Oh Snap! Season 5 Begins...

[TinkTanker]

Episode 16: The Softer Side
Original Air Date—23 February 2009
House's team resents being made complicit in a web of lies parents have told their son when he's brought in for treatment that may be related to his intersexuality. Meanwhile, no one's content that House is happy.
Next US airings:
Fri. Mar. 6   11:00 PM   USA

Meant to post this earlier. This was an excellent episode. Anybody who is a fan needs to see this episode. It shakes things up a bit.

I have this on the DVR but with Ann's work sched we haven't got to it yet. Hopefully tonight.

[Spooky]

I was watching one of those real life medical shows yesterday and they had a case that would make a typical House episode. A kid gets brought into the ER and is paralyzed in his lower extremities. The doc has no idea what's wrong he thinks it might be Guyon-Barré syndrome, but all of a sudden the paralysis starts creeping up his body and Guyon-Barré syndrome doesn't work that fast, but it's the only diagnosis that makes sense at the time. They have medicine that can help, but it's late (or on the weekend) and the cabinet that the medicine is in, is locked up and no one on site has a key (the pharmacist is on his way, but is an hour away). They track down a security guy with a ring full of keys and start trying them so they can get the meds the kid needs before the paralysis hits the diaphragm and he stops breathing. Finally they get the cabinet open and start to prepare the meds.  In the mean time, one of the docs gets the blood test results back and and he notices that the kids potassium levels are deadly low and that it probably isn't Guyon-Barré syndrome that is causing the problem and if they give him the meds for that he will die. That doc stops the other doc and then gives the kid potassium via IV and within minutes the paralysis starts to reverse.

[Saxon]

My sister watches those shows all the time...she lives for those medical shows. She really should have gone into medicine.

My mom was like that too...of course she passed away in 1980, before all the cable shows and such..but i remember watching a show that had a woman giving birth, one of the first 'reality' type news/magazine type shows...I swear, I thought she was gonna 'pass' something, she was 'helping' the woman 'pant and breathe'.

It breaks my heart that she missed the births of all of her grandkids. Even though my sister had her two boys when mom was alive, she was living down at Edwards AFB and she gave birth like a barn cat...lol....by the time she started, she was done!! heh.

[TinkTanker]

[Spooky]

[Eric]

I still need to watch this -- as  soon as Hulu has it.

[Saxon]

That ep made me sad and a tad confused.

[spoiler]the stuff with the kid. I never quite got what the deal was. They didn't use the term hermaphodite (?). And they flat out asked, in the early shots apparently just after the child's birth "you've never told us, is our baby a boy or a girl?" Now, correct me if Im wrong, but for a mom to ask that question, would have to mean the child had no penis (which would make sexual identity fairly obvious, confusing if the child also had a uterus in there somewhere. So, I think they should have made that aspect of the conditon a little clearer. They basically left it up to the parents on how they wanted to raise the baby, as a boy or a girl. And were giving the prepubescent 'boy' testosterone (calling them vitamin) shots. I'm sorry...but wouldn't it be easier to "make" the child a 'girl'? I mean, 'he' was showing signs of wanting to dance instead of play basketball. To 'create' a boy, they were giving hormones. Seems to me that it would be easier, in this society, to have a 'tom-boyish girl' rather than a 'girly-boy'. I guess I'm just old fashioned. And I wanted to smack the parents that they let that kid get that old without telling 'him' he was 'special'. Like House said, 'just cuz you gave birth to a freak of nature, didn't mean you needed to treat him like one".

Now, on to what made me sad. Why can't House be painfree/healthy? They times that they have dangled that carrot they've taken it away. I'm sorry, but I think he's snarky enough that they could find a way for him to keep his 'edge' but still be his obnoxious self. I still want to see him showing an interest in the baby too.[/spoiler]

You guys hurry and watch it so you can let me know what you thought.

[Pearl@32]

[spoiler]I took it as their baby had both male and female genitalia. True, I don't think they used the term hermaphrodite. I'm not sure why. But supposedly there has been a shift in terms:
"The terms hermaphrodite and pseudohermaphrodite, introduced in the 19th century, are now considered problematic as hermaphrodism refers to people who are both completely male and completely female, something not possible.[7][dubious – discuss] The phrase '"ambiguous genitalia'" refers specifically to genital appearance, but not all intersex conditions result in atypical genital appearance."

"Intersexuality is the state of a living thing of a gonochoristic species whose sex chromosomes, genitalia, and/or secondary sex characteristics are determined to be neither exclusively male nor female. An intersex organism may have biological characteristics of both the male and female sexes.[1] Intersexuality is the term adopted by medicine during the 20th century applied to human beings whose biological sex cannot be classified as either male or female.[2][3][4] Intersexuality is also the word adopted by the identitary-political movement, to criticize medical protocols in sex assignment and to claim the right to be heard in the construction of a new one." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intersex#Intersex_in_popular_culture

