Special Alert Grey's Anotomy does an AN will they do a realistic?

[MDemisay]

To All,

It's exciting to not know! Let's see if they do a realistic portrayal!

Will tell everyone what happens!


Mike

[susierg]

I say not....he didn't throw up when he woke up!  LOL!  and apparently it was a large one if it was threatening his life.  No hearing loss and no facial paralysis....guess I should have gone to Seattle Grace for my surgery....or Hollywood!  LOL

[MDemisay]

Did they do a realistic job dramatizing it? They minimized it I feel! They simplified it so much spending at most 10 minutes on it!

I am sorry to have wasted your time obviously they didn't consult the ANA before they did it!

Mike

[susierg]

I agree....My daughter texted me to tell me that they were doing an acoustic neuroma surgery on Greys.  I immediately changed the channel to watch.  My daughter was unable to be with me during my surgery, so she was interested to see what the surgery entailed.  They never said exactly what an AN was,  the choices of treatment....even what the size of it was.  He looked perfectly healthy before ..... and after!  Only complaining of headaches. 

As my daughter pointed out to me after all my texts of how unreal it all was..."its TV Mom"

[arizonajack]

My daughter was unable to be with me during my surgery, so she was interested to see what the surgery entailed. 

If you and your daughter want to see what AN removal really looks like, check out this video of an actual surgical procedure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClrBPO6KULk

[staypoz]

And how about having an intern monitoring facial nerve function?  Personally, I wouldn't have minded having Dr. McDreamy as my neurosurgeon. . .

staypoz

[MDemisay]

Jack and Everybody,

Thank you for bringing us a dose of reality....There was one point last night in the show where the(sister?) relative of the patient said" I was glad for the plane  crash because it gave me more time with my brother". If in reality I or anyone of you had said this to a neurosurgeon then he  would be justified in saying find yourself another surgeon. What a thing to say to anyone!

It shows how unrealistic TV is along with with minimal looks at the actual surgery and none of the realistic after affects like temporary partial facial palsy or discussion of single sided deafness. and no head bandages! Did you notice? What about a discussion about the actual surgery with the patient afterwards and a realistic discharge plan, I found there was none of that.

I have a feeling that the producers just pick a random illness from a hat and say we'll do this now. What a displeasing performance my wife and daughter were amused though and said similar comments about Dr. McDreamy.

In short I found the "actor's" performance of a skilled neurosurgeon to be wanting at least in terms of bedside manner both before and after. Surgery was a success with an unrealistic outcome. If it had been explained properly it only would have added to the drama. Poorly acted and directed. A gloss over!

What do the rest of you think?

Mike

[Jim Scott]

I didn't know that 'Grey's Anatomy' would have a storyline on a patient with an acoustic neuroma but we watch the show on a regular basis and when it was mentioned as 'Dr. Shepherd''s' first neurosurgery after his near-career-ending hand injury, surgical repair and rehabilitation, I was, naturally, interested in how it would be portrayed.

As you've all noted, the treatment of the AN patient was predictably superficial because, let's face it, this show is a TV drama that uses doctors and their hospital as a vehicle for stories about people needing surgery or other medical care, but the leading characters love lives (and frequent sexual adventures) are the real focus of the show.  The AN story began fairly realistically but the 'patient' only complained of headaches.  Dizziness seemed to be a very minor symptom.  The details of his AN were never mentioned except that while waiting for Dr. Shepherd to recover and operate, the AN had grown and the risks increased.  If the surgical procedure used was mentioned, I missed it.  They did list the risks fairly accurately.  It was also mentioned at the end of the show that the operation took 23 hours, which seemed extreme but not entirely impossible.  The lack of a head bandage on the just-out-of-surgery AN patient was noticeable to me but probably not to anyone who hasn't undergone AN surgery, which would be most of the people watching the show.   During the 'surgery' they flashed a 2-second look at the monitor showing the tumor but it was so quick that it probably didn't even register with anyone watching.  Finally, the rosy outcome was a bit too perfect even if it wasn't totally unrealistic.  No facial paralysis, no hearing loss.  Chalk up another surgical miracle for 'Doctor McDreamy'!   

As Susie's daughter said - "it's TV, Mom".  I don't expect this kind of TV medical drama to be a documentary and get all of the details right.  Most of the people watching don't really care and often too much medical jargon turns people off because its undecipherable.  That 'Grey's Anatomy' covered an acoustic neuroma patient was interesting but if I want medical realism, I can watch the Youtube video Arizona Jack referenced. 
 
Jim