Holly Tichener

Holly Michener contracted a serious infection after a root canal that landed her in the hospital.

History
Holly had a root canal. For the week after, it hurt, but she thought it was normal. A week after her surgery, she passed out at work and was taken to the hospital, where she was diagnosed with a serious infection, descending necrotizing mediastinitis. She also had an abscess in her brain. She was given IV antibiotics, but they were ineffective, which meant she needed surgery. Derek Shepherd wanted to operate on the brain abscess first, as he was concerned about brain damage, but Margaret Pierce and Meredith Grey thought the mediastinitis was a more pressing issue. Owen Hunt had them get scans to access which infection was more serious. After those scans, they planned her chest surgery, but before she could be taken in, she crashed and had to have a cricothyrotomy put in. Derek again tried to insist that he be allowed to do the brain surgery first, but Pierce pulled rank and they took her in to operate on her chest. After the surgery, they were concerned about brain damage, but Derek did a near check and she was able to respond to commands, so he scheduled her brain surgery for the following day.

Familial
Holly's mother, Claire, came to the hospital with her. When the doctors said they wanted to do brain surgery, she was very concerned about her daughter.