What's the most miraculous patient recovery you've ever witnessed?

21 yo male electrocution on a power line came in in full arrest. Had charred holes through the bottom of his shoes where the electricity had exited his body. CPR had been in progress at least 30 minutes. After a significant amount of time we got a rhythm back and he was admitted to ICU. No one expected him to survive. 6 months later he walked into the ED to thank the nurses and doctors that cared for him.

A teenage girl with Cystic Fibrosis experienced complications following a G-Tube placement. At 7am she was talking to us, although struggling to breathe. By 8am she was intubated and by 10am, on a High Frequency Oscillating Ventilator. Typically, this machine is not used for CF patients because they can't get off it. In her case, it was the only available option. As the day went on, she got a central line, an arterial line and vasopressors were started. For several days her outlook was bleak to worse.

Instead, she made a full recovery and went on to become an advocate for CF patients and for making the most of your life.

We had a 20 something year old lady who was 26 weeks pregnant come in with Covid. Immediately had to be placed on a ventilator. We had to do an emergent c-section in the ICU room. She had to be chemically paralyzed and proned. Nothing work so then she was placed on ECMO within the hour. Pressers and everything. Baby was born with Covid. Mom’s outcome didn’t look good. Somehow she recovered and came off ECMO after 2 weeks. Still had to be isolated from her newborn for another week to make the 21 days total. Got to see her baby on oxygen then ended up leaving the hospital just fine on room air. Never seen anything like it.

A teenage driver in a rollover accident. Could only make unintelligible noise and did not follow any commands. Pupils where unequal. ER doctor asked me to try to keep him alive until his parents got there. Went with him to CT scan. He became very quiet and I asked radiology tech to stop scan so I could check on him. I often prayed for my patients silently. He was redheaded like my son and the same age. When I got to him he opened his eyes. His pupils where equal. He said" Lady can you wash the blood off my face before my momma sees me?" He made a complete recovery. I have seen more than a few miracles.

In the last 50 years I have seen many survivors that should not have lived and many that show how fragile the human condition can be. Two of my early WOW moments are:

Early on the easy miracle were the heroin addict in respiratory that came in being bagged by EMS. Gave him my first ever dose of narcan and he popped up int he bed screaming at us for stealing his $100 high

the second easy was the insulin dependent pt who was hypoglycemic and non-responsive. They got the standard 50ml of D50, pooped up in bed going "Og, Damn Not again."

While more or less routine to many of us now These were amazing responses.