A Call To Apathy – Chapter IV
"What have we got?"
House swerved into the conference room where Cameron, Foreman, Chase and the interns were all sitting. George turned round from looking out the window.
"Was that Bailey you were talking to? Has she got a case for us?"
House walked in. "No. Now, what have we got?"
Alex stood up and brought the CT scans to the projector. "There. In the cingulate gyrus."
House looked closer at the scans. "The scaring? What his blood pressure?"
Meredith looked through the files. "Normal."
House turned around. "By normal you mean elevated?"
"No, by normal I mean normal: 122 over 80."
House looked back at the scans. "Hmm, fighting fit. What causes scaring and anaphylactic shock?"
Christina sat back in her chair. "An allergic reaction. Caused the damage in the brain during the anaphylaxis."
House added the scaring onto the whiteboard. "Unless he's been smearing his brain with peanut butter, it's not an allergic reaction. Though then again, I can see him being that stupid. He did shoot me."
Foreman rolled his eyes. "I think that's a show of genius rather than stupidity. But it could be an infection. Screws with the immune system, causes the anaphylactic shock, then moved to the brain and caused the scaring."
House put down the marker. "How's his white count?"
Meredith looked in the file again. "Low. Very low."
House looked back to the whiteboard again. "And yet his heart rate and blood pressure are normal. Why is that?"
Foreman stood up. "We should do an LP to check for infection."
"Right!" House lit up. "I'll do it!"
Before anyone could process what had happened, House had already scampered out of the room and down the hall. Chase looked worried.
"You should go with him Cameron. Don't want him doing something stupid."
Cameron remained seated. "I don't know. I think maybe they should be alone for a second. They have some serious issues to straighten out."
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Wilson fixed up the white coat he was given as he walked into the Addison's patient room. The woman was lying alone but the room was festooned with get-well cards and other various presents. Wilson thought she needed teddy bear.
"How are we going today Mrs Harper?" Addison asked, walking to the bed.
"Ok. Hugh took the kids home for a while so it's good to have some peace and quiet."
Addison looked over to Wilson. "Mrs Harper has two children already."
Wilson smiled at the patient. "That's fantastic Mrs Harper."
"Please, call me Grace."
Addison smiled. "Grace this is Dr Wilson, the head of Oncology for Princeton-Plainsburough teaching hospital. I've asked him to be a consult on this case."
"Thanks. So, what do we do?"
Wilson moved to the other side of the bed and sat down on the foot of the bed. "Grace, it seems you have a severe case of bowel cancer. It is operable, but you're going to have to go on a course of aggressive treatment afterwards, including chemotherapy."
Grace wiped away a tear. "So what? I either have the baby and die or have an abortion and live?"
Wilson looked over at Addison and sighed. "It's never as simple as that. Or as clichéd." Wilson continued. "We're going to put you on a round of much weaker drugs for the next three months that you're pregnant. After that we will start you on a higher dosage of much more aggressive drugs and also start the chemo. You're lucky; your cancer is not that aggressive. We have the ability to hold off treatment for three months."
"But when I get the treatment, what will the side affects be?"
"The usual with chemo: loss of hair and sickness. With the drugs you will experience heightened fatigue and irritability."
"But what about the kids? How am I supposed to be a mother? How am I supposed to be a wife? I mean, there's not much chance of me pulling through so why bother?"
Wilson put his hand on Grace's. "Because you are a wife and a mother. Because you would not give up on them. They need as much as you need them. And you can beat this. You will beat this."
Grace nodded and brushed away her tears. Addison looked over at Wilson and saw him in a new light. He reminded her of Derek, that amazing ability to connect with another human being. But besides that he was different to anyone she had ever met. Kind, considerate, and she must admit reasonably good looking. Quickly she shook herself out of daydreaming. "Your surgery's planned for five this afternoon, is that ok?"
"Yeah. Hugh's coming back in a couple of hours so he'll be here before I go."
"Excellent. I'll come and check up on you later. Dr Wilson?"
Wilson smiled at Grace, squeezed her hand once more and stood up. "Good luck Grace."
"Thank you Dr Wilson."
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House sat silently on a chair next to John Cumming's bed. He was sleeping silently as the drugs were wearing off. After a while, he brought out his backpack and pulled out a small whistle. Pulling himself up from the chair with his cane, House waddled over to the bed, brought the whistle to his mouth and leaned over to John Cumming's head. Bringing in a deep breath he blew into the whistle as hard as he could.
The room filled with the deafening screech of the whistle. John woke up with a shout and quickly put his hands to his ears.
"What the hell are you doing!" He shouted over House, still blowing the whistle as hard as he could. "Who are you?!"
House stopped and took out the whistle. "Don't you remember?"
Suddenly all the blood drained out John's face. His jaw dropped. "Oh f..k off."
"Exactly what I thought."
"What are you doing here?"
"I'm your doctor."
John's face was still pale with disbelief. "No way."
"Way. See, I'm now curing you. Saving your life. Think about what it would have been like if you had killed me. You'd be dead!" House said with a smile.
"You think I wanted to kill you?"
"Actually, I think I missed that whole part. Why did you shoot me again?"
John lay back on his bed. "You're a jerk."
"I get told that everyday yet I still have less bullets in me than Nicholas II." House stopped smiling. "Why did you shoot me?" He now pressured.
John stayed quiet and stared up at the ceiling. House sharpened his gaze.
"Right! Time for the Lumbar Puncture!"
John looked at House. "What's that for?"
"Oh, it's just a highly painful test we need to do to confirm our diagnosis. We think you have an extremely rare fatal disease. There's no cure but don't worry, it takes a while for you to finally kick it. Turn over!"
John became nervous but turned away on his side. "I think I'd like another doctor to do this."
House picked up the needle from the bedside table. "Uh-ah. You're the one that shot me. You've lost the right to pick and choose."
House jabbed the needle into John's spine. "OW!"
"Oops, sorry. Must have missed it. What about here?"
"JESUS!"
"Hmm, still nothing. I know…"
John squirmed in pain and bit down on his pillow and gave out a muffled shriek of pain. House smiled to himself.
"There we go!" He picked up the vial and drew out the liquid. Slowly he drew out the needle and chucked it in the bedpan. House put the lid on the vile, picked up his cane and walked to the door.
"Enjoy your last few days of life."
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NB: Ah, House being slack to patients... Does it ever get old? Ok, may have been extremely slack to this guy but come on! He shot him for god's sake! Ok, since both abc and Fox are being complete bastards (i.e., not showing any new eps for a long, long time) I'll probably be using this to feed my House n' Grey's fix. As should you all. Thought you'd like to know that. Anywho, shall do more Mer/Der and House/Cam and even some BANG but just give me time, give me time.
