Last fall, University of Virginia School of Medicine student Cullen Timmons placed a stethoscope over his heart in an elective course and heard a troubling sound: a very irregular heart murmur.
Timmons, an Athens native, had noticed a slight heart murmur months earlier and didn’t think much of it, but listening to the turbulent swooshing sound of blood flowing through his heart in the class, “Advanced Physical Diagnosis,” he had reason for alarm — and need for immediate medical attention.
Further tests in November 2014 showed that Timmons, 26, had a thoracic aortic aneurysm, meaning the main blood vessel out of his heart was far too large. A normal human aorta is roughly the diameter of a banana. Timmons’ was the size of a coffee mug. Thoracic aortic aneurysms pose serious health risks because they can burst or rupture and lead to an almost certain death.
Within a matter of days, Timmons underwent repair surgery at the University of Virginia Medical Center to remove the diseased portion of the heart as well as replace the weakened portion of the aorta with a fabric tube, called a graft.
Timmons’ own diagnostic skills not only saved his life, but experiencing medicine from the other side of the gurney shaped the way he views the doctor-patient relationship. Timmons, who graduated with an undergraduate degree in genetics and chemistry from the University of Georgia, will begin his residency at Vanderbilt University this coming fall.
“Being in the patient role is a really unique experience for someone who is used to being the caregiver,” said Timmons, who plans to practice emergency medicine. “It’s hard because the patient may not always know what’s going on. Even understanding medically what was happening to me, as a patient, I still sometimes felt a little like I didn’t know what was going on. … I can’t imagine what it’s like for someone with no medical background to go through that whole experience.”
It drove home that while doctors and nurses may have access to charts, lab results and other medical information at their fingertips, the patient may sometimes feel like they are left in the dark.
“All of this stuff is happening to you and you don’t know why, and for me, it was being in the shoes of wanting to know the information and not necessarily needing to know the information,” he said.
So how will he decide as a doctor in the ER what — and what not — to share with the patient?
“I think I will give the patient the option. I will be like, ‘We did all of these tests and I will give you the important results, but let me know if you want more,’” he said.
In the end, he said, some of the strongest memories from his very own medical emergency were the little acts of kindness.
“When I was going in for surgery, one of the scrub nurses came and held my hand while I was going under anesthesia. It’s little things like that. You don’t think those gestures are a big deal, but they really make a big difference to the patient.”
Dr. Eugene Corbett Jr., a professor Emeritus of Medicine at the University of Virginia School of Medicine who had been teaching the “Advanced Physical Diagnosis” elective for at least 25 years, said students have detected heart murmurs in his class requiring follow-up testing, but this marked the first time a student discovered a life-threatening condition — in himself.
Corbett said the class provides real-life experience of examining patients at UVA hospital with a special emphasis on observation skills and good bedside manners, and is designed to help prepare fourth-year med students for the next step of becoming doctors. Timmons gained more than he could have ever imagined from the class.
“Med students are generally very healthy people. I don’t think Cullen was ever a patient,” Corbett said. “Things like touch and voice and being able to engage in a personally meaningful way. This was new to him. He had read about it in books, but he had never experienced it firsthand. And this hit him hard. Not that he wouldn’t have been an excellent doctor. But he is going to be a little more sensitive to the patient’s side. It will make him a better doctor.”
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