The Magical Powers of House

Embarrassing admission - before all of this mess started, I honestly thought that there was a medical test for everything. I go to 3 doctors regularly, the knee doctor, the dermatologist, and the ob/gyn. The knee doctor is so easy - I have something wrong with my knee, he x-rays it, injects cartilage, operates, done. (Plus, my orthopedic surgeon is really cute and hugs me when I visit him). There are no ambiguities. Same thing with the dermatologist. I go once a year, she checks my freckles, and cuts them off if they look bad. The ob/gyn is like the dentist - not a lot of fun, but necessary and painless.

I don't have a GP and haven't had a physical since college. I avoid going to the doctor unless something is bleeding or broken. Or I'm on fire.

Which is why it was so hard for me to hear that the doctors couldn't immediately diagnose me. I was convinced that meant it was all in my head. I drove David nuts, telling him constantly that I wasn't sick, that I should just snap out of it, that the doctors thought I was a wuss. (Of course, I was saying this from a hospital bed with IVs and tubes everywhere, so my judgement might have been off).

But then I discovered House! Did you know there isn't actually one magic blood test for cancer?? Or that doctors sometimes have to do a bunch of tests to piece everything together? Or that some conditions are diagnoses of exclusion? Seriously, it has totally changed the way I think about healthcare. Just because some douchebag ER doctor told me I was "anxious" doesn't mean he was right. I simply needed to find the appropriate specialist to do the right blood tests and the correct brain scans. And let me tell you, my current doctors do not think I'm a wuss or that I should "snap out of it". What a relief!

That show has made dealing with all this diagnostic hell almost manageable. Plus Hugh Laurie is hot.