Chapter 14

Another day dawned, it was 7am and he was already bored. He would usually be just getting up and going for his run now, but not today. He had just eaten his Oatmeal and was contemplating transferring to his wheelchair to go get washed and dressed, a task that now took a lot of time, thought and energy.

By the time he returned from the bathroom he could feel the ache coming in his leg, he knew it was time for his meds, with nothing else to do, he was noticing a pattern to the pain, the Vicodin did take it away that's for sure and even had him a little buzzed at times but he could tell when it was wearing off, that was not a good thought.

Within a couple of minutes of being back in his room, the nurse came in with his meds, he looked solemnly at them before he took them, is this what life has come down to for him to just get through the day? Blood thinners and Narcotics, actually, the narcotics were give day, so the first dose only got him through a few hours. How could he even think about going back to work if this is what he had to do. A doctor on Narcotics at work, he knew that people did it but having to take medication whilst at work, maybe even in front of people and in a wheelchair too.

He took the pills and as the nurse left his room Randi walked in. "Hey Doc, ready to go?"

House looked up unexpectedly, "Go Where?"

"To the therapy room, no need to stay in here anymore, got lots of work to do today" She said very enthusiastically

"What?" He said without even thinking, the last thing he wanted to do was go out in the hallway in his wheelchair

"Therapy room. We are going. Now. Are you ok?" she questioned cautiously

"yeah, yeah I'm...i'm fine" He said taking a deep breath. What was he about to have a panic attack or something. He gingerly rolled himself towards the door, he could do this right! If he wanted to go home he had to.

He made it all the way to the therapy room, wheeling himself, Randi was talking to him a lot on the way, he assumed trying to take his mind off of the fact that everyone was staring at him. Once inside the room he looked around, parallel bars, mats, weights all the normal stuff.

"So the plan now is to get you up on your feet, we start with standing in the parallel bars, then onto a walker and then onto crutches" She stated

This was not expected. He looked at her with what could only be expressed as fear and apprehension, if his leg just hurt like this when he was seated all the time what the fuck would it be like if he put weight on it.

"It's ok" She said sitting beside him " you won't be putting any weight on your leg, the aim for today is just to get you standing" She could tell he was apprehensive so she softened her tone.

"Right then" He said quietly

She took him over to the bars, and told him what she needed him to do "You may feel dizzy, nauseous and off balance "

He was surprised by how good it felt to be standing, albeit on one leg, but she was right, he felt dizzy, nauseous and off balance. But standing was standing. They repeated the exercise a number of times until it came naturally. Then to the mats to do weights with his upper body, core exercises and exercises with weights for his left leg. For his right leg that was completely different. It was all he could do just to move it, the ankle and foot were becoming more useful and he could direct them now, but the rest just didn't play ball.

"I'm liking the progress of your foot and ankle. Start leaving the splint off. Only put it back on at night and when we have therapy"

Randi walked back to his room with him, "See you this afternoon. You did really well today, we will graduate tomorrow to a walker" She said cheerfully

"Great! Now I will be seen as an OAP!"

"It won't be for long" She said smiling "It's a tool, to get you onto crutches, we need to get your balance and upper body ready. We put you on crutches now and you will end up flat on your back" She said with a giggle as she walked out of his room.

"Hey, before you go, what do you actually expect to be the end result? Walker, wheelchair, crutches, cane, nothing?" He questioned not even sure if he wanted an answer.

She turned around and sat down on the bed so that she faced him "My own personal opinion is that you will leave here on crutches with a wheelchair. " She stated "You have a lot of muscle missing, with a side order of nerve damage" She said with sensitivity.

"So, that's it, I will need assistance of some sort to walk forever more?"

"Yes, unfortunately, as much as your other leg and muscles will take on more work, they can't compensate completely for what is missing" She looked straight at him "the likelihood of you being able to move around at all without assistance is zero. I'd say that as soon as you take a step without assistance the leg will give way, there is not enough strength in it to bear that kind of weight on it"

"Thanks" He said sincerely "For being honest with me, nobody else has yet"

She could see the shadow across his eyes "Hey, give it a couple of months and you won't even notice the crutches or the new hi-tech wheelchair you will be getting. They will become part of you, part of your life, part of your job" She lightly touched him on the arm as she got up to leave.

"Yeah right!" He said almost in a whisper, like he had a job anymore.

House was practising in his new 'chair' – which was actually really light and hi-tech when there was a knock on his door, he didn't bother to respond, as whomever it was would come in anyway.

"Like the new wheels" Said Dr Cuddy as she entered his room trying to sound chirpy

House just stared at her.

"I hear that you are almost ready to go home"

"I told you that over a week ago" He deadpanned

"Like I said before it's a process, just the occupational health and PT to do now"

House just stared at her again.

"Occupational Health will want to set up a time for a home visit. Shall I talk to Stacy about that or do you want to?" She questioned

"I will" He retorted

"Ok then, once that is done the PT instructor will then access your outpatient needs then we can discharge you"

House just nodded.

"You have any questions?"

"Nope"

"Well, I'll leave you to it then" Said Cuddy walking towards the door.

House sat playing with his chair, it was definitely lighter and a lot easier to handle than the hospital ones, wheelies would be much easier. He then eyed the crutches, a little practise wouldn't go amiss. He could do this on his own...He could do this! He chanted to himself as he readied himself to balance on the darn things.

