I just struggled through a particularly annoying episode of House. Usually, I love this show. A show about a doctor who actually does his job and doesn’t try to steal the jobs of my family members? You know, “caring?” That family responsibility? It’s like a Doctor Porno to me. A doctor who doesn’t pretend to care. Mmmmm, where are the batteries, that’s what I say.
BUT, tonight the whole episode was all about patients trying to connect with their doctors. Why? If you want to connect, find a nurse. I’ve had them pray for me and write me poems. Geh. (Of course, I kept the poem. I’d go find it, if I cared.)
Oddly, this episode of House capped off a day that simultaneously included the denouement of a real-life epic illness. A few months ago, I mentioned a friend of a friend who had been told of her eminent demise from brain swelling. I’ve been checking with my friend intermittently to see how her friend with swollen brain is faring. Because every day Swollen Brain Girl (let’s call her Beth) is sick, that’s another day I feel well. And, I am also in a small way entertained.
Since Christmas, my inquiries have run the gamut from “How’s Beth” (accompanied by The Sad Face) to a cheery “Beth dead yet?” Because strangely, Generalissimo Beth is Still Not Dead.
My friend began answering, “It’s bizarre! I went over to feed her and found she’d gone off dialysis. TWO WEEKS AGO. I thought you only lived a few days off dialysis.”
“It’s a miracle?” I suggested, because I think this friend has the special hot line to God my mother-in-law has, and I know she’s been praying hard for Beth.
“I dunno,” my friend said, shaking her head.
“Munchhausen’s?” I joked, because I watch a lot of doctor shows, and there’s no better drama than a rare psychiatric disorder that makes people fake illnesses. My friend said, “Something’s fishy, that’s for sure.”
Oh! Did I give it AWAY? Did you SEE it COMING? Yes! Yesterday Beth’s house of lies collapsed and it seems she is Baroness Beth Von Munchhausen’s! This delights me because a) Beth? So not going to die! and b) Beth? So much more screwed up than I!
(Of course, speaking for all my mentally-ill compadres, I don’t know if I buy the Wikipedia explanation of Munchhausen’s. These people just want the attention and nurturing they get when they are supposedly sick? It smacks of the old explanations of anorexia, which was that these teenage girls were just vain, before doctors found how helpful it can be to attend to the neurological factors. Is Beth any more messed up than those with delusional parasitosis? There are medications that help with that.)
Plus, if you ask me, a hospital is the last place I would go for nurturing and attention.
10 responses to “Life Imitates … TV”
There was totally a Nightline a few months ago about this woman who faked leukemia or some cancer and her best friend and her husband were sucked in along with everybody else and feeling really bad for her; the whole town did pancake breakfasts and fundraisers, but this lady kept looking suspiciously healthy and didn’t want anybody to go to her chemo treatments with her. Finally the best friend followed her to her appointment…at the tanning and nail salon, and the jig was up. It wasn’t Munchausen’s, she was just buying herself nice stuff with all the donations. Wack.
Kudos to Beth on picking swollen brain. I mean, unless it started squishing out her ears, how would anyone expect physical symptoms to present themselves?
Whenever the hubby and I watch House (religiously whenever the tv gods deign to show it), we always guess Guillaume Barre as the disease of the week. Not because the symptoms suggest it, but because we’re just funny that way. Also, whenever I can force hubby to play Trivial Pursuit, his answer to all movie trivia questions is “Key Largo”. Yep, we’re just like that. We think repetition is funny and clever.
Gary and I played Bible Trivia once and answered every question with “Jesus.” AND we won.
Didn’t Guillaume Barre star in “Benson”?
My bad: Dateline. Big difference.
TasterSpoon, get out of my brain. When I saw that I was all, “That’s not a disease, that’s the star of Sports Night!” Hee.
Be fair, now, I just tried to find out the “correct” spelling of Guillain-Barré and it took me ten minutes.
Oops! I see that you caught my spelling error. Thanks for pointing that out, as I did not mean to conjure up images of Benson DuBois (Robert Guillaume — a St. Louis native, by the way).
Great news that your friend is just crazy instead of actually dying. I’m all about the crazies.Are you talking about the House/rape episode? I was bothered by that, too. I *love* Hugh Laurie and I love the show, but the whole time I was asking (SCREAMING at my t.v.) “WHY?!?!?!?!” He really would be the last person I’d want to connect with, if that’s what I wanted.But maybe it was just illustrating how she had a severe case of the crazies.