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There are many reasons why House is one of my favorite shows. I have applied his differential process to debugging applications as well relating not only to Dr. House but his patients as well.

This is an episode I would like nothing more than to have my family watch it. The story is about a man that has been suffering from chronic pain for 2 1/2 years and is finally at the end of the rope. The writing here is simply brilliant since it examines chronic pain from the perspective of not only House and the patient suffering, but that of his son, wife, and doubting doctors.

Though this story is not a word for word account of my ordeal, it does show very well the impact of unexplained pain has on someones sanity. The episode also shows how doctors view people that are in constant pain starting with their first interaction as well as their continuous interaction. The first thought that goes through one of the doctor’s mind is that he is a drug seeker, this is quickly refuted when it is brought to his attention that he has at home a pharmacies worth of narcotics.

If you have already watched the episode or would not mind spoilers continue to read more about how I relate to this episode. 

At the start of the show we see the patient suffering and he wants nothing more than to end his pain, after 2 1/2 years of suffering and seeing doctors he still has no explanation, the medication has become less effective, and the pain is getting worse. The patient sees no other alternative than to end his own life. This action infuriates one of the doctors causing anger and hostility towards the patient. The doctor could not understand why a man with a wife and son would be a coward and try to kill himself because he is in pain. The doctor cannot understand why this man could not just suck it up for the sake of his family.

The son makes a notable observation when he says, “That isn’t my father, just please let him die.” When the wife wants to take him home with the obvious but not verbalized intention of allowing the character to end his life House agrees. House, who is suffers constant pain of his own empathizes with the character much more than the rest of the staff. This is something that only someone has felt constant pain for an extended period of time can understand. 

In my journey through the past couple of years I found the only one that could truly relate to what I had been going through was my uncle. My Uncle Joe, who was very badly wounded in Vietnam, told me that only someone that has been in a similar situation can relate to the pain that I was suffering. Only my wife Jen could really see the day to day impact that this pain has had on me as well as the impact of doubting doctors and family members. 

In the end we find that the patient suffered from eplisy, however the seizures were in an abnormal place, his testicles. The character lived virtually every day feeling like he was constantly kicked in the groin. This is something that men can relate to far better than women can, however only to a certain point. To truly relate to the character a man would have to be kicked in the groin multiple times a day for two years. Then while suffering this intense pain imagine being treated like you are a drug seeker and or as weak for not being able to “suck it up.” Though the doctors rarely if ever say that to the patients face, those that suffer from persistent unexplained pain know when a doctor thinks that. 

In my situation despite being in intense pain the wait to see a doctor was ridiculous to me, however the doctors felt that if I have had it for a month then what is a week, it isn’t cancer so there is no hurry here are some pain killers. When one month turned into two, two to four, four to eight, the sense of urgency for me to be bumped to the front of the line was all but lost on 99% of the people involved. When surgery was inevitable and we were looking at an extra week before the surgery was to be performed the insurance refused to hospitalize me on the grounds that I had been suffering for so long, what is an extra week? This would make sense to anyone that was not in the pain, or having to watch their husband or patient suffer the way that I did.