Season 9, Episode 13: Bad Blood

"We've all heard the buzz words, streamline, optimize integrate, adapt. Everyday someone comes up with a new strategy or tool or technology to increase our efficiency. The idea is to make our lives easier but the question is, does it?"

"To really be efficient, you have to eliminate what doesn’t work. You have to figure out what is important and hold on tight to the things that matter most."

Source: http://www.meredith-and-derek.com/quotes/180

Season 9, Episode 12: Walking on a Dream

"Patients who undergo an amputation often feel a sensation where the missing limb was as if it's still there. The syndrome is called phantom limb. It's as if the body can't accept that a terrible trauma has occurred. The mind is trying to make the body complete again. Patients who experience phantom limb report many different sensations but by far the most common is pain."

"The body can be stubborn when it comes to accepting change. The mind holds out hope that the body can be whole again and the mind will always fight for hope, tooth and nail. Until it finds a way of understanding its new reality and accepts that what is gone is gone forever."

Source: http://www.meredith-and-derek.com/quotes/179

Season 9, Episode 11: The End Is the Beginning Is the End

"The big day is here. The day you're gonna hear the news, the test result. Is the biopsy malignant or benign? Am I gonna live or die? You just want to know even if the news is scary because then you can move on. Whatever that means."

"They say ignorance is bliss because once you know about the tumor or the prognosis, you can’t go back. Will you be strong or will you fall apart? It's hard to predict so don’t worry about it. Enjoy the time you have before the news comes. Yep, ignorance is bliss."

Source: http://www.meredith-and-derek.com/quotes/178

Season 9, Episode 10: Things We Said Today

“In order to properly treat a problem, a surgeon needs as much information as she can get. So we ask questions. Things like when did the pain begin? Have you experienced these symptoms before? Do you have a family history? Are you currently sexually active? Have you recently undergone surgery? If you're unwilling or unable to answer these and other questions, we’re forced to rely on tests for insight. Until those test results come back, there’s nothing we can do but wait."

"The next time you're in your doctors office, remember she's not asking all those questions for her health. She's asking them for yours. Tell her everything. The small details aren't trivial. They actually make the story. There's no rush, take all the time you need, start at the beginning.”

Source: http://www.meredith-and-derek.com/quotes/177

Season 9, Episode 9: Run, Baby, Run

“The adrenal system reacts to stress by releasing hormones that make us alert and reactive. The problem is the adrenal system can't tell what's a regular case of nerves and what's a real, impending disaster.”

“The body does not know the difference between nerves and excitement, panic and doubt, the beginning, and the end. The body just tells you to get the hell out. Sometimes you ignore it. That’s the reasonable thing to do. But sometimes you listen. You’re supposed to trust your gut, right? When your body says run, run.”

Season 9, Episode 8: Love Turns You Upside Down

"Most people hate hospitals. But not the interns… for them, the hospital is a magical place. It's poetic... the rhythm of the machines, the crackle of a trauma gown. It's a place full of promise, excitement, surprises. It's a place where dreams can come true."

"There don't have to be harps playing or birds singing or rose petals falling from the sky. And there are definitely days when the romance is dead. But if you look around, things are pretty amazing. So stop for a second. Enjoy the beauty. Feel the magic. Drink it in. 'Cause it won't last forever. The romance will fade. Things will happen. People will change. Love will die. But... maybe not today."

Season 9, Episode 7: I Was Made for Lovin' You

 “‎Can two people really be meant to be? M-F-E-O. Soul mates. It would be nice if it’s true, that we all have someone out there waiting for us, us waiting for them. I’m just not sure I believe it…. Maybe I do believe it... All this meant to be stuff... Why not believe it? Really? Who doesn't want more romance in their life? Maybe it’s just up to us to make it happen... to show up and be meant for each other. At least that way you will find out for sure if you’re meant to be or not.”

Season 9, Episode 6: Second Oppinion

“Doctors have never had all the answers. There was a time when you were sick. We’d just drain your blood like you were getting an oil change. We are constantly having to rethink what we thought was true and redefine it. It can be scary to find out you've been wrong about something. But we can't be afraid to change our minds, to accept that things are different… That they’ll never be the same. For better or for worse. We have to be willing to give up what we used to believe. The more we’re willing to accept  what is, and not what we thought, we’ll find ourselves exactly where we belong.”

Season 9, Episode 5: Beautiful Doom

"Sometimes, things are simply out of your control. You can't change them. You can't bend them to your will. It doesn't matter if you're already forty-five minutes late, your hair isn't brushed, you haven't fixed breakfast and you're hemorrhaging brain cells by the second while you sit here.  Dying, dying inside."

Source: http://www.meredith-and-derek.com/quotes/172

Season 9, Episode 4: I Saw Her Standing There

"The clothes a surgeon wears help to present an image. The lab coats and badges and scrubs all work together to indicate a person of authority, someone you can trust. When the clothes come off, that's a different story. We're sensitive, lonely, human."

"It might be hard for a surgeon to admit, but there's no shame in simply being human. It can be a relief to stop hiding, to accept who you really are. A little self awareness never hurt anyone. Because when you know who you are, it's easier to know what you're about, what you really need."

Source: http://www.meredith-and-derek.com/quotes/171

Season 9, Episode 3: Love the One You're With

"Surgeons don't compromise. We defy death, we exceed perfection. We operate for seventeen hours straight if we have to. We aren't built to settle, but that doesn't mean we won't"

"When we follow our hearts, when we choose not to settle, it's funny. Isn't it? A weight lifts, the sun shines a little brighter, and for a brief moment, we find a little peace."

