The cast of Grey’s Anatomy celebrated 20+ years of surgeries, heartbreaks, and Snow Patrol at D23 Expo Saturday morning. That’s a lot of patients, and very little patience. Chandra Wilson, James Pickens Jr, Kim Raver, Camilla Luddington, Caterina Scorsone, Kevin McKidd, Jason George, and showrunner Meg Marinis were all quizzed on their first surgery/patient, to varying levels of success. “I can’t remember what I had for breakfast,†quipped Pickens. He then recalled that his first surgery was George’s ill-fated appendectomy.
Scorsone vividly remembered her entrance to the series. “Well, when I first came onto the show, onto Grey’s, I brought a patient with me,†she said. “Amelia and this guy had hooked up in an airplane. And she was making out with him and she felt that he had a brain tumor. And so she brought him to Derek as a present.†The episode was titled “Superfreak,†because that’s who Amelia is, to Scorsone.
More than her first TV surgery, Chandra Wilson remembers the real open heart surgery she observed to train for her fake medical license. “A five month old baby had a hole in her heart,†Wilson said. “I thought that I would be up in the gallery like we do at Grey’s, looking down. But no, I got to be on the floor right there next to it…I got to just stand there and watch this bloodless procedure done in order to repair this baby girl so she could go on and live a good life.†Raver, who plays cardio-thoracic specialist Teddi Altman, did not have the same experience during her observations. “Mine was not bloodless,†she said.
This story has been updated to include the full roster of the panel.