#I remember the first time I watched Grey's Anatomy was before I got into healthcare and I was like !!! HEALTHCARE SHOW :D

[skyloftian-nutcase]

my stepmom is watching grey's anatomy and i'm having fun calling out the crap lol

HA YES POINT OUT ALL THE BS IN THAT SHOW YOU GO GIRL

[bloomingundertheshadows]

Grey’s Anatomy and the Trials of Long Running Television

Today I want to discuss Grey’s Anatomy’s struggle to contain itself within its own story structure. By this I mean: As Greys Anatomy approaches it’s eighteenth season, it’s becoming clear that the show wants to break free of the mold and story architecture it’s followed since 2007. It continues to create more and more elaborate storylines because they want to be bigger and better and more exciting and groundbreaking, just like the first few seasons. However, this has created a situations where characters and plotpoints are increasing illogical and the writers are struggling to maintain the core of what made Grey’s anatomy special. I started writing this before the Deluca disaster, but this storyline solidifies my point. 

First, I have to talk about the original format of Grey’s Anatomy so we can have a reference. Grey’s Anatomy, for most of it’s run, has almost excessively been set inside of a hospital or another small setting. The conflicts have ranged from small scale surgeries to the more horrible disasters like the plane crash or the shooting. My point is here that the hospital is where all events are focused. 

I know what you might be thinking. What about the plane crash? That didn’t happen at the hospital. That is true. However, the crash happened because a bunch of doctors were traveling to assist in a surgery; the crash happened because they were being good doctors. 

I’m going to come out and just say it. The Deluca storyline should not have happened. Period. There is no reason a show focused on medical professionals, and in particular a show that has always centered around a hospital, should have a doctor playing detective and trying to chase down human traffickers. This was a story that was meant for Station 19 - but because we are living in the Grey’s Anatomy Extended Universe, they did. We actually saw kidnapping stories in early Grey’s Anatomy - remember the girl who bonded to Meredith after being missing for like 10 years? That’s how Deluca’s storyline should have happened - keeping it in the hospital. 

The difference is that S17 Grey’s knows that story is no longer big enough - it’s not exciting or groundbreaking anymore for doctors to treat human trafficking victims. The doctors have to be superhumans who also rush out to tackle these huge issues and then die heroically trying to stop them. Grey’s want to continue to be groundbreaking and shocking, but they’re starting to run out of material. Can you imagine if when Meredith met that girl from 10 years ago, she and Cristina got in the car and drove around the mountainside trying to hunt down the guy who kidnapped her? No. You cannot. Because in a show that focused so hard on medicine, it wouldn’t have made any sense. And it still doesn’t. 

I’m going to make the controversial opinion that Deluca is not the first causality of this and he won’t be the last. I actually started writing this because of the Meredith insurance trial. I know that I might be the only one who feels like this, but I felt very strongly this storyline happened because the writers ran out of groundbreaking things for Meredith to do. She’s the top of her field, medical extrodinare, mother of three, etc. Her professional accomplishments are no longer a storyline for the writers to milk. So what do they do? Look beyond purely medicine and ask themselves, what would make Meredith more groundbreaking? What current and popular topic in medicine can we use Meredith Grey to talk about? Oh! Let’s go for broad discussions on the healthcare system. 

I’d like to say that I’m not shitting on the writers for trying to tackle issues within the US healthcare system. I’m really not. I am saying that the way they went about it doesn’t make sense for the show. Multiple episodes where Meredith is in jail, away from the hospital, dealing with much broader and larger scale issues than the show is frankly equipped to deal with. And I think it shows: while we have this arc about the healthcare system it gets completely dropped afterwards because Grey’s cannot sustain such large discussions while keeping everyone inside the hospital walls. Grey’s is still fundamentally a medical drama and if the writers try to branch too far away from that, they’ll lose their core audience. The issue here is that Grey’s wants to go nuts and become a spy/detective/political thriller because they’ve more or less exhausted every other possible storyline. They are honestly somewhat out of “groundbreaking” things to do. But the show is too scared to completely jump ship because that would be way too risky; and right now in TV, risks are really not something shows take - especially more traditional TV shows on cable. 

