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In-flight surgery with a coat-hanger and silverware

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181–190 of 217 posts

Re: In-flight surgery with a coat-hanger and silverware

#181
post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Famous case in Brazil: in 1998 a surgeon used cyanoacrylate glue on the heart of a patient: https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/fol/geral/gx055168.htm

Using cyanoacrylate glue is is very common in medicine for skin closure. Doesn’t seem ridiculous to use in other settings.

I think it was not known at that time. The surgeon asked the nurse to go out of the hospital to buy the glue.

Re: In-flight surgery with a coat-hanger and silverware

#182
post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This happened to me in college. Driving home from the movies, chest started to hurt on inhale .. I decided to "sleep it off", which obviously didn't work. Went to the ER in the morning. Got the chest tube and spent about a week seeing if it would heal naturally, then they removed the offending part of my lung, and did a mechanical pleurodesis (a procedure that sticks your lung to the chest wall so it can't collapse).…

I had those kind of pains for years and they were always minor and went away after a few days. Always wondered what they were, but figured they were harmless. Eventually I got a worse one, went to the hospital, got a chest tube. It went away but I got another bad one, so they did surgery. A couple months later the same process happened to the other side. I'm very glad they did a pleurectomy both times instead of pleu…

> I'm very glad they did a pleurectomy both times instead of pleurodesis; I've heard people describe pleurodesis and it's pretty terrifying, both the recovery and the permanent after-effects. Noticeably reduced breathing capacity isn't uncommon.

I've had a pleurodesis on my left side. I never noticed any reduced breathing capacity. The procedure left a few stab-like incisions scars but I actually like them. I'd feel safer if the same was did on the right side too; I like the idea that it will never happen again on the left side but hate the feeling that it can happen again at any time on the right side.

I don't know if the procedure I was submitted is the most common. The surgeon described that they burned (cauterized, I think) the pleuras with an electric scalpel. As it healed, the pleuras stuck on one another. It was painful for just a few days but analgesics were enough to make it bearable.

There was one strange effect: it numbed the tactile feeling of parts of my breast, chest and arm. Immediately after the surgery the numbing effect was so intense that I could pierce the skin with my nails until it bled and felt not pain. I actually did it to demonstrate how numb it was. The medic said it would improve over time. It took years to get the feeling back. It's been twenty years and the feeling still is a bit numb.

Re: In-flight surgery with a coat-hanger and silverware

#183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had those kind of pains for years and they were always minor and went away after a few days. Always wondered what they were, but figured they were harmless. Eventually I got a worse one, went to the hospital, got a chest tube. It went away but I got another bad one, so they did surgery. A couple months later the same process happened to the other side. I'm very glad they did a pleurectomy both times instead of pleu…

> I'm very glad they did a pleurectomy both times instead of pleurodesis; I've heard people describe pleurodesis and it's pretty terrifying, both the recovery and the permanent after-effects. Noticeably reduced breathing capacity isn't uncommon. I've had a pleurodesis on my left side. I never noticed any reduced breathing capacity. The procedure left a few stab-like incisions scars but I actually like them. I'd feel…

I got a head wound during a car accident I was involved with as a small child. Left about a 4” scar on my forehead. 30 years later, still no feeling in that part of my head.

Re: In-flight surgery with a coat-hanger and silverware

#184
post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Using cyanoacrylate glue is is very common in medicine for skin closure. Doesn’t seem ridiculous to use in other settings.

I think it was not known at that time. The surgeon asked the nurse to go out of the hospital to buy the glue.

It was well known for quite some time before that.

US Combat Medics used it in the field in Vietnam in the '70s.

Re: In-flight surgery with a coat-hanger and silverware

#185

I'm surprised by the point about pressurization... cabins do depressurize on ascent, but... marginally. Would a difference in a few thousand feet atmospheric pressure, equalized SLOWLY, really have been that big an issue?!