Source: http://www.meredith-and-derek.com/quotes/170

Season 9, Episode 2: Remember The Time

"I had this memory game when I was a kid. A bunch of cards, face down, in rows. Each card has a picture. You turn one over, look at it, then turn it back over. Then you have to try and remember where its matching card was. Sometimes you have no idea. And other times it shows us exactly what we need to see. The cards seem completely out of order and random. But you keep turning them over... and the more cards you see, you get a sense how everything fits together."

"This is a place where horrible things happen. You were right to go. You're probably escaping disaster. Look at me. I practically grew up here, and you're right, it's hurt me in ways I'll probably never get over. I have a lot of memories of people. People I've lost forever. But I have a lot of other memories too. This is the place where I fell in love. The place where I found my family. This is where I learned to be a doctor. Where I learned how to take responsibility for someone else's life. And it's the place where I met you. So I figure this place has given me as much as it's taken away from me. I've lived here as much as I've survived here. It just depends on how I look at it. I'm gonna choose to look at it that way, and remember you that way. Hope you're good. Bye."

Source: http://www.meredith-and-derek.com/quotes/169

Season 9, Episode 1: Going Going Gone

"Dying changes everything. There is the emotional fall out, sure. But there's also the practical stuff. Who's going to do your job? Who's going to take care of your family? The only good thing for you is you don't have to worry about it. People you never knew would be living in your house, working your job... the world just keeps on going without you."

"They say death is hardest on the living. It's tough to actually say goodbye. Sometimes it's impossible. You never really stop feeling the loss. It's what makes things so bittersweet. We leave little bits of ourselves behind, little reminders, a lifetime of memories, photos, trinkets, things to remember us by... even when we're gone."

Source: http://www.meredith-and-derek.com/quotes/168

Season 8, Episode 24: Flight

"A month ago, you were in med school being taught by doctors. Today, you are the doctors. The seven years you spend here as a surgical resident will be the best and worst of your life. You will be pushed to the breaking point. Eight of you will switch to an easier specialty. Five of you will crack under the pressure. Two of you will be asked to leave. This is your starting line. This is your arena. How well you play? That’s up to you."

"The years we spend as surgical residents will be the best and worst of our lives. We will be pushed to our breaking point. This is the starting line. This is our arena. How well we play, that’s up to us."

Source: http://www.meredith-and-derek.com/quotes/167

Season 8, Episode 23: Migration

"So, there's this bird. Some sort of swallow I think. Every September, thousands of them ditch rainy Seattle to winter in Mexico. These birds aren't dumb. And every year, rounds of people gather around in Seattle to drink beer and watch the flock take off. They call it the Great Migration."

"I don't know how those birds do it. Travel thousands of miles without getting lost. Banging into windows, being eaten by cats. But every spring, they're always here. I guess they come back to what they know. People say it's pretty cool, watching them go. They say you can actually see the moment when, at some mysterious signal, all at once the birds decide to leave. Whatever... there's always next year."

Source: http://www.meredith-and-derek.com/quotes/166

Season 8, Episode 22: Let the Bad Times Roll

"Carpe diem. How annoying is carpe diem? How are you supposed to plan a life? A career? A family? If you're always carpe-ing the diem? If we all seized every moment of every day, there wouldn't be doctors. Who would sit through Med school? We'd all be too busy, living in the now. Whatever that means."

"I'll admit that the Romans had a point. You gotta live life. And living means that every morning, when you wake up, you have to choose. Between seizing what life offers in the moment, and forging ahead, no matter the weather. Or closing the curtains, and shutting out the day."

Source: http://www.meredith-and-derek.com/quotes/165

Season 8, Episode 21: Moment of Truth

"Picture this: you've spent the past five years at your residency training to become a surgeon. But those five years suddenly don't matter. The only thing that matters, the only thing between you and the rest of your career is a test, in a random hotel in a random city, with a random examiner asking you random questions. Nervous? You should be."

"Kindergarten, high school, college, Med school, residency. Yet all leads to this moment. Some people can crack under the pressure. Others thrive. Either way, there's nothing left to do. No more studying, no more preparing. Like it or not, the moment has arrived. The only thing left for you to do is to show up."

Source: http://www.meredith-and-derek.com/quotes/164

Season 8, Episode 20: The Girl with No Name

"When you're a kid, you always want things to stay the same. The same teacher, the same house, the same friends... Being a surgeon is no different. You get used to the same Attendings, same scrub nurses, the same hospital. Of course, that all changes the minute you're fifth year comes around. And you have to find a new job."

"It's one of those things people say: you can't move on until you've let go of the past. Letting go is the easy part. It's the moving on that's painful. So sometimes we fight it, trying to keep things the same. Things can't stay the same though. At some point you just have to let go, move on. Because no matter how painful it is, it's the only way we grow."

Source: http://www.meredith-and-derek.com/quotes/163

Season 8, Episode 19: Support System

"Every little kid knows the words to the song: the foot bone is connected to the leg bone, the leg bone is connected to the knee bone. In med school, you learn it's a little more complicated than that. But still, the song is not wrong. Everything is connected."

"The human body is made up from systems that keep it alive. There's the one that keeps you breathing, and the one that keeps you standing, the one that makes you hungry, and the one that makes you happy. They're all connected. Take a piece out, and everything else falls apart. And it's only when our support systems look like they might fail us, that we realize how much we depended on the all along."

Source: http://www.meredith-and-derek.com/quotes/162

Season 8, Episode 18: The Lion Sleeps Tonight

"We have a phrase in the operating rooms: don't pet the lion. It means, no matter how nice the tumor looks, how small it is, how perfect its margins may be, it's still a tumor. It's still dangerous, and it can bite."

"We've all heard the warnings and we've ignored them. We push our luck, we roll the dice, we play with fire. It's human nature, when we're told not to touch something, we usually do even if we know better. Maybe because deep down we're just asking for trouble."

Source: http://www.meredith-and-derek.com/quotes/161