Lucky he was constipated, or he'd be dead

[adventure_rn]

After lurking on this site for years I just joined last week, and I have to say, you guys tell the best stories!!!

So, I'm wondering: Has anybody had patients who probably would have died if they didn't happen to be in the hospital for a completely unrelated complaint?

Had an elderly patient years ago in the ED to rule out small bowel obstruction. Came from a nursing home, had a 'touch' of pneumonia (whatever that means) for which he was already taking antibiotics. X-rays showed that his 'bowel obstruction' was simply constipation and gas. About to get discharged, waiting for transportation back to the facility, hanging out eating a ham sandwich, and BAM, he codes.

After twenty minutes of resuscitation, he's up to the ICU. Apparently he had a systemic inflammatory response related to his pneumonia. The poor resident nearly wet himself, and kept saying over and over, "I don't know how I missed it!" Not sure if the patient ever made it home, but I'm certain that he wouldn't have survived if he hadn't coincidentally been in the ED with bad gas! Blows my mind to this day.

[Littleguccipiggy]

Working in oncology, our "oh by the way"s are a little different and are called "since you're here". We had a patient dumped outside of the ED with a gunshot wound and positive for recreational drugs. He was transferred to our unit because he was one of our patients. So since he was here, he got some radiation therapy. A lot of our patients come in for nausea/vomiting/weakness/pleural effusion, etc.; so "since you're here" we'll also give you some chemo.

[brownbook]

A healthy young man was in a minor/moderate bicycle accident, went to ER, got a routine chest X-ray, there was a suspicious area seen on the film, they caught lung cancer early!

Not the same thing, but another man was an art teacher and also did nude modeling for art classes. A woman in the class noticed an odd looking mole on his back, a melanoma was caught early!

[enuf_already]

Had a teen come in and get a CT to rule out a skull fracture from a fall and there was a brain tumor on the CT.

Did a spine MRI on a toddler to rule out tethered cord. Spine was fine but had primary liver cancer. Cancer was treated and the child did great because of early diagnosis and treatment.

[klone, MSN, RN]

Had a healthy postpartum mom s/p primary cesarean section get a post-op CBC with crazy WBC numbers. Diagnosed a week later with leukemia. Took care of her sister in labor a couple years later and learned she had died.

[Norepinephrine]

I know of a case like that! A classmate's brother hit his head against the bottom of the top bunk in his dorm room when he was in college after his roommate startled him. He had a bad headache and mild confusion, so he had a head CT. He wound up having a mild concussion, and finding a tiny malignant brain tumor very early. 6 years later and he's been disease-free since. Was told that had he not had a head CT for an unrelated reason, he would have likely have been diagnosed as late as 2-3 years later, and at that point, it would have almost certainly been terminal. He's 27, engaged to be married, holding a steady job in the field he studied, and healthy when he otherwise would have likely died when he was 23-25. Crazy world sometimes.

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

I took my husband to the ER for right shoulder and upper quadrant pain. His doctor and I both believed it was his gallbladder and ordered a CT. Well, his GB was full of stones all right, but that wasn't his major malfunction---he had pancreatic CA with mets to the liver and spine. Stage IV, no less. He's still with us, but he wouldn't have been if we hadn't gone to the ER when we did.

[Barnstormin' PMHNP]

Teenage girl was hit while riding her bike, put on our floor. They discovered she had colon cancer from the workup, she ended up having a pretty large resection. They probably wouldn't have caught it for a long time if she hadn't had that accident.

[Caffeine_IV]

I can't think of the details but most of them end up with a discovery of cancer. Sometimes early stages and sometimes already stage III or IV.

[cardiacfreak, ADN]

Well, my mom went to the ER one day with a severe headache, and found out she had a brain tumor.

This happens frequently.

[cardiacfreak, ADN]

I took my husband to the ER for right shoulder and upper quadrant pain. His doctor and I both believed it was his gallbladder and ordered a CT. Well, his GB was full of stones all right, but that wasn't his major malfunction---he had pancreatic CA with mets to the liver and spine. Stage IV, no less. He's still with us, but he wouldn't have been if we hadn't gone to the ER when we did.

So sorry to hear that, Viva, I'll keep you in my prayers.

[DowntheRiver]

Walked in to the student health center with a cough of 6 months. Get a chest x-Ray and suddenly I'm being whisked away to the ER via ambulance for a pericardial effusion. Emergency pericardiocentesis that drained roughly 1.5 liters from my chest, turned out I had Stage II Hodgkin's Lymphoma with a bulky mediastinal tumor.

They put me in twilight, and I remember a good bit of the procedure. I remember the giant syringes filled with yellow-green fluid being handed over my head. August 15 makes 7 years of remission!

And yes, this is why I became a nurse...

[nursehaley91, BSN, RN]

Had a lady come in after someone had set fire to her house in the middle of the night while she was asleep just to be monitored for smoke inhalation. After tests were run she was diagnosed with Leukemia. Just saw her the other day and she's now in full remission. As crappy as it was that her house was lost, something positive absolutely came from that.