IIRC planes are pressurized to 6000' equivalent, and a quick Googling show that to be 11.7psi or about a 3 psi drop vs ground level. Also, changes of much less than that can cause discomfort in your ears if not equalized. I have no idea what 3psi does to the lungs, but with all the discussion about ventilators from 2020 I'd say that's a LOT of pressure on them.

So, the gas volume would change by a ratio of 15/12, or increase about 25%.

Re: In-flight surgery with a coat-hanger and silverware

#186
post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This happened to me in college. Driving home from the movies, chest started to hurt on inhale .. I decided to "sleep it off", which obviously didn't work. Went to the ER in the morning. Got the chest tube and spent about a week seeing if it would heal naturally, then they removed the offending part of my lung, and did a mechanical pleurodesis (a procedure that sticks your lung to the chest wall so it can't collapse).…

For anyone reading these comments with growing anxiety who gets occasional, short duration stabbing pains when breathing in (lasting only a couple minutes at most), allow me to put your mind at ease by directing you to the Wikipedia page for precordial catch syndrome: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precordial_catch_syndrome Very similar symptoms, totally harmless, to the point where the recommended treatment is "reass…

Wow, thanks for posting this. I've had exactly these symptoms for a long time and despite multiple doctors telling me I'm fine, it's still a pretty stressful experience when it occurs!

Re: In-flight surgery with a coat-hanger and silverware

#188
post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Using cyanoacrylate glue is is very common in medicine for skin closure. Doesn’t seem ridiculous to use in other settings.

I think it was not known at that time. The surgeon asked the nurse to go out of the hospital to buy the glue.

In the US a medical formulation was not approved until 1998, but as the sibling notes it was used in the Vietnam War by US medics. Medical studies in the 1980s showed it to be superior to stitches [1]

Cyanoacrylate is just (a very - the most? - common form of) superglue, but the medical formulations were tweaked to be less harmful to skin among other benefits.

There is also VetBond, which is similarly n-Butyl cyanoacrylate as are some medical-grade superglues, but it is only approved for animal use and thus available without a prescription (despite being chemically identical to somemedically approved glues).

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanoacrylate#Medical_and_vete...

Re: In-flight surgery with a coat-hanger and silverware

#189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've gotten similar for a long time while growing up. Still get this now and then on my left side. Always my left side. I just stretch, breath deep despite the pain and sleep it off. It... usually goes away within a day or two. The reason why I've always taken this approach is because it was always just growing pains or my ribs pinching me somehow. (Apparently that's a thing.) That all said and done, the last time it…

Beware that even a spontaneous primary pneumothrax can turn into a tension pneumothrax, a condition when a natural one-way valve forms and continuously increases pressure inside the chest eventually compressing heart and arteries. Even a spontaneous primary pneumothrax must be handled seriously. It can become life threatening.

Thanks for the heads up. It's been a while since the last episode, so I kind of doubt this is a thing for me at the moment. But I will keep that in mind the next time I have un-ending pinching and cramping pains on the left side of my chest. Don't worry, far left side. Not near the heart.

Re: In-flight surgery with a coat-hanger and silverware

#190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had those kind of pains for years and they were always minor and went away after a few days. Always wondered what they were, but figured they were harmless. Eventually I got a worse one, went to the hospital, got a chest tube. It went away but I got another bad one, so they did surgery. A couple months later the same process happened to the other side. I'm very glad they did a pleurectomy both times instead of pleu…

> I'm very glad they did a pleurectomy both times instead of pleurodesis; I've heard people describe pleurodesis and it's pretty terrifying, both the recovery and the permanent after-effects. Noticeably reduced breathing capacity isn't uncommon. I've had a pleurodesis on my left side. I never noticed any reduced breathing capacity. The procedure left a few stab-like incisions scars but I actually like them. I'd feel…

That numbness is nerve damage. Sometimes you get numb, sometimes you get permanent cronic pain, and sometimes both depending on the day. More common than people might think with any sort of surgery. I had some damage that lasted about 6 years where it would be numb and then randomly about once a month I'd get a stabbing pain for like 3 seconds.
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