I honestly feel like I’m watching a show having growing pains, literally almost like a teenager. It wants to remain loyal to the style which made it famous, but like a Disney child star, they want to be edgy and cool/break away from the mold. Yet, they can’t. So every once in while they act out by killing a character in some completely weird and illogical fashion, but then retreat back to their comfort bubble of a medical drama. It’s a tiring cycle, and that’s to say nothing about my feelings on the general writing and storyline quality. 

If you read the TVLINE interview with Krista Vernoff, she basically says that for a moment she wanted to save Deluca, but the writers disagreed and told her how powerful this story was and how it needed to be told. And I call BS. BS, Krista. Absolutely nobody writing a medical soap opera thought to themselves “This is missing one of our doctors getting murdered after acting like an FBI agent trying to singlehandedly rescue kidnapped women.” I honestly think they’ve gotten so caught up in Grey’s Anatomy’s reputation of shocking and heartbreaking moments, that they were like “OMG ya’ll. We haven’t killed anyone in years. I need a really dramatic and sweeping death to keep up our rep as a shocking drama.” 

This isn’t going to be the last time they do something like this. The longer the show goes on, the more they need to do something crazy to keep people interested. So, beware all characters. 

[captainallthingspurpleme]

6 & 50

6. Top 5 performances of your favorite actor and actress.

Oh God, this one is difficult. As far as favorite actor, over the course of my lifetime, it’s a toss up between Denzel Washington and Will Smith. So I’m answering top 5 for both of them:

Denzel Washington - first off, let me say I don’t know that I’ve ever seen Denzel in a bad role, even if the movie itself sucked. But here are my top 5, in no particular order (because I cannot distinguish from such awesomeness haha):

1. Man on Fire - I cannot watch this movie and not cry. Not even really because of the story, but because of how Denzel plays Creasy. He’s distant, raw, and yet you can tell how much he actually cares about Dakota Fanning’s character.

2. John Q - not only is this so relevant in our healthcare system today, but this is genuinely one of my ALL TIME favorite movies. I own it on VHS AND DVD, which should tell you something.

3. Remember the Titans - again, another favorite movie for me and one that is still relevant. Tackling race relations in the American South in the 70s (hell, even today!) can be very difficult for a film to portray and still feel true to the times. This movie does that, and Denzel’s performance is phenomenal here.

4. American Gangster - yes! Give me ruthless crime lords! And yet still humanizing them!

5. Training Day - this is a CLASSIC! If you have not seen this, GO WATCH IT RIGHT NOW! Although be warned, it has A LOT of violence.

Will Smith - again, another amazing actor whose greatest blunder was trying to do a movie with his son, Jaden, after he was older than . Top 5, in no particular order:

1. I Am Legend - this movie WRECKS ME! Like full on, I am a sobbing mess by the end of it, over a scene between Will Smith and HIS DOG!!!! If you watch this movie and don’t cry, you have no soul. Literally.

2. The Pursuit of Happyness - again, this movie destroys me. Go watch it. It’s so DAMN GOOD and SO RELEVANT.

3. The Legend of Baggar Vance - I blame my dad for this one, because the only bonding we did was over golf and movies. Still a very good performance by Smith.

4. Independence Day - also a classic for me. I mean, the overall plot is “eh”, but Smith’s performance is phenomenal!

5. Seven Pounds - this is raw and emotional and again, I cannot watch it without crying. One of the things that really impacts me watching a performance is how the actor/actress makes you feel, and Will Smith makes me feel EVERYTHING in this movie. Go watch it, and bring tissues.

