3 ms·

TL;DR Dad got a condition precipitated by anesthesia from surgery. Lots of docs couldn't figure it out. I solved it using Google in less than 5 minutes. It's a

TL;DR Dad got a condition precipitated by anesthesia from surgery. Lots of docs couldn't figure it out. I solved it using Google in less than 5 minutes. It's amazing how many doctors operate in "tunnel vision." A few years back after a routine procedure that put him under, my dad awoke to non stop hiccups. At first the anesthesiologist said it was a temporary side effect of the anesthesia and brushed it off. Well the hiccups continued for 2 freaking weeks non stop. As you can imagine this is a) a major disruption to a normal life (he couldn't sleep, couldn't eat, couldn't do anything for two weeks) and b) annoying as hell to everyone around you. We went his GP multiples times, consulted the same idiot anesthesiologist and went to the emergency room 4 times over those two weeks and the reactions varied. Everything from the doctor literally laughing out loud seeing a middle age man in agony over non stop hiccups to another doctor prescribing pineapple juice. Yup, pineapple juice. Apparently some people use that to stop hiccups. After the third trip, with no seeming progress and my dad basically asking us to kill him so that he can get some normal rest, I decided to start googling, which I should have done when this all started. I found a interesting research paper from Cal Berkeley which described a similar case after surgery, which described the mechanism that actually causes hiccups (its a spasm of the diaphragm cause by the vagal nerve) and how they were able to treat it. We decided to go to a more than decent hospital in the big city armed with this paper in hand. In to the emergency room, after the standard tests they did at the other places and the scopes and all that, the doctor goes yeah we have no idea what's going on let me look up some stuff and I'll be right back. He went to some computer terminal and started clacking away while I was watching over his shoulder unbeknownst to him. After about 3 minutes of searching some medical portal the hospital uses and seeing his head shake repeatedly I walked over, tapped him on the shoulder and said, hey I think I might have found something helpful on my ipad and handed it to him. He read the paper in 2 minutes flat said "oh my god," called his supervisor (he was the attending physician, not a resident) they both agreed to call this doctor at Cal and after a 5 minute phone call wrote a script for a drug called Baclofen which treats muscle spams. 2 of the worst weeks of my Dad and our lives' came to an end within 15 minutes. I was glad this place being a teaching hospital, was open minded enough to consider what they were presented The hospital thought I was some kind of Doogie Howser and the head of the ER goes to me "You should really consider becoming a doctor." I replied with "Why would I ever do something silly like that. I'm an engineer." The doctor was both amused and not amused at the same time. Just goes to show you, how narrow their field of vision is. Most doctors get trained a certain way with certain tools and for the rest of their career that is all they know.

kwhitefoot 10y ago
Just goes to show you, how narrow their field of vision is. Most xs get trained a certain way with certain tools and for the rest of their career that is all they know. Applies to most of us whatever the value of x.
- jaboutboul 10y ago
  I'd like to think that's not true. At least not more myself. My parents always stressed scientific thinking in problem solving. As engineers and scientists I would like to hope that most of us on HN are constantly looking for new tools and novel approaches. There will always be new tools and techniques for development, new frameworks, more optimized algorithms, better debugging, etc. We should all always be looking to integrate, update and enhance our toolset and skills and inspiration comes from many places, not just technology. It's a part of being the best at what you do--which for us happens to be critical thinking and problem solving. At least I try to do this constantly myself. Maybe that's part of the problem. Most people are trained to be whatever they are without a real focus on true problem solving. They're given one framework to solve the issues of their field and told to run with it. That's a big part of this doctors story too, that he was willing to enhance the state of his art by thinking outside the box, pulling together an uncoordinated, distributed team, sharing information and research and opening the channels of communication. Hmmm, sounds familiar...
  - animal531 10y ago
    I think historically engineers and developers have been given the tools with which to experiment. It's easy to break down a problem in our environments, as compared to a human body where you not only can't experiment freely, but where it is difficult to isolate cause and effect.

kwhitefoot 10y ago

Just goes to show you, how narrow their field of vision is. Most xs get trained a certain way with certain tools and for the rest of their career that is all they know. Applies to most of us whatever the value of x.

jaboutboul 10y ago
I'd like to think that's not true. At least not more myself. My parents always stressed scientific thinking in problem solving. As engineers and scientists I would like to hope that most of us on HN are constantly looking for new tools and novel approaches. There will always be new tools and techniques for development, new frameworks, more optimized algorithms, better debugging, etc. We should all always be looking to integrate, update and enhance our toolset and skills and inspiration comes from many places, not just technology. It's a part of being the best at what you do--which for us happens to be critical thinking and problem solving. At least I try to do this constantly myself. Maybe that's part of the problem. Most people are trained to be whatever they are without a real focus on true problem solving. They're given one framework to solve the issues of their field and told to run with it. That's a big part of this doctors story too, that he was willing to enhance the state of his art by thinking outside the box, pulling together an uncoordinated, distributed team, sharing information and research and opening the channels of communication. Hmmm, sounds familiar...
- animal531 10y ago
  I think historically engineers and developers have been given the tools with which to experiment. It's easy to break down a problem in our environments, as compared to a human body where you not only can't experiment freely, but where it is difficult to isolate cause and effect.