a story someone told me about AAA

[oramar]

There is another thread by a student and it made me want to tell this story. I didn't post it on the student's thread because I did not want to hijack it. A nurse I know who has been a nurse for a long, long time told me that several years ago a man walked into her ER very sick. They quickly diagnosed him with disecting AAA. It was lucky that a surgeon was right there and he went right away to OR. While the patient was being pulled onto the table it ruptured. It was touch and go but the patient made it. She said she, ER doc and surgeon hi-fived each other because it was such a close call. The patient spent a long time in the hospital recovering and a local newspaper interviewed him about his long hospitalization. When asked what he thought of the hospital he said, "it is an awful place, you know I spent 30 minutes waiting for an xray last week and I got COLD". She said when she read that she just shook her head. She said she was very proud of her ER and thought the patient would not have made it if he had walked into another place. She said she had no hard feelings against the guy, he was so out of it the whole time it was impossible to appreciate his close call and the level of care he got.

[momdebo, BSN, RN]

That's great to hear! I have received thank you's when I rotated to tele and IMCU, lots when I worked hospice/home health, but never when I was in ER or ICU/cath lab. I'm sure that's a great feeling for your wife. Kudos to her!

[catshowlady]

I am not sure what % of people actually survive triple A but I am glad to hear this story.

Very few. Just had one in our unit this fall. Most of the docs stated that only 1-2% live long enough to make it through the surgical repair, then another 90% of that initial 1-2% die of complications. Our pt died of complications; most of his organ systems failed.