Well, where to even begin, because last nights episode of Transplant was like one thing after another hitting you straight in the feels. It didn’t ask you if you wanted to be attacked in the feels – it told you that you’re going to learn all of the things and deal with them.
The episode was entitled, Saleh.
Dr. Bishop puts extra pressure on Bash, while Theo feels powerless when something happens to one of his daughters back home. A patient puts Mags’ moral convictions to the test and June tries to improve her social skills.
And where do I even begin?
ADAPT TO WHERE YOU ARE
Bashir’s life in Canada hasn’t been easy. He’s a refugee and it seems as though everyone is looking at him as though he’s not trustworthy all the time. In the same breathe, Bashir doesn’t seem willing to ever bend and see that he can’t always do things the way that he did.
But in a way as much as it drives me insane, I get it. Bashir is in the business of saving lives and he’s had to do it in ways that aren’t always conventional. He’s been a doctor in a war torn country and saved lives. But what he’s not seeing is that he’s in a place where it’s different, there are protocols that he has to learn.
And it’s learning those protocols that can save a life. There is a girl that comes in with issues that present like a stroke – she’s young and has cognitive function loss, as well as slurred speech. And so Bashir orders tests to rule out a stroke.
But what he doesn’t do is check the girls glucose. Turns out that she’s got diabetes and didn’t know it. Her blood sugar is so low and she’s crashing. Bashir didn’t do it and he feels like he’s messed up.
The girl connected a little bit with Bashir. She’s in foster care, she is scared to take care of her diabetes and she’s scared of how her foster mom will handle it. She’s sad because her Grandma died and no one is there for her.
Bashir has to remind her that she can make it through and the best way to do it is to worry about the things that you can control, not the things you can’t. And to be honest, that is the best advice that someone can give.
We all need to worry more about the things that we can control.
LYING AND LOOSING
When a Mom and daughter come into the hospital, of course the team is going to everything that they can to save them. There has been an accident and though they try to save them both, the Mom dies.
A man comes in and Dr. LeBlanc is treating him. He’s an old man who says he’s fallen off a stool and that’s how he’s bruised and hurt. A series of tests were ran and it doesn’t look like he fell off a stool.
We find out that he’s dying. That his liver is so bad, it will not heal. They need to do surgery to stop the bleeding. And so LeBlanc runs a lot of tests and knows that the man is a recovering alcoholic and she sees that he has alcohol in his system, she knows that something is up.
It looks as though his injuries are consistent with a car accident.
She asks Dr. Curtis and she agrees that his injuries are most consistent with a car accident. When she confronts the patient, he admits that he fell off the wagon and he doesn’t remember the night before. She tells him that he hit a mother and daughter, and when he asks if they are okay, LeBlanc tells him that the mother didn’t make it.
I have to admit that I didn’t ever really think about a doctor/patient confidentiality issue. But it is and so she tells him he has to tell the police and his fiance.
I think that it takes strength to admit the things that we’ve done wrong, but the man does. He has to admit that falling off the wagon cost people their lives and atone for it.
While I will never in my life forgive a drunk driver, I will say this knowing that he is dying and having the choice to either tell or not tell and he tells – I am glad he did the right thing.
The hardest thing isn’t the easiest, but he did it. People stood by him.
Transplant isn’t afraid to touch the hard subjects. They aren’t afraid to face the reality of the situation. They aren’t afraid to touch on subjects that will cause controversy and that’s part of what I love. Because they could easily run from them.
YOU CAN’T GO HOME
I’ve always felt for Bashir, because he’s a refugee, looked upon as though he’s done something wrong even when he hasn’t, and he’s just trying to do the best that he can.
But the best that he can do isn’t always moving forward. Sometimes it’s staying in the past.
Bashir keeps taking calls from his friend in Syria, who is out trying to save lives through a bombing. Saleh only has one year of medical school and Bashir is doing everything that he can to save lives via facetime.
Though it wouldn’t be the optimal thing – Bashir is doing an amazing job. He wants to do everything that he can to save lives. Him being a doctor is his life. Him making a better world for others is everything that he wants to do. The way he’s trying to balance everything and be there for everyone isn’t easy.
When he has the chance to help others, he takes it. But I wish that Bashir would put himself first. He doesn’t do that a lot and he needs to. If not for his own piece of mind, then Amira’s.
OTHER THOUGHTS
- Finally learning why it is that Dr. Curtis is so closed off and I am thankful for that. Cause i’ve felt no connection to her.
- Dr. Bishop has moods that are swinging all over the place and dude needs to get that shit under control.
- Dr. Hunter – we finally learn a little about him for which I am thankful for, but in the same breathe I still don’t like him
- I’m shocked that Dr. Bishop spent so much time getting to Bashirs transcripts.
