Thursday, December 18, 2008

Reruns

Last night, as I flipped the stations to ABC's "Private Practice",(read-extreme boredom, is a show with absolutely no plot and I never never watch it, all they do is sleep together + deliver babies vs Greys Anatomy which at least has interesting story lines and good actors interspersed with all the mushy stuff) as luck would have it, its a back episode. A kid-patient with an insulin pump and the doc calls the prescribing physician to run a "check" on the pump serial number(uh-shouldn't you be calling the pump company and would they even give you that info if you weren't the police?) and finds out the kid is reported missing, the father kidnapped him. So he and the kid go back to his office for a little heart-to-heart chat and the kid confesses they left because the mom's bf was abusing him. And then, the kid collapses on the office floor and has a seizure. The doc immeadiently jumps in to action, sticking a humongous needle into the kids KNECK(what an interesting place) and gives him something, presumably glucagon. Cut to gurney speeding towards the ER and the dad saying "But I checked his pump five hours ago!" (very, very, classic ABC) Later the doc tells the dad that his pump malfunctioned and over delivered insulin.(which no normal pump has done in like 15 years?) And it shows the kids infusion set, which looks like an Inset(pink, no less, not many boys would stand for that) and it actually does look like an infusion set-tubing and all. Someone tips off the cops about the dad, and the doc dumps a bag full of D supplies on the bed and tells them to get going and remember to take your insulin, check your bg, blahblahblah. They are out the door in like 9.99 seconds and the cops don't get them. No repercussions for the doc.
There were so many inconsistencies in that episode it was hard not to gag all the way through it. Dear ABC, do the world a favor and leave diabetics(especially pumpers!) out of your story lines.
And tomorrow, they are doing surgery for the port..my veins are officially toast + they're doing it tomorrow,right before the holiday week. It is under local anesthesia but not exactly any less stressful. (still get duped out)Port=semi-permanent infusion set. Till one doesn't need it anymore and they take it out. It could have waited a couple of weeks but paying for the entire thing(fresh, new deductibles) circa New Year
is every bit as scary AS the actual surgery. No thanks.

4 comments:

meanderings said...

I hope your surgery goes well.

And yup, the episode sounds terribly dumb.

Cara said...

I was flipping stations last night and actually saw the guy stick the needle in his neck. I had no idea what was going on and just kept going. It was kind of gross for the 1.5 seconds I was on the screen. Sounds like I'm glad I didn't keep watching.

Let us know how the surgery goes. I'm sending prayers your way.

Lee Ann Thill said...

Agh!! That's so frustrating! I don't know if they either don't get anyone who knows anything about D with whom to consult when they write that sort of idiotic stuff, or if they do, but the director decides to take artistic license... "Wouldn't it be more exciting to stick the needle in his neck than his leg??"

Also, good luck with the surgery.

Anonymous said...

I wish you luck and quick healing tomorrow. We'll think good thoughts for you and for ABC. They force feed us reality shows that aren't based on reality and the rest of the shows based on science fiction. Someday they'll get it right.