The Medical Detectives: Chan’s Story – The Mystery of the Protruding Eye

Podcast: The Medical Detectives
Hosts: Dr. Erin Nance (Orthopedic Surgeon), Anna O’Brien (Content Creator)
Guest: Chan (aka Chan Plant)
Release Date (Re-release): August 20, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode dives into the deeply personal and medically puzzling journey of Chan, a young woman whose life took a dramatic turn after a bout with Covid-19 led to a series of unexplained, debilitating neurological and ophthalmological symptoms—including ultimately losing vision and the removal of one eye. Through this story, the hosts and Chan explore not only medical complexities and diagnostic mysteries, but also themes of advocacy, the visible vs. invisible illness dichotomy, persistence, and the limits of modern medicine.

The episode shines a light on the realities of life with chronic and poorly understood illness, especially in the context of Long Covid, and highlights the importance of both patient experience and medical humility when answers are elusive.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Invisible-to-Visible Illness Journey

• Navigating Stigma: Chan’s journey began as someone with no health issues; Covid-19 became the turning point for her transition from “invisible” (internal, not physically apparent) to “visible” illness (external, outwardly obvious), and each brought unique social and medical challenges.
  • “People feel comfortable asking somebody about a visible disability… Like, why are you like that?... with an invisible illness, you’re constantly trying to explain to people why you don’t feel good. But then with a visible illness, people feel like they’re owed an explanation.” — Anna [01:55]

The Onset & Medical Mystery

• Initial Symptoms & Dismissal: After recovering from Covid-19 in December 2020, Chan developed numbness, tingling, and headaches—leading to fainting and loss of motor control—but was quickly dismissed as having anxiety by ER staff. This misattribution, especially in women, points to a larger problem in medicine.
  • “A lot of women have probably experienced [being told it's anxiety].” — Dr. Nance [07:49]
  • “They sent me home with anxiety meds...” — Chan [08:59]

[Key Segment: 05:18–08:59]

• First Major Crisis: Numb tongue, fainting in ER (vasovagal syncope diagnosis—attributed to anxiety), and a sense of being unseen despite alarming symptoms.

Escalation: Stroke & Search for Diagnosis

• Worsening Neurological Issues: Months later, Chan suffers a facial droop and returns to the hospital. Finally, with a friend advocating for her, doctors take her seriously and do an MRI.
  • “He starts freaking out. He’s like, we have to go to the hospital now... The ER was still really not taking it very seriously. Luckily, my friend, who I always mention was male... was able to be there and advocate for me.” — Chan [09:46–10:46]
• Diagnosis: Ischemic Stroke: Unusual for her age; doctors install arterial stents. No cause found.

[Key Segment: 10:54–12:51]

• Angiogram & Hospitalization: Chan undergoes an angiogram, learns her carotid arteries are drastically narrowed, spends two weeks in the hospital feeling like she might die—a first existential fear for her.

The Protruding Eye: Mystery Mass

• Vision Loss and Eye Symptoms: Weeks after moving to New York for a dream job post-stroke recovery, she develops burning/numbness behind one eye and is told it may be a meningioma (benign brain tumor). Relieved to have an answer, she prepares for treatment—but is ultimately misdiagnosed.
  • “If I can name it, I can treat it… whatever it is, I will take it.” — Chan [16:17]

[Key Segment: 19:11–23:00]

• Rapid Deterioration: Acute loss of vision in right eye; ER overwhelmed by Covid. Long wait for care, then a craniotomy and biopsy uncover no tumor—just unexplained inflammation.

Chronic Illness Limbo: Treatments & Setbacks

• Caught in Therapeutic Spiral: Prescribed high-dose corticosteroids (prednisone) for months—without effect but with major side effects. Labeled as “steroid-unresponsive,” Chan cycles through treatments, from immunosuppressants to radiation—still no answers.

[Memorable Description: 26:31–27:01]

• Physical Transformation:
  • “My eye stops moving… it looks a little bit like a lazy eye and now it’s bulging… it looks like, with all the kindness and love to my former self, it looks a little bit like a frog or like a little lizard.” — Chan [27:02]
• Trigeminal Neuralgia (extreme nerve pain) develops, compounding her suffering.

[Key Segment: 25:00–25:33]

• The Emotional Cost: Every time a new treatment fails, hope erodes, and she’s left feeling like the problem is her own fault.

Living with the Unknown

• Search for Closure (Long Covid): Exhausting cycles of workups at top hospitals (e.g. Mayo Clinic) produce no clarity. Chan pursues her own research, which reveals she’s not alone: Long Covid and post-viral syndromes (like ME/CFS) can have dramatic, lingering, and variable effects.

  • “Other people are dealing with complications. They might not look exactly like yours, but you are not alone by any means.” — Chan [32:27]

• Decision for Eye Removal: After years of pain and failed treatments, Chan ultimately decides, with the “gentleness and care” of her Arizona surgeon, to remove her eye in 2024—a deeply personal, difficult, but freeing decision.

