House: Fools for Angioedema
For the record, when I watch House, I feel like a rat in a maze.
I'm winding down paths, sniffing for that elusive diagnosis, hitting dead-end walls of wrong assumptions, my nose twitching, my brain fretting, my ears tweaking, driving to find the glorious cheese...er...condition, by luck and skill. Then a commercial comes on, and I remember a) this is TiVo and I don't have to watch the commercials and b) like any good maze, the mazekeeper has a turn coming I don't see.
So was the diagnosis for last night's episode, Fools for Love --Hereditary Angioedema. (It's a nice couple of words to chew on. Take a minute.)
Basically a couple who grew up next door to each other, fell in love, got married, ended up the victims of an armed robbery, had what appeared to be an allergic reaction to the incident, and ended up with House and crew.
Later, after a million useful yet inconclusive tests, adding some incidental information that put a new turn in the maze, the couple found out they were half-brother and sister, and they both shared a disease that prevented them from making a protein their bodies needed to function.
According to our sister site, eMedicine, HAE is a rare disorder, occurring in in approximately 1 in 50,000 persons. It affects all ethnic groups, and, as the name implies, is hereditary. Translation: Unless you know a family member who has this, there's no need to stress.
But I think the bigger, more interesting discussion was the two doctors debating whether to tell the couple of their new predicament. In the end, I feel the right decision was made and no doctor can tell how folks will take the news they must tell them.
Related Topics: Things Your ER Staff Wants You To Know
I'm winding down paths, sniffing for that elusive diagnosis, hitting dead-end walls of wrong assumptions, my nose twitching, my brain fretting, my ears tweaking, driving to find the glorious cheese...er...condition, by luck and skill. Then a commercial comes on, and I remember a) this is TiVo and I don't have to watch the commercials and b) like any good maze, the mazekeeper has a turn coming I don't see.
So was the diagnosis for last night's episode, Fools for Love --
Basically a couple who grew up next door to each other, fell in love, got married, ended up the victims of an armed robbery, had what appeared to be an allergic reaction to the incident, and ended up with House and crew.
Later, after a million useful yet inconclusive tests, adding some incidental information that put a new turn in the maze, the couple found out they were half-brother and sister, and they both shared a disease that prevented them from making a protein their bodies needed to function.
According to our sister site, eMedicine,
But I think the bigger, more interesting discussion was the two doctors debating whether to tell the couple of their new predicament. In the end, I feel the right decision was made and no doctor can tell how folks will take the news they must tell them.
Related Topics: Things Your ER Staff Wants You To Know
1 Comments:
"Translation: Unless you know a family member who has this, there's no need to stress".
Not True.. You can be the first in a family to have Hereditary Andioedema if your gene is mutated at birth.
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