Grey’s Anatomy – Season 8, Episode 11: “This Magic Moment.”
This episode had a magic moment. One part that just blew me away.
Yang called by Teddy to join her in the O.R. It’s been two weeks since Henry’s death. First thought was that Yang would assist Teddy in heart surgery. No, it wasn’t anything like that. Or anything I’ve ever seen before.
Teddy wanted Yang to recite step-by-step what happened in the O.R. with Henry’s surgery. Evidently, she had Yang recite this speech for two straight weeks since Henry’s death.
Yang without hesitation or reservation recited:
“Vitals were stable after receiving LR and packed cells. The bronch was already placed when I entered the OR, so I proceeded with the laser endoscopy using the CO2 laser.I had good visualization of the tumor almost immediately. About 80% of the tumor had been vaoprised when the bleeding began. He had clots, which were blocking my ‘scope. I passed a brush through the ‘scope to clear the field; however, Henry’s hemorrhaging was so severe– Henry’s hemorrhaging was so severe that the brush did not solve the problem. Sats dropped to 88; blood was coming out of the ET tube. At that point, Dr. Webber exercised his judgement and stepped in – we cracked his chest and tried to get to the source. Henry became bradycardic, so we pushed atropine. Then, I realized the tumor had eroded through the pulmonary artery. He flat-lined. We did ACLS protocol and got sinus brady. We pushed high-dose epi. He flat-lined again. We did more compressions. We continued in this manner until Dr. Webber and I both agreed that, since he already lost more than half his blood volume, his heart could not restart. We called time of death – 8:52 pm.
Again. And Again. And again Yang repeated the speech. Each time with a little more detail.
It was gut wrenching. Difficult to watch. Difficult not to watch.
When Teddy finished her surgery, in the scrub room, that magical moment happened. Teddy began to recite Yang’s speech.
It finally hit Teddy. She cried. She cried with everything within a wife who had just lost her husband. Teddy accepted the fact Henry was gone and there wasn’t a single thing that could or should have been done differently in that O.R.
Excruciating. Exhausting. Exhilarating when Teddy finally let go.
What did you think of Yang’s torturous recital?
Updated: Transcription courtesy of a generous reader in the medical profession.
Watch Grey’s Anatomy Thursdays 10/9c on ABC.
It would be better if one person – just one person – on the Internet who feels the need to post this onto a blog could actually type it out properly. To a layperson, it’s just an emotive speech, but to a healthcare professional, it only carries its fullest impact when it’s a true replication of what was on-screen.
I am not a health care professional. I am simply a writer who used closed caption in order to get the speech onto the blog. If I had access to the script, I would have written it as it was scripted. This was all I could do. If I knew what wasn’t correct, I would make the changes. Thanks for reading it just the same.
Altman: Yang?
Yang: From the beginning?
Altman: Yes.
Yang: Vitals were stable after receiving LR and packed cells. The bronch was already placed when I entered the OR, so I proceeded with the laser endoscopy using the CO2 laser.
Altman: Step by step.
Yang: I had good visualisation of the tumor almost immediately. About 80% of the tumor had been vaoprised when the bleeding began. He had clots, which were blocking my ‘scope. I passed a brush through the ‘scope to clear the field; however, Henry’s haemorrhaging was so severe–
Altman: Suction, Kepner. Kepner, suction! Yang?
Yang: Henry’s haemorrhaging was so severe that the brush did not solve the problem. Sats dropped to 88; blood was coming out of the ET tube. At that point, Dr. Webber exercised his judgement and stepped in – we cracked his chest and tried to get to the source. Henry became bradycardic, so we pushed atropine. Then, I realised the tumor had eroded through the pulmonary artery. He flat-lined. We did ACLS protocol and got sinus brady. We pushed high-dose epi. He flat-lined again. We did more compressions. We continued in this manner until Dr. Webber and I both agreed that, since he already lost more than half his blood volume, his heart could not restart. We called time of death – 8:52 pm.
Altman: Again.
Yang: When I entered the OR, Henry’s vitals had been stable; he had received LR and packed cells. The bronch’ was already placed, so I proceeded with the laser endoscopy…
Those captions you used must have been pretty shocking. And, for the record, Yang was more brief each time and she kept changing minor details, except for when Altman was asking for more details. But whatever. I thought the first time was chilling, but the time in the OR when Altman was grilling Yang was worse, I thought – retracing every small step, getting her to remember every little thing she felt – every small bit of anatomy, running her fingers back along the hilum and remembering exactly what she was touching. Something like that would take you right back to the days of being a medical student.
Thank you! I rewrote the speech. Now I left Teddy’s part out because this was more about Yang than Teddy. I wanted the reader to feel how long, how difficult it must have been to recite this over and over until Teddy was satisfied. Thank you for taking the time to help me write it correctly. Thank you reading my blog.
I typed it out to prove that it was easy, not so you could claim it as your own effort.
Anonymous – I did not claim it as my effort. Anyone who reads this post will know the corrections on the post is because of “Anonymous.” The wiliness to show me what mistakes where made. I also stated that I “rewrote the speech.” So again, thank you.
Chuck, you got me into Grey’s again and your recaps are the bomb, gurl!
It surely wouldn’t have killed you to mention, ‘transcription courtesy of ‘Anonymous” or something like that.
I thought the comments would have been enough, but fair is fair, it’s on the body of the recap. Thank you once again!
Thanks M.Dee! It’s a fun show and more interesting stuff to come!