  • “Even if your eye looks so awful and feels so horrible, like, why wouldn’t she just get rid of it? …it was after a recent flare up when I realized this was gonna be my life forever unless I did something about it right then and there.” — Chan [34:14]

The Meaning Behind the Medical Mystery

• Question of Why—No Simple Answers:
  • “[Long Covid] has over 200 different symptoms… it’s basically an umbrella term, but it’s definitely valid. And so many people are experiencing it… but for some people, they get the flu or some such virus and they’re completely, you know, disabled essentially for life, and there’s no cure…” — Chan [36:43]
  • “You do what you do with the information you have at the time… not everything has a diagnosis.” — Dr. Nance [40:06]
• Acceptance vs. Diagnosis:
  • “What I’ve kind of learned… is that there’s really not a magical solution… I’m interested in not so much putting a name to what’s going on with me, but just finding a way to make it livable and make it better.” — Chan [41:10–43:00]

Advocacy, Community, and Representation

• Life Online: Chan shares her experience openly on TikTok (@chanplante), bringing visibility to chronic illness/disability communities, and inspiring others by showing off her sparkling prosthetic eyes and makeup for people with visual differences.
  • “I wanted to love myself and I wanted to show people that they could love themselves, too.” — Chan [45:13]

[Key Segment: 44:55–47:31]

• Building Community: Chan describes finding solidarity and learning self-advocacy from the chronic illness and disability communities online.

Strength, Advice, and Takeaways

• Lasting Words for Listeners:
  • “Chronic illness… beats down on you and can really strip you of hope... Be nice to your barista, have those kind interactions with your nurses… you need to find light, you need to find support if you’re going to get through it… We still found time to laugh in the hospital...” — Chan [48:19]
• Quality of Life After Surgery: Despite lingering illness and fatigue, the removal of her eye ends the worst pain and brings Chan renewed quality of life.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote or Moment | |:-------------:|:-----------:|:-------------------| | 01:55 | Anna | “How comfortable people are asking somebody about a visible disability... with an invisible illness, you’re constantly trying to explain to people why you don’t feel good. But then with a visible illness, people feel like they’re owed an explanation.” | | 08:59 | Chan | “They sent me home with anxiety meds. So after my initial episode that was misdiagnosed as anxiety, I continued to have symptoms...” | | 09:46 | Chan | “Luckily, my friend, who I always mention was male... was able to be there and advocate for me and be like, no, we really need to run an MRI.” | | 16:17 | Chan | “If I can name it, I can treat it… whatever it is, I will take it.” | | 20:36 | Chan | “I have such complicated feelings about it because on the one hand, like, you guys are totally right—someone should have seen me sooner. But also people were dying literally all around me.” | | 27:02 | Chan | “[My eye] looks a little bit like a frog or like a little lizard. So the entire under eye is also red... there’s no blood flow happening, there’s no drainage happening. So I’ve got this big red, inflamed eye, absolutely bulging, drooping...” | | 32:27 | Chan | “Other people are dealing with complications. They might not look exactly like yours, but you are not alone by any means.” | | 34:14 | Chan | “Even if your eye looks so awful and feels so horrible, like, why wouldn’t she just get rid of it?... But it was after a recent flare up... when I realized this was gonna be my life forever unless I did something about it.” | | 36:43 | Chan | “[Long Covid] has over 200 different symptoms... Umbrella term, but it’s definitely valid. So many people are experiencing it and so many people still haven’t recovered from Covid to this day, which we don’t talk about enough.” | | 41:10 | Dr. Nance | “Not everything has a diagnosis. And that’s what’s probably the most frustrating part of your story.” | | 43:00 | Chan | “It’s almost comforting when people admit that they don’t know what’s going on and they haven’t seen someone like me because... that’s the truth. And we need to start there if we’re going to have an honest... conversation.” | | 45:13 | Chan | “I wanted to love myself and I wanted to show people that they could love themselves, too.” | | 48:19 | Chan | “Be nice to your barista, have those kind interactions with your nurses. Fly home to be with your family if you need to. Those were the things that ultimately kept me going.” |

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [02:34] The challenge of visible vs. invisible illness
• [05:18–08:59] First ER dismissal, fainting, anxiety mislabel
• [10:54–12:51] Hospitalization for stroke, first existential fear
• [16:17] Relief at (incorrect) brain tumor diagnosis
• [19:11–23:00] Vision loss, ER during Covid, craniotomy, “non-diagnosis”
• [25:00–25:33] Emotional impact of failed treatments
• [26:31–27:01] Describing facial and eye appearance
• [32:27] Discovering community in other Long Covid sufferers
• [34:14] Deciding to have eye removed
• [41:10–43:00] Acceptance without a diagnosis; philosophical close
• [44:55–47:31] Social media impact, sharing her journey
• [48:19] Support and advice for listeners: “find the small lights”

Tone & Style

Raw, vulnerable, and candid—balancing medical detail, emotional honesty, dark humor, and practical advice. The hosts create an accessible atmosphere with explanations for non-medical listeners, validating patient experiences, and calling out systemic issues.

Final Takeaway

Chan’s story is less about the discovery of a single diagnosis and more about the process of persistence, self-advocacy, and finding meaning and quality of life amid medical uncertainty. Her journey, amplified by candid social media sharing, makes tangible the realities of living with (and after) illness that defies labels, the necessity of hope, community, and acceptance, and the importance of supporting one another—both inside and outside the hospital.

Follow Chan:
TikTok/Instagram: @chanplante

If you have a medical mystery or story:
Email the show at stories@medicaldetectivespodcast.com