Poor Meredith Grey

     As the leading lady of Grey's Anatomy, Meredith Grey has been through a lot of terrible situations. When we first met the grumpy, friendless, brilliant, makes-bad-decisions while drunk surgeon in 2005, she was simply trying to get her Alzheimer's afflicted mother to sign over power of attorney. Compared to that piece of cake, Meredith has faced a significantly greater  hardship. On Thursday's episode, she got beat up by a patient that was in a fugue state from sedation. Mer had broken bones, a broken jaw, and hearing loss, among other problems (Season 12, Episode 9). She was watched over and cared for by her dear friend Alex, and at this point I think he should just be her new husband. They both have some pretty serious relationship issues and understand each other on a deep level. (Plus, in a weird alternate flash forward, Meredith was engaged to Alex, so I could see it working).  Here are Meredith's 35 greatest hits and struggles that led her to this moment:

1. Meredith gets caught caught having car sex with her boss's boss. (Season 1, Episode 5)
2. Meredith finds out her boyfriend's ex-wife is back in the picture. (Season 1, Episode 9)
3. Everyone at the hospital find out Meredith's mom has Alzheimer's. (Season 2, Episode 3)
4. Her one-night stand ends up in the E.R. with a sex injury. (Season 2, Episode 10)
5. Meredith has to hold a live bomb in a patient during surgery. (Season 2, Episode 16)
6. She has sex with her roommate George and feel terrible about it. (Season 2, Episode 19)
7. McDog is put down and Meredith must choose McDreamy or McVet. (Season 2, Episode 27)
8. Meredith's half-sister is admitted to the hospital. Family drama! (Season 3, Episode 10)
9. Meredith drowns and almost dies while rescuing ferry boat accident victims and her mom dies (Season 3, Episode 17)
10. Meredith gets a group of residents and meets another of her half-sisters, Lexie. (Season 4, Episode 1)
11. Mer and McDreamy's clinical trial succeeds, they get back together, and she makes breakthroughs in therapy. (Season 4, Episode 17)
12. Mer and McDreamy cancel their dream wedding to let Alex and dying Izzie (not really) get married. They sign a post-it note and call themselves wedded. (Season 5, Episode 22)
13. George gets hit by a car and dies. (Season 6, Episode 1)
14. Meredith's  no-good father comes into the hospital needing a liver transplant and she is the only match. (Season 6, Episode 4)
15. Meredith watches Derek get shot at the hospital and loses her baby. (Season 6, Episode 24)
16. Meredith discovers fertility problems, gets on Derek's Alzheimer's clinical trial, and her dad comes into the hospital again with a girlfriend younger than her. (Season 7, Episodes 14-16)
17. McDreamy and Mer adopt African orphan, Zola. (Season 8)
18. Alex and Meredith are in an ambulance saving a newborn baby when they get into an accident. (Season 8, Episodes 9-10)
19. Mer, McDreamy and most of the gang are in a plane crash. (Season 8, Episode 24)
20. Everyone is messed up (Derek, Arizona, Meredith, Cristina) or dead (Lexie, Mark) from the plane crash, but they get offered a lot of money from the hospital and end up becoming the new board of directors. (Season 9, Episode 3, 11, 15, 16)
21. Meredith finds out she is pregnant. (Season 9, Episode 9)
22. Meredith has to get back on a plane. (Season 9, Episode 17)
23. Meredith gives birth to Bailey in the middle of a blackout. (Season 9 Episode 24)
24. A 3-D printer becomes available for Meredith's clinical trial to make fake organs. (Season 10, Episode 8)
25. McDreamy takes a job in D.C. advising the president, and Meredith is not consulted. (Season 10, Episode 18)
26. Meredith says goodbye to bestie Cristina and discovers another half-sister (Maggie) that is working at the hospital. (Season 10, Episode 24)
27. McDreamy agrees to quit his new brain mapping job and come home to Meredith, and she convinces him they can make it work. (Season 11, Episode 1)
28. Meredith has flashbacks to her mother giving birth to Maggie and attempting to kill herself during the same time, which makes it pretty difficult for Meredith to let this go. (Season 11)
29. Meredith goes to visit McDreamy in D.C.  and chickens out. (Season 11, Episode 12)
30. Meredith calls McDreamy after an earthquake and some woman answers his phone. (Season 11, Episode 15).
31. Meredith and McDreamy patch things up. (Season 11, Episode 17)
32. Meredith freaks out after a plane crash in town and she can't confirm McDreamy made it back to D.C. for his final meeting to resign his job. (Season 11, Episode 20)
33. McDreamy dies...... and Meredith is relatively emotionally solid. (Season 11, Episode 21)
34. Meredith falls apart, disappearing for a year, having a baby, and avoiding contact with all of her friends. Alex finally lures her home and gives her back the deed to her house, which he bought back when she moved in with McDreamy. (Season 11, Episodes 22, 23)
35. Meredith is named Chief of General Surgery. (Season 12, Episode 2)