When I died | Hacker News Reader

When I died

blog.maryrosecook.com

126 pointsmaryrosecook31 comments

I posted this because I thought the HN community might find the doctors' problem solving approach interesting.

No kidding - it sounds like House MD was on the case. She was lucky to survive.

It is interesting that she had cardiac surgery as an infant. It does remind me of the situation of an acquaintance where the patient had cardiac problems as an infant/toddler that were fixed and then essentially moved on until they suddenly dropped dead (while apparently fit and healthy) in their early twenties. One one hand you'd think gee, maybe if you had such a rough start they would follow you up with a super-duper checkup every few years or so. On the other hand, I guess when the invincibility of youth sets in, no apparently healthy person wants to go to the doctor and relive their past.

Edit: sorry - s/she/you, didn't realise the HN comment was by the original author.

I'm terribly sorry to hear about your friend.

I have had cardiac check-ups at least once a year for my whole life. In several instances, new problems were found at one of the check-ups and the wheels were set in motion to mend things. Further, when I was in hospital for the cardiac arrest, the bulge in my aorta was discovered by accident.

I live in the UK. Perhaps the NHS are more will to keep tabs on people than private health services in other countries.

Doctors in the US usually over-test people due to lawsuit fears.

Getting paid more for over-testing probably has something to do with it too.

Not really. My parents (both physicians, just like a sizable part of my extended family) do not believe in unnecessary medical procedures, much like almost every other doctor. You don't become a cardiac physician unless you actually care about the people and what you do, trust me. Cosmetic surgery pays much more, holds less risk, and is less demanding if you're just in it for the money. In addition, most cardiac tests don't award the physicians any monetary value aside from decreasing malpractice risk through negligence.

That happened to the best friend of an old school friend of mine, too. Not even 30, prime of his life, just released first indie CD with my friend, everything going splendidly then suddenly - playing basketball one day, just falls over dead. The ambulance was there within a minute or two from the hospital right down the road - nothing they could do. No previous symptoms that anyone knew about.

It's customary to end an anecdote like this with a short "morsel of wisdom" summarising the above but shit, what can you say to that. Go to the doctor, folks. Checkup once every 2 years. Could save your life.

It's funny feeling like the doc has you open in gdb or something. I had my aortic root and a valve replaced a few years ago. However, I had been monitored for years prior, so I avoided the surprise you got. Anyways, glad you came through ok. The trauma of surgery becomes just another inconvenience from the past with a year or two of hindsight.

I glad you posted because I'm human and it's a great story. Just get better and write some more.

I was struck by how half way through the article, the foreign object is revealed. Shouldn't something like that be kept in check by regular checkups? Maybe an MRI scan?

I am 29. I have had two open heart surgeries, three valve replacements, one valve repair, and an ascending aortic aneurism repaired with a Dacron graft. I can't really explain why, but it's always somewhat comforting to find other people with the rare experience of having dealt with their mortality at a relatively young age. Thank you for sharing this. You are not alone, and your experiences are appreciated.

I also find it comforting to discover other young people who have weird hearts. Even cardiac doctors and nurses remark on my age.

Further, there is a medical unit in London called GUCH (Grown-Up Congenital Heart) that was created specifically for people like us who had heart problems early on in life. The need wasn't there before because, in the past, we'd all be dead by adulthood.

I know Mary outside of cyberville and shes a wonderful, talented person, who's been part of this community for a long time. Hope you recover quickly and get back to those crazy start-up ideas!

blush Awww, thanks, Kem.

Thank you very much for all the well wishes.

You deserve them! It must have been incredibly traumatic to go through something like that out of the blue...

Best of luck! I hope the rest of your recovery goes smoothly!

Thanks for sharing your experience. An online store of which I have a high opinion sells a product called SutureSafe which they say relieves tension on stitches and staples. Maybe they would be helpful to you: http://www.leevalley.com/gifts/page.aspx?c=2&p=61673&...

Owtch. This post would probably have a better score of people knew Lee Valley didn't have an affiliate program.

Is that what people are thinking - that I'm angling to rake in 10 cents on some kind of business relationship with Lee Valley? I sure am curious what they have in mind.

As one person who downvoted it, I apologize. My subconscious spam detector went crazy when I read that comment, and I just instinctively clicked the down arrow. I quickly realized my mistake after reading the reply, but unfortunately we can't undo votes here.

The good thing about HN, however, is that incorrect scores for comments are corrected pretty quickly by others.

As an aside, I'm impressed with how well we handle spurious downvotes here. I saw your comment at -3, and yet it has since been "neutralized". Good to see.

Hello there Mary,

I'd never even heard of you before today but your account has moved me quite a bit.

It's really nice to see you hanging in there and having the strength to go out and tell the world what happened.

Is the disorder you have a genetic one ?

best regards, & I hope you'll be back to your old energy level soon.

   Jacques Mattheij

Aww, thanks very much. I have a few heart defects, but things had been quiet for about five years until I had the cardiac arrest.

Fascinating.

On a side note: if that happened to me I suspect I'd be ruined financially. Even though I have an insurance: they would have decided to pay for only one or two of those MRI scans and angiograms, because they'd think that should have been enough for a doctor to figure it out.

I have a couple of friends involved in cardiology and I suspect those are pretty accurate predictions.

Having grown up in the UK, I've always taken for granted that this level of healthcare is readily available to me whenever I might need it, money no object. The concept of having to consider the cost implications of treatment like this seems very alien to me. I'm now contemplating moving abroad and this is something that I've been thinking about lately. Not having the NHS around would have made me hesitate more before starting my own business, I think.

You should always consider the cost implications. The money has to come from somewhere — it's just that on the NHS, other taxpayers are the ones responsible for your health problems.

(I'm a Brit who's had a little too much social liberalism today. Sorry.)

The NHS is one of the greatest things we've invented in the UK. It's not always perfect but everyone uses it at some point, some more than others that's just the nature of illness. You may not have had to use it yet, but one day you or your family might and if that happens you'll be glad it's there.

Thanks to the NHS we don't have stories like this one http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/164436/boy_dies_fro...

I gladly pay my taxes for things like the NHS, my taxes are spent on far worse things thats for sure.

I happily pay my taxes, exactly so that someone like Mary can get the required treatment. Hardly any individual can carry the costs of such medical investigations and operations.

Yes, I certainly know how lucky I am to live in a country with a nationalised health service. And I am eternally grateful to the rest of the population who have contributed to my healthcare via their taxes. I know that if I live to be a hundred, the taxes I pay won't get close to covering the cost.

I can only speak for myself, but I'm glad some of my taxes get spent of things like this, even if I were never to benefit, it's still an absolute good.

Yeah, but it's still a fraction of what we pay in the US where the insurance industry takes a nice chunk :-P

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