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So will there be a separate Christmas episode still to come as in Britain? Or is that what the last half hour of the "final" episode airing in America was????
No, that was it, the finale. No more Downton Abbey, sorry.
So will there be a separate Christmas episode still to come as in Britain? Or is that what the last half hour of the "final" episode airing in America was????
I didn't know that iron deficient anemia was not benign I sometimes think the word anemia means you just need to take more iron nutrients in. When I hear deficiency in any vitamins and minerals, I don't think it is serious and people just need to take the the ones they need more of. When I heard "pernicious anemia" and how it was fatal, I actually thought it was a British euphemism for leukemia.
You're right in a way. Iron deficient anemia can seem benign in that lots of people walk around with it and don't know it, but it takes a toll on the body. When allowed to progress, it can be quite harmful. I know someone who didn't know she had it until she passed out. One moment she was standing up, the next she was unconscious on the pavement. She ended up in the hospital for a few days. Nowadays people can usually just pop pills and/or make dietary changes. Lots of overworked women who always seem tired have it and don't know it. According to the World Health Organization, doctors don't do a good job screening for it, especially since it is easy to diagnose and treat while in the mild stage.
ETA: One can also have iron deficiency without anemia, which won't show up on the hemoglobin test the Red Cross gives to blood donors. They'll take your blood. It won't hurt the recipient of the blood, but isn't good for the donor.
Last edited by TransplantedPeach; 03-08-2016 at 09:18 AM..
That daughter-in-law of his is a real piece of work and her face really shows the ugliness and evil in her. Maybe, she was poisoning Lord Merton, who knows? Seems strange that Lord Merton's condition improved greatly after he was away from his home and his avaricious son and daughter-in-law. Can pernicious anemia improve so much that it becomes a benign form, like Lord Merton was correctly diagnosed as having?
Pernicious anemia is associated with the body not being able to produce enough red blood cells. The body lacks enough B12 to produce the red blood cells, or to actually get the red blood cells from the bone marrow into the bloodstream. Since the red blood cells are used to provide oxygen to the body, over time the various organs can suffer tissue damage due to the lack of oxygen, and the heart becomes over-burdened trying to circulate oxygen to the body, when the blood supply simply doesn't have enough oxygen due to the lack of red blood cells.
It would be extremely unusual for someone in Lord Merton's position to have developed pernicious anemia because one of the main sources for B12 in our diets is seafood, and particularly shellfish. Shellfish was regularly served at upper-class dinners in England. England is a sea-faring nation, and for the nobility, there were even specific seafood courses that were part of the dining experience, and seafood would have also figured in the soup courses quite often.
If the anemia were induced by poison, the removal of that poison from the diet would often result in a startling recovery, because it is the poison, not the lack of B12, that is to blame for the lack of red blood cells.
And as others have pointed out, the daughter-in-law might not be to blame. Older people are more likely to suffer from anemia, and a misdiagnosis in 1925 could have actually led to an arsenic treatment concoction that would have made Lord Merton sicker and sicker, mimicking the progress of pernicious anemia.
So it could have been a misdiagnosis. It could have been poisoning. But I really don't like that daughter-in-law. And the way she tried to control access to Lord Merton was suspicious in my opinion.
I think the one person who got shortchanged the most in this rush of an ending is Mary. I like Matthew Goode but I just don't think he and Michelle had the chemistry Fellowes was hoping for, which is why her marriage feels hollow to me. I really don't see Mary being happy in the long term with someone like Henry, who's main focus now seems to be to find something to do so that his wife will not regret marrying him.
I believe she knew her own mind when she kept insisting that it was not a good match for her, and if not for Tom's dogged insistence I don't think she would have married him in the end. She was so very picky in the years following Matthew's death but then rushed into a marriage that she had serious misgivings about. It made no sense.
I would have preferred she ended the series unmarried but with a focus on Downton, which has always been her first love and her top priority. That's not to say she never would have remarried, but I think Fellowe's desire to wrap everything up in a neat bow at the end of the series kind of undermined Mary's character.
I think the one person who got shortchanged the most in this rush of an ending is Mary. I like Matthew Goode but I just don't think he and Michelle had the chemistry Fellowes was hoping for, which is why her marriage feels hollow to me.
The above becomes more manifest if you go back and watch the first three seasons with Mathew Crowley, who in all respects was a better man than Henry. More reflective, more driven by a sense of duty and morality, and much more a perfect match for Mary. Mathew was the sort to make Mary into a better person during their marriage. Henry seems more like a suitable companion, but far from the love of her life.
There are various reasons for anemia--and I wonder if in that era it was possible that someone could have had leukemia and been diagnosed with anemia...at least initially...
Some people develope anemia because of something to do with the body's ability to process iron properly--can't remember exactly but read article about it recently---and it can be very difficult to diagnose correctly...
The fact is that even in this modern era we have doctors who can't make a correct diagnosis at times...
The above becomes more manifest if you go back and watch the first three seasons with Mathew Crowley, who in all respects was a better man than Henry. More reflective, more driven by a sense of duty and morality, and much more a perfect match for Mary. Mathew was the sort to make Mary into a better person during their marriage. Henry seems more like a suitable companion, but far from the love of her life.
I saw a web page with the top 10 Downton moments and one of them was Matthew's proposal to Mary, outside in the snow...it was magical...
I, too, think Matthew Goode is a hunk but he didn't seem to have the depth that Matthew/Dan Stevens brought to the relationship...maybe it is because of the war experience Matthew encounter and the physical/psychological disability he overcame...the fact is that both of them came from relatively lower beginnings although Henry had a title...Henry COULD have found a calling beyond the enjoyment of race car driving...but he was more into pleasure than being responsible...
That is why I think even now, he is a light weight compared to Mary---she has ALWAYS had a sense of duty--
Even when initially it meant marrying her cousin who died on the Titanic in order to preserve Downton...
Now she is intent on preserving and expanding the estate for George's benefit
I think they will come to cross purposes in the future when the Depression hits...
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I sometimes think the word anemia means you just need to take more iron nutrients in. When I hear deficiency in any vitamins and minerals, I don't think it is serious and people just need to take the the ones they need more of. When I heard "pernicious anemia" and how it was fatal, I actually thought it was a British euphemism for leukemia.
