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Falling five storeys from a New York rooftop changed my life

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Re: Falling five storeys from a New York rooftop changed my life

#11
post #3
post #2

The most pressing issue for the orthopaedic team was my left shoulder, which was visibly dislocated. Before attempting to reattach it, the doctor told me I would be given a dose of fentanyl: an opioid that is up to 100 times more potent than morphine. He went away, returned and started using a bed sheet to try to pop the shoulder back into the socket. Alarmed, I told him that I had not been given any pain medication.…

Really seems like a "hey nurse did this patient have their fentanyl yet?" would have resolved this issue. Anyway if it's really 100x more potent than morphine you'd think any person that did have it in their bloodstream would not be all that capable of stating that they have not had their medication yet.

100x more potent just means you will give 1/100 the dose for the same effect. Around here, fentanyl is used in ambulances. Biggest side effect is it can stop your breath if it’s more than the dose given in lollipops (field-style first aid thing), so you have to keep an eye on the patient.

Re: Falling five storeys from a New York rooftop changed my life

#13
post #5

Easily could have been killed, and the story would have been a young man aged 32 died gruesomely after falling five stories. A life barely lived, a death barely known.

And yet he didn't! That cooler box, those planks just inches from denying him one more day.

I am an atheist but such stories always evoke a delightful supernatural indulgence. I was vicarious with my enjoyment when he said "The world seemed to vibrate with a new intensity".

Re: Falling five storeys from a New York rooftop changed my life

#14
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ehh. Not the worst thing. People with Ehlers Danlos have to pop visibly dislocated joints back into place daily (and yes, it's very much painful as fuck) Arguably the most horrifying is when a male dislocates their hip and one of their testicles falls back into that area. You can imagine what happens when somebody attempts or succeeds in shoving the bone back into it's socket when there's a testicle also sitting in t…

I'm sure you would agree that it is gross negligence nonetheless.

More people will die from medical mistakes than from Covid this year.

Re: Falling five storeys from a New York rooftop changed my life

#15
post #4

From the end of the article: > To come so close to death does not provide a shortcut to wisdom or contentment. It doesn’t answer all your questions or eliminate your weaknesses. I’m fundamentally the same person I was before, but with one big difference. I’m viscerally aware how tenuous our existence is. How you can be walking on solid ground only to find it suddenly disappear from beneath you. The meaning comes in w…

I’m reminded of the film The Game (1997), but I won’t say more as to not spoil anything for anyone.

Re: Falling five storeys from a New York rooftop changed my life

#16
post #4

From the end of the article: > To come so close to death does not provide a shortcut to wisdom or contentment. It doesn’t answer all your questions or eliminate your weaknesses. I’m fundamentally the same person I was before, but with one big difference. I’m viscerally aware how tenuous our existence is. How you can be walking on solid ground only to find it suddenly disappear from beneath you. The meaning comes in w…

There's a whole market for that. Roller coasters, haunted houses/corn maze etc. They get people as close to the edge of that feeling as possible. They won't get that full effect though because people know they are safe. If you wanted to get the full effect you need to break the illusion that customers signed up for midway through. Convince riders that the roller coaster is broken while they're still going full speed. While in line for the corn maze have a sociable "couple" (staff) go before you. While you're going through have one of them start screaming running back past you - you continue and find the other "dead", background music turns off, bright lights, "exit the maze immediately" over a loud speaker... cue chainsaw man.

Re: Falling five storeys from a New York rooftop changed my life

#17
post #6
post #2

The most pressing issue for the orthopaedic team was my left shoulder, which was visibly dislocated. Before attempting to reattach it, the doctor told me I would be given a dose of fentanyl: an opioid that is up to 100 times more potent than morphine. He went away, returned and started using a bed sheet to try to pop the shoulder back into the socket. Alarmed, I told him that I had not been given any pain medication.…

Ehh. Not the worst thing. People with Ehlers Danlos have to pop visibly dislocated joints back into place daily (and yes, it's very much painful as fuck) Arguably the most horrifying is when a male dislocates their hip and one of their testicles falls back into that area. You can imagine what happens when somebody attempts or succeeds in shoving the bone back into it's socket when there's a testicle also sitting in t…

Reseating a dislocated joint without pain medication, without any other context, is not the horrifying part.

Re: Falling five storeys from a New York rooftop changed my life

#18
post #8
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really seems like a "hey nurse did this patient have their fentanyl yet?" would have resolved this issue. Anyway if it's really 100x more potent than morphine you'd think any person that did have it in their bloodstream would not be all that capable of stating that they have not had their medication yet.

This is one of the most pernicious aspects of the opioid crisis. Doctors are taught to be hypervigilant regarding "drug seeking behavior" which is pretty much a 1:1 list of behaviors of people whose suffering is "genuine." Number one criteria seems to be that the patient is requesting medication. In so many cases, the patient is the most reliable source of information... but when it comes to pain management, the pati…

Our attempts at solving the problem even seems to drive the expert doctors who are actually qualified to do so out of the field. The prescription mills force heavy handed regulations that spook the insurers and hospital legal teams, which leaves two extremes: on the one hand are doctors who can't empathize with the patient and are super strict with any sort of scheduled medication and on the other are doctors whose offices don't see enough patients taking those drugs (or even a single problematic case), so they neither know nor care about the risks and give the drug out freely. Since their numbers are so low, no one thinks to bring up the issue.

The doctors who are most qualified in making the determination are often the ones with the most legitimate patients taking those drugs but all the legal teams and regulators are completely incapable of differentiating them from the prescription mills (excuse me, "pain management centers").

Re: Falling five storeys from a New York rooftop changed my life

#19
post #4

From the end of the article: > To come so close to death does not provide a shortcut to wisdom or contentment. It doesn’t answer all your questions or eliminate your weaknesses. I’m fundamentally the same person I was before, but with one big difference. I’m viscerally aware how tenuous our existence is. How you can be walking on solid ground only to find it suddenly disappear from beneath you. The meaning comes in w…

There's a whole market for that. Roller coasters, haunted houses/corn maze etc. They get people as close to the edge of that feeling as possible. They won't get that full effect though because people know they are safe. If you wanted to get the full effect you need to break the illusion that customers signed up for midway through. Convince riders that the roller coaster is broken while they're still going full speed.…

Thank you for the best surprise birthday party idea ever!
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