Movie about Vivien Thomas

Thursday night we watched Something the Lord Made, a 2004 HBO movie. For anyone who's asked about what's wrong with Maggie's heart, for anyone who would like to know more about her surgeries, this movie tells a lot.

Maggie's first surgery was a Blalock-Taussig Shunt. When I saw an Alan Rickman movie at the library, I nabbed it just for the opportunity to revel in a couple of hours swooning over Alan Rickman's voice. (Turned out that didn't work so well. Alan Rickman with a Southern accent just isn't the same as regular Alan Rickman!) When I looked at the description of the plot on the DVD cover, it was describing Dr Blalock and Mr Thomas's work on saving blue babies born with Tetralogy of Fallot. Dr Taussig shows up a little later in the movie. Mom and Katie, I think you guys are going to want to see this movie! I don't know if other people will get as much out of it as we did; we've been steeped in that particular medical vocabulary and what it's like to have a little baby who's blue.

But even beyond the medical advancements shown in the movie, there are two other aspects of the show that I loved. One is the depiction of the racism during the 1900s, and how Mr Thomas's work basically spit in the eye of racism. Sadly though, Mr Thomas was not given credit until late in his life. Even more honorable (in my opinion) than Mr Thomas's medical achievements was his selflessness in doing the work without the recognition, honor, and pay that he should've received.

The other thing I loved about the movie was the high esteem shown for thinking outside the box, in spite of the naysaying by the people surrounding Mr Thomas and Dr Blalock. Heart surgeries were begun because of a talented high-school graduate who was self-taught in the medical field, was a good problem-solver, and was also talented with his hands and tools. The men's theology may have been wanting, and Maggie says it should've been rated R for foul language, but none of that could stop tears of thankfulness from flowing as we watched the historical events that led up to that little cyanotic girl who turned pink during the first heart surgery!