I wish I was in the room when the doctor floated his idea.
A woman’s lungs were killing her, so the doctor said, “let’s cut them out.”
(NEWSER) – Melissa Benoit “thought it was a piece of science fiction” when she learned what doctors had done to her, CBC reports. The Canadian mom just couldn’t believe it when she learned she had survived for six days without lungs—an impressive feat detailed in a study published Wednesday. According to the Guardian, Benoit, 32, was born with cystic fibrosis. After she came down with a flu that left her coughing so hard she fractured ribs, she was admitted to the hospital in April, the Canadian Press reports. There, doctors realized she had only hours to live. Benoit’s lungs were failing, and antibiotic-resistant bacteria was sending her into septic shock, dropping her blood pressure, and knocking her organs out of commission. Life support wasn’t working.
Desperate, surgeons decided to remove Benoit’s lungs—the source of the bacteria—and go from there. Doctors say “there were a lot of unknowns”—as far as they know, nothing like this had ever been done before—but got “courage” knowing that Benoit would “for sure” die that day if they did nothing. It took 13 people nine hours to remove Benoit’s lungs, which were swollen and hard with mucus. They had no idea how long they’d have to wait until a new set of lungs would be available for transplant. In the meantime, they hooked Benoit’s heart to an artificial lung. Within minutes, her blood pressure returned to normal. Six days later, she received a successful lung transplant. Benoit says doctors “pulled me back from the dead.”
Interesting story. Wonderful outcome for this family!
Canadian medicine miracles, when is the last Obamacare miracle you heard about?
Yup😳
Sounds like a episode of house md
Amazing technology!
beautiful. fantastic job docs
Wow!
God’s hands were clearly on that doctor, such a scary decision to make.
Bold and couragous gamble. Great story.
The Canadian healthcare system is known for long waits for critical operations and treatments. I wonder what politician she’s related to.
Some Doctors really are miracle workers when they are busy using their skills to save lives while other doctors really are the scum of the earth when they are busy using their skills to take lives! Compare the two and then decide which ones should get a license to practice medicine!
Speaking from personal experience, the long waits in Canada are for the specialist appointment, usually 3 months minimum. Once I was in and the decision was made that I could be saved, the care was fast and excellent. I had to stop bashing the system! 🙂 Still long waits for joint replacements, though.
Thankfully they didn’t just “give her the pain pill”.
There should be an academy awards type show for people like this who actually do something that deserves praise.
Wonderful story. Brilliant outcome.
I think God helped a little bit. At first blush I thought she was living without lungs. Now I get it. You have to get used ones.
Re my previous, the first specialist appt took 3 months. After that, the second specialist appt took another 3 months. The test after that would have taken yet another 3 months but he rushed it and it only took 2 months. Total 8 months from first complaint to diagnosis and plan for treatment after the panel deemed me saveable.