r/medizzy

Pork tapeworms usually live in human intestines, laying eggs that pass out in feces. Pigs eat contaminated food → eggs hatch → larvae migrate and form cysts in their muscles. But if humans eat undercooked pork, those cysts can hatch in our guts and grow into full-blown worms.

Here’s the scary part: Human bodies look enough like pigs to confuse the larvae. So if you swallow the eggs instead of the cysts (contaminated food, poor hygiene), the worms can migrate through your body, including your brain. That’s when it becomes neurocysticercosis, which can be deadly.

This is a rare case of ectopia cordis, a congenital malformation in which the heart is abnormally displaced either partially or totally outside of the thoracic cavity (extra-thoracic location) through a split sternum. Less often the heart may be situated in the abdominal cavity or neck (cervical). The exact etiology remains unknown, but abnormalities in the lateral body wall folds are believed to be involved. Normally, the lateral body walls are responsible for fusion at the midline to form the ventral wall. Corruption of this process may underlie ectopia cordis. This can be presented in association with other malformations such as the anterior abdominal wall resulting in omphalocele - the protrusion of the intestine outside the abdominal cavity.
Such cases are related to the other associated malformations, complex cardiac abnormalities, and difficulty returning the heart back into a small thoracic cavity, dooming to poor prognosis with few survivors even after a surgical repair. Many are getting into a cardiorespiratory arrest before any surgical intervention can be taken.
During surgery, the heart must be repositioned and the chest wall defect must be covered. Surgeons can create a temporary closure with synthetic material.

"This patient poops once every three weeks. He is now undergoing a lap total colectomy. We removed his entire colon. He does not require a bag or colostomy. His small bowel is connected to his rectum. He will go from having 1 movement every three weeks to 3 a day. This patient has over seven feet of colon"

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5903185/

This case highlights the devastating effects of septic microvascular injury — leading to irreversible ischemia, tissue necrosis, and ultimately multiple distal fingertip amputations.
The surgeon carefully debrides the nonviable distal phalanges and soft tissue to preserve as much healthy function and tissue as possible.

Cases like this are a reminder of how severe sepsis can rapidly progress beyond infection alone, causing profound vascular compromise and permanent functional damage despite aggressive ICU management.

Too bad I don't have a banana for scale...

As she finished tending to the flower beds and reached to hang up her gardening fork, the tool slipped from her grasp and fell directly into her hand, resulting in a dramatic impalement injury.

The gardening fork penetrated deep through the soft tissues of the hand, creating a transfixion wound with potential injury to tendons, nerves, blood vessels, and even bone. Despite the alarming appearance, the most important step was leaving the object in place until surgical evaluation could be performed, as removal outside a controlled setting can worsen bleeding and tissue damage.

After transport to the hospital, imaging was obtained to assess the path of the tines and identify any associated fractures or structural injuries. The patient underwent operative exploration, careful removal of the foreign body, extensive irrigation and debridement, and assessment of critical hand structures. Given the contamination associated with gardening tools and soil exposure, tetanus prophylaxis and antibiotic therapy were also essential to reduce the risk of infection.

Following a middle finger amputation, my surgeon is testing to make sure there is free movement of remaining tendons to flex the fingers.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0952818016301891?via%3Dihub

I actually took care of this pt before and after thrombectomy and beforehand he was shockingly less dyspneic than you'd think. He was mostly just chilling in bed as he waited for surgery, even walking to the toilet.

Just a chunk of my thigh which has been grafted to the front of my leg. Day 8 post surgery now, the photos are from day 1. Surgery was repair of the tibialis anterior tendon, EHL tendon and fix then skin which was mostly scar tissue hence the need for the flap.