I guess the parents decided they wanted a boy, but it might have been easier to choose to raise the baby as girl. Their inability to tell the truth was the main focus of the episode though. They were afraid AND doubted that their child could handle the truth (or perhaps them as well?). Stigma in society teaches us to reject (essentially fear) anything abnormal and that it is "wrong." It's why people freak out or shy away when a person has a seizure, something over which the person having the seizure has NO control. It's why mental problems are hushed, even though a great majority of the population is on medication for them. Talking about them creates fear and anxiety ~ a "taboo." Everything and everyone must be perfect. Normal. With taboos, everyone loses. The stigma is changing, albeit slowly. Epilepsy and seizures are still treated incorrectly on TV. I could have sworn a nurse in a House episode from this season attempted to put a tube in a patient's mouth while she was having a seizure. The treatment is NEVER put anything in a person's mouth. Don't restrain them either, but make sure they don't harm themselves like clear the area of sharp objects. While epilepsy has been dealt with grace on shows such as SVU, Judging Amy and Y&R, epilepsy continues to be ripe for derision. I recently saw a t-shirt online that said "Epilepsy: Seize the Day" on it, and while that is slightly comical with the juxtaposition of the carpe diem phrase, people who have HUNDREDS of seizures (some tiny but still seizures) don't find "seizing the day" as something "exciting." We see the Cymbalta commercial constantly, but the depiction is a fraction of the pain depressed people experience.

As for House: I totally understand his crabby behavior is related to his chronic pain. Based on this episode, they've played his post-op behavior as a symptom, and wow, magically when the pain is gone, his poopiness is, too. But from watching his interactions with his ex-wife Stacy (played by Sela Ward in the second season) he was always stubborn. Perhaps the new-found relief was such a God-send that it did have an effect on his mood. But in the long run, I wouldn't buy it. He would still maintain that everybody lies, and he would still be stubborn. Maybe just not as resentful of the pain-free people around him. Because that's what I see. A "pissed at the world complex" if you will. Plus he shaved.  [/spoiler]

[Saxon]

I heart House.

thanks for your insight into the ep. Good tv, entertains and encourages discussion.

I remember driving down our small town main street with Gingi and Jeremy (teens at the time) in the car and we saw a man laying half in the gutter convulsing in a seizure of sorts. He was continually slamming his head back against the cement. He was right in front of a bakery that was about to close, and a loan type office that had 'just closed'...but there were people still inside BOTH businesses who could couldn't help but see him. Besides, cars were passing by just as we were! We pulled over quickly and tried to speak to him, but he was 'out of it' eyes wide open, but not hearing or responding, just jerking uncontrollably and slamming his head on the ground. This was long before cell phones, so I told both kids, go inside and tel them to call 911! Gingi ran into one (the bakery I think), but the girl at the locked door of the other office just kept saying, 'we're closed', even though he was pointing at the guy and asking for her to call for help. I sat down on the curb and put the man's head in my lap, so that he could 'bang his head' onto my upper thigh, the force that he was hitting me seemed hard enough that his head should have cracked open with the repeated hits he'd suffered before we got there.

After the police and ambulance arrived, the 'closed' loan office or whatever it was, and the bakery people walked out, NOW they were curious, when this man needed help they were 'busy' and 'unavailable to help'. How sick is that? The police asked how we knew him. I said we didn't....we saw him from the road. I pointed and accusingly looked at these mostly women standing outside the safety of their businesses...."No one else would help, not even call you guys, they HAD to see he was in distress".

They got his wallet, and the ambulance guys knew him. They used that loud, voice one hears when they are coming out of anestesia, "John? Why were you driving? You know you aren't supposed to do that" (apparently he was a severe diabetic and had just lost his ability to drive himself, due to this kind of seizsure'...they called his contact person and a woman came down and once everything was under control we left. Not a thank you from the family/lady, just a 'we're used to this kind of thing from him' reaction from the medical guys...

It made me sick. That was quite a few years ago, and I still can't believe that people would just drive past him and NOT stop to try to help. I will never forget seeing that 20-something girl talking through the locked glass door of the business refusing to OPEN up so Jeremy could call for help...I thought then, and almost screamed at her, 'God help you if you ever find yourself in need of a stranger's help!'.

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

[Pearl@32]

People who have seizures just want to be able to do normal things. Unfortunately, sometimes they are banned from driving, which can make it difficult to get rides and they sometimes get in their cars and drive anyway. For the most part, I think they follow the law. It's a shame that the guy had such an episode, but even more so a shame that no one would call 911. You all stopped and while you didn't get a thank you, you were raised to believe that helping your fellow man when he's in trouble is just plain done. Why a simple phone call couldn't have been made is crazy. Apathy is so much a part of today. Yeah, God help them if they ever are in need of a stranger's help.

OK, now I'm depressed.

A good thing on House: In the episode where Foreman's fighting for his life in a clean room, House sees a mother in the clinic who thinks her daughter has epilepsy when she is in her car seat. House watches her daughter, examines her eyes with a flashlight and makes goofy sounds. Child giggles. House asks mom if her child is sweaty anr/or tired after these episodes, and she says yes and actually she (the child) thinks it's funny. "If you mix rocking, grunting, sweating and dystonia with concerned parents and you get an amateur diagnosis of epilepsy. In actuality, all your little girl is doing is... saying yoo-hoo to the hoo-hoo." Mom is horrified that her child is masturbating, and House quips, "Epilepsy is horrifying. Teach your child about privacy and she'll be fine." Bravo.