Episode 14: Bring the Pain

OK, I have a confession to make. Although I pretend to be a good little lefty lesbian doctor, there is a significant gap in my education. I have somehow never read “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down.”

It’s not that it wasn’t assigned as pre-medical school reading. It was. And I even attended the discussion where all the medical students talked about how it forever changed the way they will think about cross-cultural clinical interactions. I might have even contributed to that discussion, telling some personal story and/or nodding with great interest as other people spoke about the book so that no one would know that I had not read it.

For those of you who are NOT familiar with the story (from Amazon), “Lia Lee was born in 1981 to a family of recent Hmong immigrants, and soon developed symptoms of epilepsy. By 1988 she was living at home but was brain dead after a tragic cycle of misunderstanding, overmedication, and culture clash. What the doctors viewed as clinical efficiency the Hmong viewed as frosty arrogance. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down is a tragedy of Shakespearean dimensions, written with the deepest of human feeling.” So, basically, by not reading this book, this text of practically religious proportions to many in medical education, I have violated at least three of the laws of medical cultural competency. To make matters worse, I once had a nursing student girlfriend who had to write a paper about “The Spirit Catches You” and she was really busy with her other classes, so I wrote a good portion of the paper for her (without reading the book). Also, for years, I’ve purposefully kept it visible on my office shelves, in part because I want to someday read it, but also in part because people will see it and assume that it helped to shape me as a doctor. So, yeah, I’m a big faker. Some might even call me a liar.

This is relevant to this episode of Grey’s because one of the plot points centers around a patient who is Hmong. I am not going to comment on this plotline, because my lie ends here. I know nothing about the Hmong. I have never read the book. I am not qualified to comment. (Neither, I suspect, are the writers of Grey’s Anatomy, but I’m not going to criticize them, either, because I’m one to talk).

In other news, this episode was notable for the end of Izzie and Alex’s disastrous date (which was disastrous because he was freaking out because he just found out he failed the boards, but instead of being honest with her about his disappointment and fear, he barely spoke to her during their date. She’d gotten all dressed up and shaved her legs, so she was rightfully angry).

The title of the episode comes from this voice-over: “Pain comes in all forms. The small twinge, a bit of soreness, the random pain. The normal pains we live with everyday. Then there's the kind of pain you can't ignore. A level of pain so great that it blocks out everything else... It makes the rest of your world fade away, until all we can think about is how much we hurt. There are no solutions, no easy answers. You just breathe deep and wait for it subside.”

There’s a little bit of Kubler-Ross in that statement, and, as I’ve mentioned in the past, Kubler-Ross freaks me out a little bit now.

DHG and George get trapped in an elevator with a dying police officer with a GSW. George has to do exploratory thoracic surgery (because Alex freezes up) and emerges more confident and happy. Thank God, because his martyrdom act was getting old.

Cristina is taking care of a man who is allergic to all pain medications, and so uses pornography to manage his significant chronic pain. Bailey is infuriated that the patient has brought porn into the hospital, but when the power goes out, Cristina realizes that the porn is actually helping the patient, and so she is forced to narrate the entire plot of “Nasty, Naughty Nurses 4” to the man so that he will not suffer needlessly. It’s a great scene.

When Cristina asks the patient’s wife how she puts up with the man’s 24-hour a day porn watching, the wife answers, “It takes away Henry’s pain. And Henry takes away my pain.” Very noble, but not very grounded in reality. How can he “take away her pain” if he’s watching porn 24 hours a day?

Meredith initially tries to reject her desire to be with McDreamy because he is married, but by the end of the episode, she breaks down and gives this little speech:

“Okay, here it is. Your choice, it's simple, her or me. And I'm sure she's really great. But Derek, I love you. In a really, really big, pretend to like your taste in music, let you eat the last piece of cheesecake, hold a radio over my head outside your bedroom window, unfortunate way that makes me hate you... love you. So pick me. Choose me. Love me. “ (excellent reference to Say Anything, one of my favorite movies of all time. It also took place in Seattle.)

McDreamy never shows up to meet her, signaling that he will be going back to his wife (For now, at least).

If only both of these women would just figure out that this guy may be cute, but he is so not worth all this drama.  He’s the true douchebag on this show; he has proven himself to be a wishy-washy, narcissistic, characterless loser.  In a perfect world, Meredith and Addison would hook up and McDreamy would be out of the picture entirely. Please, drop him, both of you.

Best lines;

“Ellis Grey:  You grew up.

Meredith: I did.

Ellis: It’s a shame. It’s awful being a grownup. The Carousel never stops turning. You can’t get off.”

“Pain. You just have to fight through, because the truth is you can't outrun it... And life always makes more.”

Last point: Dr. McAwesome commented last week, “Have you ever considered that you might be Meredith Grey?” Since I’ve (clearly) gone off McDreamy, I am now looking for another character that might be me. However, I sincerely hope that I’m not nearly as boring or whiny as Meredith Grey. And I know I’m not that anorexic. Still, when I grilled Dr. McAwesome about this a little further she said, “Well, you are the narrator. I mean, the voice-over of your blog is in your voice.”

True. And interesting. This blog may not have many viewers, but it is, without a doubt, my show.

Upcoming events: I am considering introducing a rating system! 

Sorry no pictures this episode. I'm having some technical problems with picture capture.