Shrinkage of 80% and Collapsed Lung Incident: the Story of Olivia Smith in London

KOMPAS.com – A woman in London, England named Olivia Smith (22) suffered a collapsed lung and experienced shrinkage of up to 80 percent.

Unfortunately, the health workers at the hospital who examined him were careless because they thought Smith’s lungs were fine.

Medically, a collapsed lung is usually called a pneumothorax.

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Chronology of events

This incident began when Smith celebrated his friend’s birthday in Shoreditch, England on October 21, 2023.

Shortly after ordering a cocktail, he felt sudden pain as his lung collapsed.

“I sent a message to my girlfriend who was at the end of the table and said that I was 70 percent sure my lung had collapsed, but I wasn’t going to tell anyone,” Smith was quoted as saying by the Daily Mail.

“We were with 20 people, and I didn’t want all my friends to freak out or think I was exaggerating,” he continued.

Smith immediately left the party and headed to the Queen’s Hospital emergency care center in Romford, London.

He then underwent an X-ray to find out what happened to his lungs.

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Reset is not considered problematic

After waiting three hours, an unnamed officer said there was no sign of a collapsed lung on the X-ray results.

The officer also advised Smith to go home and only return if the pain got worse.

Smith was actually unsure and surprised by what the officer said.

“There’s no point in trying to win an argument, and I can’t even speak well,” he explained.

Moreover, at that time the hospital was busy and many people queued up afterwards.

“I put on makeup and I stand tall. I think he just wanted to get rid of me,” he explained.

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After that, he tried asking the officer, but didn’t get an answer.

Not wanting to cause trouble, he left the hospital and took an X-ray of his lungs.

When he got home, Smith was shocked to find that medics had ignored the obvious signs that something was wrong with his lungs.

“It’s clear to every doctor. It was clearly shrinking, he was careless. He just didn’t believe me,” he said.

“I cry. “I had to leave all my friends who were having fun trying to solve my lung problem, and someone tried to say that his lung hadn’t collapsed even though I knew it had,” he added.

According to him, the staff at the previous hospital did not look at the X-ray results properly and did not know what they should see.

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The lungs shrank by 80 percent

When the pain got worse, Smith decided to return to Queen’s Hospital’s urgent care center the next day and have another x-ray.

According to him, the results of another X-ray showed that the condition of his collapsed lung was getting worse.

He admitted that his lungs had shrunk by 80 percent, leaving 20 percent of their normal size. The medical officers on duty were surprised because Smith had not been treated in the emergency unit.

Smith was then referred to NHS St Bartholomew’s Hospital in central London.

At the hospital, Smith had to be treated for 10 days before his lungs recovered enough for surgery.

“This is the only doctor or nurse I’ve ever dealt with who didn’t believe me,” he said.

He was then able to live a normal life again after undergoing surgery to treat the shrunken lungs.

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Not the first time

Smith’s collapsed lung was apparently the third such incident in his life.

The first incident occurred the day after his 21st birthday or around a year ago.

“The next day, I felt heart pain when I opened the gift, it felt like I was having a heart attack,” he said.

Smith’s lung collapsed again the day before New Year’s Eve 2023. At that time, he was at his girlfriend’s house.

“I was at my girlfriend’s house and was talking to my mother-in-law, when suddenly I ran out of breath,” he said.

“I went to the emergency room the next day and my lungs had shrunk to five percent capacity, so they were smaller than a man’s testicles, very small,” he added.

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Get to know pneumothorax

Quoted from the Mayo Clinic, pneumothorax or collapsed lung occurs when air leaks into the space between the lungs and the chest wall.

This air pushes against the outside of the lung and causes it to collapse. This pneumothorax can be a complete collapse of the lung or only part of it.

Pneumothorax can be caused by blunt or penetrating chest injuries, certain medical procedures, damage from an underlying lung disease, or can occur for no apparent reason.

Symptoms of this disease usually include sudden chest pain and shortness of breath. In some cases, a collapsed lung can be a life-threatening event.

Treatment of pneumothorax usually involves inserting a needle or chest tube between the ribs to remove excess air.

However, pneumothorax that has little impact or only causes the lungs to shrink slightly can heal on its own.

Also read: Symptoms of Lung Disease that Appear on the Nails

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2023-12-02 14:00:00
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