We weren’t ready for last night’s episode of “Grey’s Anatomy”

Okay, SERIOUSLY, Shonda? Did we really need to add MORE pain to an already brutal week? Last night’s episode of Grey’s Anatomy basically scraped off whatever layer of skin we had left after this election and sort of made us feel like we were totally exposed to the elements and vulnerable and banged up and SAD. Not that we don’t expect to have our hearts broken by Grey’s, but this was painful on so many levels, and while we loved the episode, we also hated the episode, because ouch.

The basic premise of the episode was laid out by Meredith’s opening monologue — while sleep-deprived, immersed in surgery, sometimes one sees people who aren’t there. And so began an epic parade of pain and character development, where we saw everybody’s internal struggles play out.

Meredith, Owen, Stephanie, and Webber are in a late-night surgery, Webber asks Stephanie to create an identity for the patient on the table, so that they’ll understand the gravity of the situation, and the impact on the life at hand — presumably. Webber calls the patient Gail and sees her playing the violin and yelling at her two children. We later learn that Gail is his mother. Pow, suckerpunch, right in the feels.

Owen imagines the patient is his sister, and we see them working together in the Army. His reaction to this visualization is extreme and emotional, and it impacts his behavior during the surgery — although it is nice to see Owen interacting with somebody with his guard down.

Stephanie imagines the patient as her younger self, guiding her with the knowledge she picked up as a child while hospitalized for sickle-cell anemia. This is maybe our favorite part, and sort of the least heartbreaking. It’s nice to know where Stephanie’s coming from, and the source of her insight.

Maybe the MOST painful, though, is Meredith, who after finding out the patient has a son and a daughter, relives the night she had to tell Zola and Bailey about Derek’s death. NOPE.

The surgery ends well, and everybody leaves, but not before Meredith sees Derek, smiling at her. We’re not even going to post a picture of him because it was THAT heartbreaking, and we miss him SO much. Suffice to say this episode of Grey’s Anatomy was a rollercoaster, but even though we were screaming and/or covering our eyes a little bit, we definitely enjoyed the ride.