#itsneverlupus

Sneak peak for chapter 2 of “diagnosticians daughter.” Figuring out what’s wrong with Brooke.

After she ate and Wilson left House carried her back upstairs for more testing. They did lung tests, genetic testing and more to try and prove if it was CF, COPD or maybe a pulmonary embolism. After the testing Brooke was exhausted so House took her up to her room for the night. She settled down and fell asleep right away. So did House. But at around 9pm he awoke to a terrible sound. Brooklyn was coughing again, and this time it was much worse. Every hour she had been getting worse and worse and now she could barely breathe on her own. House patted her back, thinking that would help like usual. But it didn’t. He reached for the nebulizer beside him and gave her it. It was normally used for people with asthma or CF to help loosen up the mucus in the patients lungs. Thankfully it helped and she coughed out the hugest chunk of mucus ever. 

I’m so scared, like is it gonna hurt? 😭 it can’t be that bad right? Anyways let’s hope the nurse I get is gentle cause some ppl get BRUISES from them 😭

Hi! My names Kate! ( I also go by Katelynn!) and I’m a House MD fan and have been since Feb/march! I’m Autistic so I get super hyper focused on certain shows so rn it’s House! I love to write and make art rn of my 2 House Ocs!

This is Brooke! She’s 3 (at the start of the show) and is in an AU where House has a child. She is chronically ill and has Cystic fibrosis and various other health issues. Constantly in and out of the hospital. Sweet, kind, sarcastic like her father. Glued to her Dad. Autistic coded. Defends him always. Has a burning hate for Chase for some reason. If I wrote abt her it’d probably mainly be about her relationship with House and Wilson and also about her various hospital visits over the years!

This is Dr Emmy! She’s 32 and works on Houses team as a pediatrician. She’s worked at PPTH since right before the Houses leg incident. She has a pet ferret named Abby and is close with House and Wilson. Has a good sisterly bond with Cuddy. She has Anxiety and is also Autistic coded. Most of her stories would probably involve life as a doctor and other major life incidents that she’s been through that “occur throughout the show.”

we play a one sided guessing game where my friend guesses what house episode I’m watching. Here’s some of my fav conversations with their guesses lol

I didn't know a whole lot about the medical world at this time in my life (I WAS 16 PEOPLE), so when a doctor gives a diagnosis I just assume the doctor knows what they are talking about.  This caused about 6 months of wasted time and pure torture.  

I went to the doctor that very same day after school (yes I still can't believe I still went to school that day) and he asked the basic questions.  I looked overall healthy so he didn't see any reason to panic.  He did send me for the basic blood work. About a few days later I was told I had Lupus.  I was referred to a rheumatologist who agreed and put me on medication for it.  

As Dr. House says, "It's never Lupus!"  This was the case.  But unfortunately this took 6 months to figure out.  By february I was pretty sick.  I was constantly having pain.  Had all the same symptoms.  Nothing changed despite a diagnosis and medication.  A few days before valentines day I ended up in the ER with right sided abdominal pain.  With this visit they decided I had gallstones and needed my gallbladder removed.  I was admitted and had my gallbladder removed.  While recovering I was still experiencing the same symptoms, the same pain but I figured maybe my body was "adjusting."  AGAIN, I'm 16...I have no clue. I expect the doctors to know what they are doing.  STOP LAUGHING!  

A few days later I did end up in the ER again.  This experience is very, very vivid.  The ER doctor saw me and said, "You just had surgery.  We removed the problem.  Here's a script for more pain meds." Yeah, that happened.  This left me with feeling like I couldn't trust the doctors because clearly I couldn't. There were days I was in so much pain that I would end up crying on the floor of whatever room my parents happened to be in.  How can this be normal is all I would be thinking.  I wanted relief and the only thing the doctors seemed to do was throw pain meds at me.  

In March I had been back to school for a few days and lucky me I was back in time for those lovely state mandated testing.  I can remember thinking, "PLEASE LET MY BODY COOPERATE TODAY."  I some how got through it without much of an issue.  During this time I was back and forth to doctors trying to figure out what was wrong.  

I was seen by a GI FINALLY and sent for testing like a CT Scan, Small bowel follow through and many other things.  (Side Note: That vanilla Barium is no where near anything tasting like vanilla...More like Chalk - Little did I know I would have to drink these countless times over the years).  The doctor never called to follow up, we weren't getting answers so we requested copies of my stuff since we had made an appointment to see a doctor at CHOP that specialized in Lupus (since at the time I was still told I had Lupus).  

My parents were going through my papers from my chart one night and noticed a sticky note that was very much out of place.  What it said: "Contact patients parents.  Terminal Illeum."  Now, when you see the word terminal what are you thinking as a person with very limited medical knowledge?  My parents were very quick to run to where everyone gets their medical knowledge, just kidding, the internet.  That is when we first learned of Crohn's disease.  

As you can imagine, when we called the office the next day they were very quick to squeeze me into their schedule.  It was confirmed that YES I did have Crohn's disease.  We also got a quick learning experience in what a terminal ileum is (Terminal = end, ileum = part of the small intestine, which means "end of small intestine") and that is where the activity of the Crohn's is located.  Unfortunately the question still remained: Do I have Lupus as well?  CHOP is where I went a few days later and found that information out.  This doctor was interesting to say the least.  He determined "at the time" I did not appear to have Lupus (this diagnosis still comes up 10 years later as something we can't totally rule out as it is common to have more than one autoimmune disease - hope I did not confuse you).  Right now my only diagnosis as far as autoimmune related is Crohn's disease.  

What is Crohn's disease (for those who don't know):  It is an autoimmune disease that affects my GI tract.  Basically my body thinks my GI tract is foreign and starts fighting something that is not actually there.  For example: Normally when you are sick (like an infection) your body fights that off, but with Crohn's the body is "confused" and starts fighting as if you have that infection when its not actually there.  It causes major havoc in my intestines (which is where the disease is located for me - it can be located in many areas of the GI tact) and creates inflammation that is very damaging.  I get symptoms such as pain (my biggest issue), constant need to go to the bathroom, fevers, blood in stools, vomiting, nausea, lack of wanting to eat, joint pain and I could go on and on.  Crohn's also can cause things like skin rashes and kidney issues.  It does not always just affect your GI tract.  THERE IS NO CURE. Although treatable, but please don't let that part fool you because current treatments do not help everyone. As you will read in later blogs you will understand what I mean.  People have died due to having Crohn's disease.  

How did being diagnosed make me feel?  This is a really difficult question because I oddly felt at peace with it, although very upset.  A lot of mixed emotions.  I was finally given a correct diagnosis and there were treatments.  But it terrified me that there was no cure.  I also did not really understand this disease yet because I was just diagnosed and had little medical knowledge.  Due to the nature of this disease seeming to revolve around bathroom issues I felt embarrassed to tell others.  I was 16 and wasn't exactly sure how my friends would take this.