Favorite Actress-Sandra Oh (technically, not all of these are movies, but GOOD GOD this woman gives a performance! Christina Hendricks is a close second for me, but I’m not doing 4 people’s worth of work for this because that’s too hard to choose)

1. Grey’s Anatomy - Christina Yang is quite literally one of my favorite characters of all time, and Sandra Oh’s portrayal of her is PHENOMENAL! This woman is bad ass, driven, and confident in her own abilities. She is funny and witty and sexy and still makes you FEEL ALL THE THINGS. And once she left the show, it just wasn’t the same.

2. Killing Eve - again, not a movie, but this show is FUCKING AMAZING and Sandra Oh’s character is delicious! Devious, cunning, human, just a lil crazy as the series progresses. And her obsession with Villanelle makes my bisexual heart flutter.

3. Last Night - One of her earlier movies, and still one I LOVE. It’s dark and yet still somewhat funny, but her performance is *chef kissy hands*

4. Sideways - she’s in a supporting role here, but her character’s performance and the reflection on the flaws of the main character’s “friend” (think Dean, but before he and Beth got married) are ones I love. All around it’s a film I enjoyed, though the pacing can be somewhat slow.

5. The Diary of Evelyn Lau - this one is HEAVY, and a role Sandra Oh played as a teenager. Still one of her best, IMO.

50.  A book you really, really, really don’t want to see made into a film.

Literally almost every book-to-film franchise I can think of (Harry Potter, Hunger Games, The Fault in Our Stars, Ella Enchanted, etc.) I didn’t want to see made into a movie because books are so much more descriptive and allow more room for plot building and world building than almost ANY movie can do justice. For example, the 3rd Harry Potter movie, Prisoner of Azkaban, is one of my all time MOST HATED FILMS. The movie is rushed, clunky, and lacks a lot of the background details that I loved about the book. Also, I believe this was when they switched directors, so that may be part of the reason I hate it so much.

Another book I don’t want to see made into a movie (for reasons listed above) is Uprooted by Naomi Novak. It’s a book based on Polish folktales, and I love the premise, but I don’t think it would fit well into a movie format.

[lovecanbesostrange]

Here’s another post about Grey’s Anatomy, and yes of course I’m again talking about Jo Karev. Sorry followers who don’t watch this show, but my Jo feels run me over like a truck twice a year...

I’m kinda amazed that she’s been on the show for seven seasons now, with Alex for kinda six of those (they were broken up all of S13, so technically five) and there hasn’t been a pregnancy yet. So everytime anything happens to Jo/Alex now, my mind just goes there. We’ve had jokes and hints about this since S10, but it never happened. And I know one of the loudest pro-voices for this storyline is Camilla herself.

[wow this turned into something... have a cut for easier scrolling]

The good thing is, with the latest development regarding Jo’s mom I feel for the first time a Jolex baby can actually benefit Jo as a character. The baby not just being this sorta goal of the romantic realtionship and building a wholesome family, but exploring all of Jo’s messed up experiences with “family”. Even back in S10 Alex mentioned having kids one day and it was always sort of a given these two would one day have a family of their own. (Because Alex will be an amazing dad and he should be. Ha, imagine that, two people being on the same page of one-day-we-gonna-have-kids from the start, what an unusual idea.)

Still, I am afraid the writers will throw this at us for the finale. While Jo has to fight her way out of depression we will get one of those looking-at-the-stick scenes as an emotional cliffhanger. I really don’t want that right now. So much no to that. I want the depression arc to be as separate from relationship drama as possible. Please. Just this once.

And also, here is the thing I have been tag-vomitting for years. WHY ON EARTH DID ALEX AND JO NEVER EVEN TALK ABOUT FOSTER KIDS? Why did I have to watch Owen suddenly foster a baby, that came with a teenage mom, so Amelia had somebody to care for as well and for a time the four became this patchwork thing? (Don’t get me wrong, the Amelia part of that storyline actually held my interest!)

