Doctors, Share Your “Thank God You Came When You Did” Stories With Me

For those who work in the medical field, I'm sure you've experienced a slew of different patient personalities. There are the patients who overthink each and every symptom they ever feel, self-diagnosing themselves (when they're perfectly healthy). Or the patients who don't listen to their bodies at all and when they finally do come into your office, you breathe a slight of relief, thinking to yourself, "Thank goodness you came in when you did."

So, on that note, I'd love for doctors (of any kind) in our BuzzFeed Community to chime in and share your "If that patient didn't come in when they did, it would've been really bad" stories.

Maybe a patient came and said their jaw was hurting them. Turns out they have had a broken jaw for a few weeks, and you had to refer them to the hospital for immediate surgery. The patient said they didn't come in sooner because it "didn't bother them," and they waited to see if it would improve.

Perhaps a patient came in complaining about severe stomach pain, and they ended up having appendicitis (when your appendix becomes inflamed and swollen). You were relieved they came in when they did before it burst and they would've needed emergency surgery.

Or maybe your patient came in complaining about UTI symptoms and missed periods. After examining them, which included an ultrasound, you noticed that they had several cysts on their ovaries that needed monitoring to ensure they were stable and didn't grow in size.

Whatever your story is, I want to hear more about it. Share it with me in this anonymous form or in the comments below!