Meredith (voice over): We all need a place to feel safe, to feel sheltered, protected. For most people, it means a home. For most surgeons, it means a hospital. In the hospital, we are rarely blindsided. And there's always something to keep us busy. We always know what to do next. It's a cozy little box.
S15 E9Shelter From the Storm
Meredith (voice over): We look for shelter in a storm but, sometimes, we can't find it. Sometimes, we're at the mercy of the winds - we have nothing left but to accept it. When we face the storm no matter how scary, no matter how much power it has over us, when we face it, we find we are the shelter. We'll survive. We find ourselves coming out the other side stronger for it. We might even find ourselves happy.
S15 E12Girlfriend in a Coma
[Opening Voice Over] Time is a strange thing. When you're waiting for something good to happen, it can feel like time is dragging on. But when you want it to slow down, it goes by in the blink of an eye. The odd part is time isn't real. It's a concept imagined by scientists based on the imperfect movement of the earth around the sun. So why do we put so much importance on something that's just a theory? Because it's all we have.
[Ending Voice Over] there's never enough time. Work, kids, life, death. Something always cuts our time short. So our best bet is to make the most of the time we have. Or make up for lost time. But sometimes, if we're really lucky ...time stand still.
S15 E13I Walk the Line
Meredith (voice over): There is an invisible line in the OR - you scrub, you gown, you glove, and you approach the sterile field. It is an important boundary. It's there to protect the patient and you. Without that line about a million things can go wrong. Funny that something so important is completely invisible.
Meredith (voice over): There is a reason so many babies' first word is "NO". It's because it's the word they hear the most. From the second we are born, we want to cross the line, push the boundaries, test the limits. But then we grow up and learn that not all rules are bad. Some boundaries protect us, some lines keep us safe. But the nice thing is that we can choose for ourselves - we can screw the rules or we can make our own.
S15 E14I Want a New Drug
Meredith (voice over): Pharmaceuticals are designed to mimic the body's natural chemicals, the ones that make you feel good, make you feel better, make you feel unstoppable. They make it in a lab and put it in a pill for pain relief, giving you the high your body creates naturally anytime you're doing something you love.
Meredith (voice over): They call it a high for a reason because the flip side is really low. The chemical version isn't worth what comes after. But the dopamine rush from a job well done? That's free and it's one of the very best parts of being alive.
S15 E15We Didn't Start the Fire
Meredith (voice over): In 1967, surgeons and in South Africa performed the first successful heart transplant. The following year, there were 100 heart transplants worldwide. The problem was - the patients kept dying. So the following year transplants fell to 18. Kinda seems like people were a little too eager to celebrate.
Meredith (voice over): Surgeons are reluctant to celebrate. Even in success, they obsess with what could have been better. And don't get it wrong, that self-reflection is important. We only get better when we admit our shortcomings, acknowledge our limits. But there are so many moments along the way to celebrate. Some are bigger than others, and you really don't want to miss those moments. Because bad times are gonna find you all on their own.
S15 E16Blood and Water
Meredith (voice over): All diseases have a genetic component. But of course, genes are not always to blame. In diagnosing a disease, physicians must take into account other factors - their environment, their lifestyle. However, some genetic traits are, annoyingly, unavoidable.
Meredith (voice over): Blood is thicker than water. It means the family you're born into is important above all else, right? Wrong. The original proverb goes a little differently. It actually says, " The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb". Meaning the bloodshed on the proverbial battlefield bonds us more than simple genetics. And, yes, DNA matters when it comes to medical history. Family is family.
S15 E18Add It Up
Meredith (voice-over): Anesthesiology is a lot more challenging than it looks because it's mostly math. A patient's weight, their estimated blood volume, their lung function - all these variables have to be accounted for. It takes careful calculation to suspend a person between life and death. And if one of those variables is off, you might wake up in the middle of your surgery, or never wake up at all.
Meredith (voice-over): If only life's variables were as cut and dried as the rules of mathematics. If only there were clear answers. Certainty, clarity, right or wrong. But you can only eliminate as many unknowns as possible. Then pick an answer and hope that, at the end of the day, it's an answer you can live with.
S15 E19Silent All These Years
Meredith (voice-over): When there is a poisonous snake on our path, we freeze. When we smell smoke, we run. When faced with danger, fear takes over, and we react desperate to feel safe. But for someone who suffers from trauma, it's the everyday things - a song in a coffee shop, the smell of rubbing alcohol - seemingly random, common things convincing your brain and body you're in danger and there is no way out
These quotes come from Wikiquote's Grey's Anatomy pages and are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.