The show has advocated for adoption and I’m glad about it. But we have these two characters who both spent time in the foster system and agree that it sucked. (For Alex it was a short, but hard time and he ended up in juvie, but also never lost contact with his mom over it. And Jo said fuck that shit with 16 to rather live in a stolen car.) When Owen got Leo he was overwhelmed that he got a baby and not a somewhat older kid, but I think that was for the best. Owen dealing with a kid who already developed trust issues and acted out? Only on his very best days maybe...But that is exactly something I can see Alex and Jo relate to.

So, here is an easy way to milk Jo-and-Alex-becoming-parents for some extra drama for the next two seasons!

In S16 we get a patient, around 12/14 years old or something (child actors, huge problem for longer storylines)  I don’t have a preference towards a boy or a girl, so let me use Taylor as an unisex name here (which would fit with Alex and Jo anyway). There is no parent in the mix, just an overworked social worker (a good person, but stretched thin). The kid needs some big surgery. Alex as the peds surgeon is the lead of course, but throw in Avery and Maggie for consults, monitoring, possible complications.

Maybe this even is a pro-bono case or some charity stunt, we get a commentary about appaling healthcare out of this. Yes, good. Because who even thinks about foster kids? And Taylor is not nice to anybody. Because Taylor feels like this is a stunt and who cares about them and how many foster homes has it been since entering at the age of 6. (More social commentary? One parent is dead and the other in jail, Taylor doesn’t even know where, because the prison system is also terrible. Grey’s can check so many boxes at once.)

We have had rude/unruly kids as patients before and it was mostly solved by the end of an end with one stern talking or a good speech. But Taylor is not here for that. And damn, there are insults flying around. But the other doctors are annoyed outside and go all “oh, Taylor has it rough, we can’t be that mad; but I kinda want to slap that kid sometimes, though not really, just... you know”. Alex gets some as well, but he just insults Taylor back, because he’s Alex. Which is also why he sometimes has to hide his smile, because damn, the kid has some good burns.

The residents get ordered to do a test and they don’t want to go in, so two of them play rock-paper-scissors. Jo sees this and is “OMFG!”, dismissed them and does this herself. Taylor makes fun of her, because people in dark blue scrubs don’t do these kind of things, so she must have drawn the short straw or something. And she is just “actually other people did that, I’m here cause I want to”. (Please remember that Jo - when she was allowed to have medical storylines - did advocate for homeless people and even though she can be judgy herself, used to have this very soft side.)

The social worker stops by, it’s a huge concern of how Taylor will be able to follow up during the recovery time. Meds need to be taken for a while etc. Responsible foster parents are needed here. Taylor has missed school, changed schools, is suspected of starting a fire at one of the homes (wasn’t their fault though, but the new troubly kid gets kicked out first)... tough to fit. The doctors are sorry about this, but someone makes another careless comment like “if Taylor could try harder” (in the way Grey’s likes to use one person to say something dumb so others can put things into perspective, happens so often). Alex is the one to go off about it.

Jo and Alex are at home and they trade stories about foster homes. Real ones. And they just look at each other for a moment. Both have a copy of the requirements about fostering already, it’s totally crazy for sure, how could they, but also... well... (the worst part about this that the loft is probably a big obstacle, living with no walls? oh no, saying goodbye to one of the cutest sets for another generic house?!)

There’s already five episodes worth of development! And Taylor moving in with the Karevs isn’t all easy-peasy. Oh no, Taylor needs to test the limits. (Oh, I totally would want one of those cliche moments of vulnerable honesty in the hospital, where Jo is once again doing some minor test and talks to Taylor only to find out about a hobby or special interest. And the next scene she just slips in a book about it or something. No big words about it.)

