[voice over] Experts say the more resilient we are, the better we can face life's challenges. And the single biggest factor for cultivating resilience? Far away from home Positive relationships. So find your people and keep them close. Because when you're at your lowest those people get you through.
S17 E4You'll Never Walk Alone
S17 E5Fight the Power
[voice over] My mom used to tell me never to judge people until you know their story. You might think you understand, but you don't. That's why, as a patient, it's important to have an advocate. Someone to tell your story, to be your voice to say your name. Especially when you don't have the voice yourself.
[voice over] Patients lose their power when they are referred to as "Bed number 4" or "arm pain guy". Even in their deaths, they are not faceless. They are not nameless. They are more than statistics. More than "co-morbid conditions" or "nursing-home patients". They are sons, brothers, and uncles who speak five languages and run restaurants - Wade Klein, 66. They are great-grandfathers who love Broadway - Jacob Lappin, 92. They are baseball loving nurses with an easy laugh - Dane Wilson, 45. They are the world's greatest mothers, and they are the most beloved wives - Elena Rose Bailey, 84.
S17 E6No Time for Despair
[voice over] When a virus finds its way into our bodies our immune system unleashes an attack. It puts up a good fight and then stands down. Or at least that's what it's supposed to do. Sometimes the system works so hard that it goes completely off the rails. Immune cells start attacking healthy tissue. They flood the lungs, clot the blood, cause vessels to leak, and shut down organs. Our own body wreaks havoc on itself. It's called the cytokine storm. And it takes a miracle to stop it.
[voice over]' Sometimes, when you think the storm has passed, you realize you were just in the eye of it.
S17 E9In My Life
[voice over] The day you discharge a patient who nearly died is a very good day. You say your goodbyes. And you hope like hell you never see them again. Because when a patient does return, there's a very good chance you screwed up.
S17 E15Tradition
[voice over] In some residency programs, graduating surgeons get a wooden chair, emblazoned with the emblem of their program. When those residents become attendings, the chair usually goes in their office, where it collects dust for the rest of their careers. You give your program years of your life, your sweat, your tears, and in my case, at least, your blood, and your program gives you a chair. I suppose it's a nice tradition, if you're into that sort of thing. And if you want a constant reminder of the hell you went through to get here.
[voice over] Traditions have never really been my thing. But at their best, they help us remember who we are, where we're from, and those who came before us. They give us something to pass on to future generations. 'Cause if you don't know where you're from, it's kind of hard to know where you're going. Unless, of course, where you're going is home.
S17 E16I'm Still Standing
[voice over] When we give test results to patients, we often say, "Normal". We look and analyze numbers within ranges, highs and lows. Because if history has shown us anything, one person's normal is another's complete chaos.
S18 E6Every Day Is a Holiday (With You)
[voice over] Scientists have published studies about how the practice of gratitude improves mental and physical health. A daily gratitude practice reduces depression and increases happiness. Gratitude enhances empathy, which helps build positive relationships. It even lowers blood pressure. If giving thanks is so good for you, why do so many people struggle doing it?
[voice over] Why do we only designate one day a year to give thanks? After everything we've been through, why not celebrate the good every day? Hug your loved ones. Smile at a stranger. Choose kindness. Someone might do it in return.
S18 E7Today Was a Fairytale
[voice over] In the late 16th century, a father-son team made a groundbreaking discovery. They found that when they put lenses at the opposite ends of a tube, it enlarged objects. Their invention was the first compound microscope. And as basic as it was, their invention was a game changer for science and medicine.
[voice over] The invention of the microscope turned the scientific community on its head. It gave scientists a whole new way of looking at things. For the first time, they could see cells and things they couldn't with the naked eye. The simple use of curved glass to bend and refract light revolutionized how we see the world. In many ways, it's not all that different from everyday life. Sometimes seeing life through a different lens opens a new world of possibilities.
S18 E8It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
[voice over] The way kids feel at Christmas is a pretty close equivalent to the way surgeons feel walking into an OR. It's a complicated mix of anxiety and excitement that makes it almost impossible to sleep. The anticipation is the best and worst part. Will this go my way? Will I get what I want? Will my patient live? Will they heal? Is Santa real? Stepping into an OR is its own kind of magic. The possibility that on this day, you might save a life or end it.
[voice over] I often ask my kids do they prefer Christmas Eve or Christmas Day? I go back and forth on that question. As a person, I prefer Christmas Eve, when life is all possibility falling asleep with unopened presents under a tree, filled with excitement for tomorrow. But as a surgeon, I prefer Christmas Day the point where possibility meets reality. And soon you'll see if it all worked. But whichever you prefer I can promise you this: eventually, the holiday is over.
These quotes come from Wikiquote's Grey's Anatomy pages and are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.