4 hours into an 8 hour flight from Spain to NYC, a child suffered an asthma attack and his medicine was accidentally in a checked bag. Fortunately a pioneer of robotic surgery was on board, and Dr. Khurshid Guru was able to MacGuyver a nebulizer.

May 20, 2021 10:35 PM

OctopussSevenTwo

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By the time the plane landed, the kid's oxygen saturation had risen from 88% to 95%, and the child was playing with his mother.

Sauce: https://abcnews.go.com/Health/doctor-channels-macgyver-asthmatic-toddler-aboard-transatlantic-flight/story?id=34013909

Right... And on an unrelated note the toilet smells like pot.

5 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 1

If the medicine was in check, how did they get medicine?

5 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Accidentally checked or his parents were trying for a new child?

5 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 1

v

5 years ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

"Good heavens Miss Sakamoto, you're beautiful!"

5 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

This is called a spacer not a nebuliser. A nebuliser creates a mist. I spent a lot of time on one as a kid.

5 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 2

But it acts like a nebulizer. The concept is roughly the same.

5 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

They did surgery on a grape!

5 years ago | Likes 7 Dislikes 1

Fucking hated that stupid meme

5 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

when you put all your character stats into luck

5 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 1

Just as awesome today as it was when it happened 6 years ago.

5 years ago | Likes 18 Dislikes 0

How does life saving medication ACCIDENTLY GET CHECKED!?

5 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

As someone whose been severely asthmatic all my life, you'd die laughing if you knew how many times I've done something stupid like that.

5 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

5 years ago | Likes 332 Dislikes 1

Science bitch

5 years ago | Likes 9 Dislikes 0

The airline still charged him $7 for the water bottle

5 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

I’ve seen disposable cardboard ones used in hospitals. It’s about the size of two decks of cards. Worked quite well.

5 years ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

from 2015, dumbass. your daily reposting shenanigans actually makes my blood boil. you are such a disservice to this site.

5 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

"During each of his last three transatlantic flights, he said he's been asked to help a sick patient on board." Poor guy

5 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Dr Guru is in effect!

5 years ago | Likes 133 Dislikes 1

So smart his mother named him Guru.

5 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Now that's the guy I want to pay .....just like a star athlete!!! Millions. This guy is worth it!

5 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Classic mom, leaving meds in checked baggage.

5 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

v

5 years ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

5 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Lucky he didn't end up in Guantanamo Bay

5 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

What a champ!

5 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

For those who don't know: Below 88% means brain damage is happening.

5 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Dr Guru FTW!

5 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Why not just give him the inhaler directly?

5 years ago | Likes 21 Dislikes 3

This is why we have so many Trump supporters.

5 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

2 yr old children don't understand how the inhaler functions. It wouldn't get into their lungs.

5 years ago | Likes 23 Dislikes 0

?noredirect

5 years ago | Likes 13 Dislikes 0

Someone else posted this portion

5 years ago | Likes 52 Dislikes 0

This is taught in emergency medicine. I was taught you can bodge a spacer with a bottle or plastic cup.

5 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

5 years ago | Likes 13 Dislikes 0

So, injecting the meds into the bottle & then inhaled through the cup mixes more oxygen into the mix?

5 years ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

Little kids don't understand how inhalers work and won't breath it in and hold it in their lungs. So, you have to use a nebulizer for them.

5 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Nah. Without a spacer, the patient needs to coordinate breathing with the spray of the inhaler. With the spacer, the meds are contained in

5 years ago | Likes 9 Dislikes 0

the spacer, and the patient can breath... more normally, and still get the meds. Easier to get a toddler to do.

5 years ago | Likes 7 Dislikes 0

Ahh, got it. Thanks.

5 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Also helps with cats with asthma - https://www.trudellanimalhealth.com/product/aerokat-chamber

5 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Plus the positive pressure from the airplane oxygen mask probably helps getting the kids oxygen up. They always wanted oxygen blowing in

5 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

my nose after surgery at the hospital

5 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

They also had an oxygen tank with the mask replacing the bottom of the bottle. The cup was more to get it to fit the kids face.

5 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

5 years ago | Likes 1489 Dislikes 1

Aptly names Guru!!

5 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

Guru is a perfect name for this guy.

