Tonight on Emily Owens M.D., we met Peter, a highly religious man who was Dr. Bandari’s first cut. He had been in to see Bandari quite a bit, having two open heart surgeries and four open balloon dilations, but this time, he was getting surgery on a swollen aorta that was threatening his health. Due to an anesthesia allergy, the operation would be done while he was awake, only on an epidural. During the surgery, Emily is in charge of keeping his mind focused on anything other than what’s been done to him, burned wounds and all, and talks to him about his wife Hannah. However, he begins to blood too much and eventually codes; following nearly 3 minutes of CPR from Bandari, he’s managed to be revived and the surgery finishes without another hitch.
Once awake in his room after surgery (and noticeably paler), Peter finds out about his near-death experience from Emily, which causes him to hyperventilate. His faith has taught him that God has a plan and that when he dies, it’ll be a warm, peaceful feeling that follows and there’ll be something there waiting for him at the end. When he coded, there was nothing there – no good feelings, no sense of peace, nothing that he thought would happen – and it makes him question himself. If there is a God, why did he feel nothing upon death? Is his entire life based on a lie?
While Bandari is pissed that Emily upset Peter, Dr. Owens goes to find Hannah in the hospital chapel; Peter questioning his faith could potentially undo their relationship, as they met at Bible study and have built their connection on their faith in God. Emily tells her that maybe Peter questioning is a part of God’s plan, which calms her down and gets her to return back to Peter’s room.
Disobeying Dolores
Will had his own first cut and first major hospital mishap in Dolores, an elderly patient who suffered a bacterial infection brought on by antibiotics eliminating the good bacteria in her body. The surgery itself went quite well and Dolores turned out to be a character, but she had a bad case of diarrhea following her time on the operating table. With how badly she was suffering, Will bypassed hospital protocol and started her on medication before getting the results of her tests back. He was sure that she had C. diff (or Clostridium difficile), but once Micah got wind that he went over his head, he blew up at him. According to Dr. Barnes, a mistake could have killed her and he didn’t know her exact diagnosis – he guessed – before taking Will off the case.
Though Emily tried to talk to Micah about Will knowing that he messed up (and being defensive about his mess up), Will didn’t get put back on the case; he did, however, visit Dolores in the hospital and help her do a lap around the floor. As they mosey on in order to get Dolores some exercise and time out of her room, she asks him once again about Emily and whether he has feelings for/wanted to hook up with her. Will tells her about the drunken voicemail message that he left in college, that Emily has to this day.
Intersexuality
Renowned pediatrician Kyle Putnam has come to Denver Memorial for a special case involving Jake, a 3-month-old with a mother suffering from post-partum anxiety. Emily is initially put in charge of running interference and giving Dr. Putnam room to figure out what’s wrong with Jake, but after she suggests running an ultrasound, it turns out that there’s a bigger problem with the little boy. In addition to the fever, vomiting, and abdominal pain, Jake is suffering from intussusception, where part of his small intestine had slid down and put pressure on his bowels, causing continued leg movement. Additionally, the ultrasound revealed that he’s intersexed, as he has male reproductive organs on the outside and female reproductive organs on the inside.
The hospital, with the help of a social worker, wants to run chromosomal tests and brain scans to see how exactly he’s wired; gender is more than what’s between our legs and if he has a more female chromosomal make-up, it’ll throw a wrench in his father’s plan to raise him as a boy. It turns out that Jake has XX chromosomes and is thereby genetically female, due to excessive amounts of testosterone in utero. However, they won’t know the effect of the hormone right off and it’s suggested to the parents that they allow him to grow before getting the surgery to remove one set of reproductive organs. However, the father is adamant about getting the surgery and his son not being a “freak show.”
When Jake’s intestinal troubles result in anal bleeding and a high fever, they have to operate on him, which snaps the father out of whatever masculinity trance he was in. He decides that he doesn’t want to see Jake put through yet another surgery at this age and even suggests changing Jake’s name to something more gender neutral; if he decides later in life to live as a woman, it’ll make the transition a little easier not having to deal with a major name change.
Coming Out, Coming Home
Tyra’s ready to come out to her father and she wants Emily to be in the room with her when she does it to act as a buffer. Dr. Dupre wouldn’t go ballistic around an outsider, so Emily would keep the atmosphere calm and civil as long as she was there. However, once Dr. Dupre came into the room, he immediately thought that Emily was going to tell Tyra about the affair and blew both of their covers; he does tell Tyra that he had an affair and that it’s over, but she gets emotional and leaves before he can say much else. For much of the rest of the day, the three try to avoid one another, only Emily wants to talk to Tyra about what happened. Alas, she won’t and goes as far as telling Cassandra that Emily is the reason that she and Will weren’t together for a while.
Emily does manage to get Tyra to talk and doesn’t apologize for what happened; she was in a tough spot, having to “choose” between outing an intimidating boss on her first day and being loyal to someone she had just met. The two do manage to patch things up and, before going out for a drink, Tyra quickly and abruptly comes out to her father.
Making Nice
Will talked to Cassandra about how mean she can be to Emily, so Cassandra has decided to give a friendship with her nemesis a shot. Cassandra invites her to watch Will’s first cut, which would be a nice gesture…if she didn’t talk about how sexy Will is or how she was going to “go crazy on him tonight” in the bedroom. Plus, when Tyra tells her about Emily not wanting Will to date her, she deliberately makes Pits look bad in front of Bandari by being late for a meeting, bumping her out of a chance to assist during Peter’s surgery.
The two have a confrontation in the locker room at the end of the day, Emily telling Cassandra that she’s tired of the dynamic and Cassandra telling Emily not to play innocent. Inspired by Micah telling her to “react differently” earlier in the day, Emily lays it on the line and confesses that she didn’t want Will to date Cassandra due to her own crush on him and how badly it hurt to see them together at work. Cassandra doesn’t quite know how to react to that moment of honesty and leaves.
The three run into one another out on the floor and Will and Cassandra make up. Rather than go full-on PDA to needle Emily some more, Cassandra suggests they remain professional at work.
Additional thoughts and observations:
-Emily critiqued Dr. Bandari in her evaluation, which never happens and is a big faux pas. Luckily, Tyra got hers out of the pile and Bandari won’t be able to read it.
-Emily is all about the vampires and was before the recent pop culture trend, including the work of Polidori.
-Micah and Dr. Hamata have been together 8-10 weeks, depending on what you’re basing your counting on.
–Next week on Emily Owens M.D.: Emily tries to diagnose the hospital flower delivery man after he collapses, Will and Emily are assigned to a sick prisoner, and Dr. Dupre goes to Emily for help in talking to Tyra.
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