"House"

I love the way it works in House. You pass out, go to the hospital, they try out 20 theories about what is wrong with you, nearly kill you several times, and then fix what is actually wrong. All in 3 days and you walk out of the hospital ready to go.

As opposed to reality where all of the above takes several years at a minimum.

And for some reason, breaking and entering is required in every episode.

I almost lost track of the Chiari in all the red herrings. By the time they come to the actual diagnosis on that show it's in the last 2 minutes and you barely care anymore.

I was waiting for them to do an MRI. I've read that the only way to diagnose Chiari is via an MRI. Too bad they didn't point that out. Also, by the time they said "Chiari" at the end of the show I almost missed it entirely. I actually only heard the word because I was waiting for it. Also, I was quite distracted by all the other issues. Was he gay because he had Chiarai? Don't worry I'm just kidding. But if you knew nothing about it it would have you wondering. Believe it or not I love House. We just must remember it is, after all, a TV show. Only partially reality.

An email to me from my son:

"Hi Mom.

I assume you watched "House" tonight. What a load of crap! All it takes is a simple operation and that's it, right? And afterward, you can move your head around dramatically? For the first half of the episode, I was thinking to myself, "I hope this isn't the Chiari one." Too bad it was, because I'm sure you and all the other Chiari moms were hoping the episode would illuminate something about Chiari and Chiari sufferers. What a disappointment. I can't imagine a less sympathetic character to be stricken with CM. I was mad. The whole show was poorly researched, badly acted, and generally terrible. Sorry.

Love you!"

I agree with your son... I thought of you throughout, and thought "I bet Cheryl and Anna aren't loving this at all!" I also thought at first that the wrong episode was being broadcast in my area..

I did think that they mentioned MRI at the very first, but it FLEW by, and I might have imagined it... I hated it too... from your experience, at least, I found it very untrue to the reality. :-(

Holly

cheryl, i was just going to respond exactly as holly did. i had a friend over, especially to watch this, and we both wondered if it was the wrong episode.

i have now decided not to watch this show again, although i have sort of enjoyed it previously. but it is SO far-fetched.

i think your son's email nailed the episode. so much to hope for; so little truth and accuracy. they didn't even mention what kind of surgery, for gosh's sake. dianne

I was quite disappointed.

I thought the network had substituted a different episode after 15 minutes of watching, turned it off, and ran evening errands with my daughter. Only after seeing a few Facebook comments from friends did I realize it did evolve into a Chiari storyline. The charater's previous sexual history seemed more imporant than his disabling symptoms, and that overshadowed his illness. It could have been written waaaaaay different.

I was afraid they would not do a very convincing Chiari story. I hoped with a real Chiari sufferer on the set, they would make it more realistic. I guess not. Once they ran a story about Celiac disease and the woman murdered her child! That just made me laugh.

A funny thing happened during the Chiari episode.I watched in bed since I had a migraine. I decided to lay my head down during a commercial right after the guy starting lactating. A few minutes later I noticed the guy had bandages on his head. I asked my daughter what had happened.

She said "He had surgery while you were sleeping". I didnt know I had fallen asleep! So I watched and waited to hear the diagnosis and then slept through it. Ahh, the migraine life.
Hugs,
Cindy

You probably weren't asleep long... House said "he needs surgery" and next thing you see is him with that little dressing on his neck... pretty sad considering what I have understood Anna and their friends and fellow sufferers to have been through.

Holly