And here is the best part, because S17 comes with new built-in drama. Because oops, now it does happen, Jo finds out she’s pregnant. They didn’t try, but Alex and Jo are happy. And Taylor is afraid that well, that’s it. Who keeps the foster kid around with a biological baby on the way? Alex and Jo are a bit dense about this, because to them that is not even a question, they finally live on the other side of this thing and would never view Taylor as the consolation prize that loses meaning. Some very heartfelt scenes and then a talk about adoption (that could involve finding the prison-parent who I guess would have to give up the rights in a legal way???? who knows, I don’t because I don’t plan on writing a fanfic that would require research into this..... I’m going by tv-drama 101 here)

And so Taylor becomes a Karev. Alex was born as Alex Evans, but Jimmy was a terrible father so he took his mother’s maiden name. Jo never had the name of someone who loves her until she could share it with Alex. So the tradition should keep going. Karev is a special name, okay?

WHY CAN’T I HAVE THIS ON THE SHOW?

(I could also write about how much I want for Vicki to return, but I guess there’s an actual chance for that. I had a scenario in my head that would involve Alexandra to seek out Jo, and I saw somebody on tumblr is writing that, but in a very different way. lol)

[sosmomlife]

Hudson’s Journey

Hey all!!! It’s Andrea here.  I’m sure many of you are trying to figure out how to navigate this crazy change in our world.  Some of you have children at home and are trying to juggle “home schooling” amongst other things, like your own work, a new baby, a partner who has been laid off, etc.  This week our school board officially rolled out distance learning so this meant my husband Andy and I were going to implement more structure to the day.  I’m a teacher and he is off of work right now so this should be easy, right? 100% WRONG!!!!  Here’s a little story of our oldest who has been through a lot and battles with his emotions and abilities every day of his life. 

That cutie (ya ya I may be biased) in the picture above is Hudson. He will be 8 in June. Just before he turned 4 I took him to watch a baseball game and as we were walking beside 3rd base (outside of the diamond) a ball came hurdling across the field, hit the top of the fence and smacked Hudson right in the head. He dropped so fast and I was terrified. I will never forget the "clunk" sound; like a coconut cracking open. I was terrified but he was conscious and settled down after about 10 minutes. He was very clingy so we called EMS just to check him over and make sure he was ok. They came, did a quick assessment and left it up to me to decide if I wanted him to go to the hospital.  By that point he was acting himself so I figured I would just monitor him and if anything got worse I would take him to the ER. I did question why he didn't have a goose egg  (I always heard that no goose egg could be a bad sign, but the EMS responded with "ya that's weird." They pretty much made me feel like I wasted their time so off I sent them not wanting to be “that crazy mom.” As the day progressed Hudson went from playing hard outside to wanting to lie down every couple of hours. I thought it was the heat or that he didn't sleep great the night before.  That night I had him sleep with me and he was very restless. He kept waking up and saying that his head hurt a lot where he got hit but then he would go back to sleep.  The next morning he seemed pretty good other than not wanting breakfast (which isn't normal) because his tummy hurt  (which is normal for my dairy sensitive boy). He went to his first t-ball game (I know I know...what were we thinking taking him to play baseball) in the morning but came home and crashed hard on the couch. He was off and on all day and we questioned taking him to the ER but then he would get up and play like he was totally ok.  At 6 pm after noticing his entire left side of his head was swollen I decided to call Telehealth to get their opinion and they said to take him to the ER immediately.  They always say that so I still wasn't too worried. Hudson slept the whole car ride to Stratford General and when we arrived he was happy and hyper. The waiting room was so busy that I contemplated leaving. Hudson was putting on a show for all the other "patients" Re-enacting how he got hit in the head by the ball.  I definitely thought we would be sent home because he seemed totally fine.

