Thursdays on USA have become a tad more exciting once again with their series return of "Burn Notice," and now their new series "Royal Pains." 

In the Pilot episode, "Pains" addresses the very painful condition of Hemophilia --a condition I'm well too aware of unfortunately.  I'll leave it to you, the reader, to investigate more on the subject of hemophilia if the interest compels you, which I hope it will.   And I hope you make the time to make a small donation to the Hemophilia Foundation.  

But the episode was quite interesting.  While I'm very glad that USA has a segment about hemophilia and therefore getting more people aware of it, there was a couple misconceptions that I'd like to address.

The bruises that Tucker had on his elbow were the finishing touches of an internal bleeding episode, and so therefore his elbow wouldn't have as much movement as it did.  I like how when Tucker was walking down the stairs he had his hand in his pocket, which is one of the ways to support the arm of the swollen elbow.  They portrayed that part correctly. 

Another thing is when Hank asked Tucker where he kept his Factor 8.  After a bit LIbby (Tucker's girlfriend) brings it down, they open the case and it's in the syringe, already mixed, which is not correct. Factor 8 doesn't come pre-mixed and therefore is something the patient has to do themselves in order to infuse.

Also, when Tucker lies on the floor his legs are fully straight, which wouldn't be because of all the injuries the knees have had --they wouldn't be able to straighten that perfect when lying on their back on a flat surface.  

They were right about hemophiliacs living in pain and are used to it.  Hemophilia is one of the most painful things you can have and I wish more shows would cover it more as more attention needs to be brought out about it.  When more people are educated about it, more people will care about a cure, and more donations MUST be made to your nearest Hemophilia Foundation.

If you'd like to know how painful Hemophilia is, take this example.  We've all had sprained ankles.  An ankle sprain is when blood enters the ankle joint after only a few seconds of internal bleeding.  A hemophiliac doesn't bleed for only a few seconds, like a person with normal clotting factor in their blood does.  A hemophiliac can bleed internally for minutes or hours on that twisted ankle.  We know the pain from a sprained ankle, but imagine that pain after bleeding internally for minutes, or hours!  Yeah, it's painful.  I've had hundreds of those injuries and have the permanent blackened ankles to prove it.

i hope Tucker is a permanent character in the show. 

- LIGHT and SHADE at Alexian Brothers