandmother was unconscious, we and the ambulance guys thought she had a stroke. Her BP was so high they weren't sure how to record it - the sphyg went to 260, and they were still getting a good beat. She stayed that way overnight - this was 35 years ago, in the ER and in the ICU. About noon time, she woke up, a little bit confused and moaning. Her BP was very suddenly about 180/100, and she was completely normal. This happened at least three times to her. No one could tell us how she survived these episodes unscathed. It was about 15 years later that she had a series of TIAs that left her weakened, but still mentally clear.

I have seen more than a few people with BP in excess of 240/140 survive and get it back to normal. Scary.

Whew!

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Specializes in Psych, Peds, Education, Infection Control.

I've had a few like that - satting in the 70's on 15L of O2 and no cyanosis...I was working mental health crisis when I had a woman come in with a blood alcohol of .45 (legal limit is .08, and we're talking alcohol poisioning levels in the .40's) who was walking, talking, and only slurring her words slightly. We sent her to ER for eval, since we were standalone psych...she managed to escape them.

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Specializes in wound care.

i think iv seen a ladies bun in the high 50s or 60 . i wana say it was 62, several weeks later she became dialysis dependent , sugars in the 30s. my own grandfather has a k+ level of 8.2 , he almost died. iv allso seen sats in the 70s , she acted drunk i had to force the o2 on her and hold it on her for at least 10 mins it prob got up to the mid 80s

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