The human body is an amazing machine, built from dozens of components organised into different interacting systems, which work together to support life. One of it’s most remarkable qualities is it’s capacity for regeneration and self repair. However, sometimes damage to one component can cause unexpected knock-on effects that can eventually bring the whole system down.
My wife recently went in to hospital for a routine operation after recovering from chemotherapy. She expected to be out the following day, but unfortunately a vein was accidentally left unsealed and she suffered severe internal bleeding. By the time the problem was discovered her blood pressure and oxygen levels were dangerously low; she was rushed back to theatre, but in their hurry the surgeon damaged the tube between one kidney and the bladder. What happened next was an interesting lesson in systems engineering.
The first problem was that her digestion stopped, and filled with bile. This meant she could not eat or drink without bringing up a litre of green fluid. To get the digestion working she needed to walk round and move, but the stomach was so full she could not move without tearing her stitches, and anyway, loss of blood had left her too weak. Unable to move, she developed a thrombosis, for which she needed blood thinners, but this would reopen the internal bleeding. Meanwhile, pressure was building up in her kidney, but they could not operate because of her low blood pressure. The blood that had filled her abdominal cavity was beginning to go septic, and without food her body did not have the resources to fight infection. Finally, the malfunctioning kidney and lack of drinking water affected the electrolytes in the blood, leading to concerns about her heart.
It must have been difficult to navigate a path through the delicate balance of the different sub-systems, but the staff at the hospital came up with a plan. In one nostril a tube was inserted to supply oxygen and a second tube was fed down the other nostril to drain her stomach; she also had a catheter to drain her bladder. A fourth tube was inserted into her kidney under local anaesthetic to relieve the pressure on the ureter, and a fifth tube was inserted into abdomen to drain the decomposing blood. She was supplied nutrients from a sixth tube in her elbow, and a seventh tube inserted in her wrist was used for intravenous antibiotics. A suppository was used to stimulate the bowel and finally she was given a series of injections of warfarin in the tummy to thin the blood. Of course, she also had morphine by mouth to ease the pain.
The engine sputtered for a couple of weeks, but eventually the doctors got the system back on its feet, and hopefully it is now ready to roar back into life. Considering what she has been through she is looking pretty good, don’t you think?