We got called into a room before a lot of people who arrived before us. We didn't wait long before the doctor came in to do an assessment.  Right away the doctor felt the swelling and said it's a boggy hematoma meaning he has a break in his skull. I was shocked and terrified but the doctor assured me that most of the time its small and no big deal. It will heal on its own she said. She sent him for a CT scan and I was told I could be in the room to watch the images of his little skull and brain..or as Hudson says his "big" brain.  The first images started coming up and all of a sudden I was asked if I wanted water and taken out of the room. I instantly knew something was wrong but tried to wait calmly for Hudson to come out.  They had previously told me it would be about an hour before the radiologist looked over the scans but within 5 minutes the doctor came to see us.  The scans showed a significant break in his skull and a small bleed on the outside of his skull. I started imagining the worst and stupid scenes from Grey’s Anatomy started rushing through my head. I was so scared and upset but I knew I had to calm down so I could call Andy and give him the news.  The neuro team in London was going over the scans and transportation was being arranged to take us to Victoria University Hospital in London. Hudson in all of this was still happy and entertaining anyone who came to see him.  Before we left I was assured that Hudson would be fine  because we made it past the crucial first 24 hours. We spent 48 hrs in London for observation and had the greatest healthcare team supporting us throughout the entire ordeal. The next month we were on high alert and Hudson had a couple of seizures (which is common after a concussion). We spent the next year going for check ups every few months with the Neurologist in London. Everything went great so Hudson was released at the one year mark. We thought we were in the clear, but don't let that fool you, the paranoia of our kids getting hit in the head or falling and hitting their head is extremely high to this day. Ugh!

Fast forward to a year and a half ago when Hudson started grade 1. Since the "accident" Hudson's behaviour had definitely changed, he could barely remember anything that happened the day before, let alone a week before. He was super fidgety, always touching his face and wiggling around on chairs. We would ask him to do 3 things and he would forget everything we asked him after he walked away. We were often annoyed and frustrated and we were struggling with managing his "lazy-like" behaviour. I knew there was something else up but people kept assuring me he was acting like a “typical” boy.

After a couple of months in class I had a meeting with Hudson's teacher to discuss his progress and behaviour. I mentioned the head injury he had sustained and the thought of possible ADHD and she thought it might be a good idea to have him psychologically assessed. We went through the lengthy process of a psychological educational assessment and received a thorough analysis of him. Everything the psychologist explained made so much sense: low executive functioning skills, low average working memory, low average processing speed, extremely low visual perception and fine motor coordination, broadly average academic skills, high average oral skills and finally anxiety due to the need he feels to please everybody. It was a huge eye opener for Andy, but wasn't as surprising to me, being in the educational world has exposed me to a number of students with these exceptionalities. It did however make me feel like an ass for thinking my child was not listening and being a lazy jerk whenever I asked him to do a list of things (ie. get ready for school).

Since Hudson was 6 at the time of the assessment the psychologist would only provide a provisional diagnosis of ADHD as his brain is still developing as well as due to the uncertainty of the impact he might have from the brain injury. We spoke to a neurological psychologist about doing a neurological assessment but he said at Hudson's age the results and recommendations would be the same as his previous assessment so to just wait until his next assessment at 10 when he can better communicate his thoughts and feelings.

With the current assessment report we received we were able to get an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) created for Hudson at his school. This IEP will stay with him throughout his educational journey as it is needed. The staff at Hudson's school have been so amazingly supportive. They have been following his psych ed assessment recommendations which includes things like, more breaks, strategic seating (close proximity to teacher and good choice of friends), more time to complete work, chunking of work, more oral testing and no repetitive tasks if he already shows he can do something.

I wish I could say that knowing his limitations has made us better at parenting him but in all honesty it hasn't. Sure we check ourselves more but the frustration and annoyance is still there. Some days more than others. I have actually just put a reminder in my phone for the start of each month to re-read Hudsons psych ed assessment and Occupational Therapist report. Just reading it again to write this blog post reminded me of so many things I had forgotten and was treating Hudson unfairly with: "you just have to do 20 min of work...why can't you just do 20 min and then be done....if you spent all the time that you have been sulking typing you would be done by now...." and so on and so on. Sigh. It's a learning process for all of us and I just need to keep telling myself the way I tell him that practicing what is hard is the only way it will get easier. So I will practice my patience as I help him practice working through his challenges and in between we'll go play some sports because we're friggin’ awesome at that.

~Andrea