5 years ago | Likes 12 Dislikes 0

I love that macguyver is a verb.

5 years ago | Likes 8 Dislikes 0

Thank goodness he had the skills and knowledge to help!

5 years ago | Likes 181 Dislikes 0

Thank goodness they were flying Air Canada, if it were American Airlines they'd have a medical bill when they landed.

5 years ago | Likes 29 Dislikes 0

v

5 years ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

It's jury-rigged. The jury is the back up mast on a ship. A ship that is "jury-rigged" has been macguyvered back into working order

5 years ago | Likes 119 Dislikes 10

I knew my laziness in never googling this phrase's origins would pay off one day.

5 years ago | Likes 9 Dislikes 0

Jerry-rig is a term reportedly coined by British soldiers to describe how German soldiers (Jerry) would repair their often broken equipment.

5 years ago | Likes 51 Dislikes 2

Thanks. I'm not going to verify this. Only because I trust you completely.

5 years ago | Likes 49 Dislikes 1

They are absolutely correct. I had an argument about this and looked it up, it's Jury-rigged. It was what they would do to fix a mast at sea

5 years ago | Likes 12 Dislikes 3

Respiratory therapist here. What he made was an MDI spacer. https://images.app.goo.gl/1gmabqxErwVAkwq46

5 years ago | Likes 78 Dislikes 0

We use them in veterinary medicine for asthma patients. I've jury-rigged a couple myself

5 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

Hello fellow RT!

5 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Yeah but, it had an oxygen tank attached to it as well.

5 years ago | Likes 20 Dislikes 0

So its like a nebulizer

5 years ago | Likes 7 Dislikes 0

More like an MDI spacer/oxygen mask combo.

5 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 1

One of my sons has asthma. He has a Respiratory Therapist. You guys are amazing. Thank you for what you do. :)

5 years ago | Likes 34 Dislikes 0

How did he get the medicine to put inside it?

5 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 1

Someone on the Plane had an inhaler with him

5 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

The plane had an adult version that toddlers don't understand how to use.

5 years ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

Dumb question but why couldn't they just give the kid the inhaler instead of strapping it to that apparatus?

5 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Dumb answer: The kid was TWO, and crying. Read! ? The! ?Article! ?

5 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

From another reply above:

5 years ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

Ty

5 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Thats what i do when in need

5 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Not an adult inhaler. A toddler would not understand the need to hold their breath once the inhaler was used.

5 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

Ty

5 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

That’s a spacer, not a nebulizer. But good on him for being able to make one!

5 years ago | Likes 100 Dislikes 8

5 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Hard to tell but it also looks as though he hooked up the planes oxygen to push through the back. A little extra O2 if that’s the case

5 years ago | Likes 8 Dislikes 0

That's a bottle mask. Airplane oxygen masks can't be triggered individually, but there are O2 bottles on the plane that have the same cuo

5 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

Yep, oxygen masked in planes are typically single use oxygen generators. They burn sodium chlorate and iron and release extra O2.

5 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Honestly you could use a toilet paper roll in a pinch if you needed a spacer

5 years ago | Likes 10 Dislikes 2

Looks like he's using an airplane oxygen mask to also create a positive pressure high oxygen environment for the kid to breathe.

5 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

oxygen tank, but yeah.

5 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

It is a nebulizer. There is forced air from the oxygen attached to the back. Also pretty sure he knows the difference.

5 years ago | Likes 9 Dislikes 3

It looks like at the base of spacer he has connected one the yellow oxygen masks which could aerosolize the medication to some degree.

5 years ago | Likes 10 Dislikes 1

What’s the difference?

5 years ago | Likes 13 Dislikes 1

A spacer is an air chamber to allow the dry medication to mix with air before being inhaled. A nebulizer forces air through liquid meds to..

5 years ago | Likes 32 Dislikes 0

Turn it into an aerosolized mist that can be inhaled.

5 years ago | Likes 26 Dislikes 0

Tha I you for your explanation

5 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Thank you*

5 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

So is the medication in an albuterol inhaler a solid or a liquid?

5 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Actually kinda a complicated question. It's tiny crystals in a propellant that sprays out droplets with the crystals inside

5 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

It can be an aerosol, a dry powder, or a solution to be nebulized.

5 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0