People in movies always make it look easy, which it definitely wasn't. He was doing his second hop when the door opened again and Stacy walked in "Oh Wow! You look good!" She said with a wide smile.

"Right! Because I can hop 2 steps...fantastic!" He groused

"It is a big step" She said going towards him to give him a hug.

"Yeah, I have a free hand for that!" He said stopping her in her tracks.

Stacy moved away awkwardly and went and sat down.

"Occupational Health want to organise a home visit with you" He said seriously

"Ok, I'll call them to fix it up" She said as cheerfully as she could.

"Let me know when it's done" He said sitting back down in his chair and rubbing his thigh.

"Can I get you something?"

"nope" House moved off towards the toilet. Once in the bathroom he sat there for a moment looking at himself in the mirror, his hair was a lot longer he had a 3 days scruff and he looked like he had been dragged back from hell. Well he had hadn't he? Somehow he managed to knock the bin over and it made a loud noise, which then meant there was an urgent knock on the door.

"Are you ok in there, do you need some help?" Said Stacy with all the pity and concern she could throw.

"Nope, pretty sure I've been cleared to poop on my own!" He snarled.

As he finished in the bathroom, he could hear voices coming from his room, he wheeled himself out to find Wilson and Helen in his room.

"What do you want?" He said to Helen

"To get you home as soon as possible" She deadpanned, she had got used to his tones by now. "Stacy and I are just trying to sort out a suitable time, she called me and as I had a spare 10 minutes I came down" She said turning her attention back to Stacy "I am free Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of next week and anytime the following week at the moment"

"It will have to be the following week, I've just been called to Boston for Wednesday" She said giving House a side glance.

"Great! Just keep me here as long as possible, this is stupid!" He snarled at them

"Monday it is then, 10am ok with you?" Helen said ignoring House completely

"Done" Said Stacy with a smile on her face.

"Dr House, walk with me for a moment" She said walking towards his door. He furrowed his brow but followed her anyway

"Dr House, we are not keeping you here any longer than necessary. It's a process that everyone has to through to get discharged" She said firmly.

He just looked at her blankly

"There is a Rehab Group held in the OT department, it's for people like yourself that have had life changing experiences " She started

"And you are telling me because?" He questioned

"Because I think it will help you, you can bring Stacy or Wilson with you if you want to…" She continued.

"Nope, not going" He said turning himself around and heading back to his room

"Dr House, it's a requirement of your discharge" She called after him

House stopped in his tracks and turned his head around "You have got to be fucking kidding me!" He bowed his down and after a few minutes of silence he turned to look at her again "Still not going!"

"Dr House!..." She stopped mid sentence knowing it was a waste of time, she should be exasperated but actually she found him quite funny and he was definitely a fighter. But she did need to get him there somehow otherwise she wouldn't be able to tick the box.

House returned to his room, Stacy was on her phone he presumed to her office, he glared at her and fiddled with his chair and made some noise while she was trying to finish the conversation. While he as impatiently waiting for her to finish, his lunch tray was delivered. "oh goody, goody! He quickly decided that the 'ham' sandwich he had ordered really wasn't ham at all and left it right where it was.

"So when were you going to tell me about Boston?"

"I only found out this morning"

"I thought..." He lowered his gaze to the floor "I thought you were going to be around for a while"

"I am" She said getting up and going towards him, she took hold of his hand and crouched beside him "I'm here for the next 5 days, I have to pop to the satellite office for a couple of hours today, then I am all yours"

He looked at her and nodded his head.

"Why don't we get some proper food, I'm hungry, you must be too"

"yeah" He said more as a reaction than a thought.

"Lets go the cafeteria" She said hoping that he would say yes. It would be great to get out of the room.

He looked around apprehensively, if he wanted to go home he had to go out of the room and he was definitely hungry. So he nodded his head and took a deep breath.

She filled him in on what was going on with her job and trials she had coming up, he tried really hard to listen to what she was saying, he used to find it interesting, but now it agitated him.

Without really listening to what she was saying "So speaking of Boston, have you been in touch with a Realtor yet?" He questioned out of the blue.

"No, not yet, I thought we were waiting a while" She countered

"No point, I am not going to live in Boston! I couldn't live in that apartment even if I wanted to, which I don't, so sell it and buy another property here."

"What am I supposed to do when I go to Boston?"

"Hotel?"

"That will cost a fortune!" Then changing the subject slightly she continued "Actually speaking of property, our landlord came by last night. The 3 month lease is up and he wants to know what we are doing." She stated

"Fantastic!"

"So what do I tell him?"

"Nothing"

"I have to tell him something" She implied

"Just ask for an extra week for now, sure he will be ok with that, he normally rents it out to students, so it will be empty" He conceded.

He was already deep in thought about where they were going to live. Their current abode wasn't suitable for a wheelchair, nor could they have grab rails fitted, it wasn't theirs to do that with. A strategic move was in order and very soon.

After lunch Stacy excused herself to go the office for a little while, which actually meant she wouldn't be back today. The time was 2.55pm, he was contemplating just going to the stupid meeting to get it over and done with. He could go and just not participate, there was nothing that said he had to participate any of the stupid psycho babble crap they had to offer. It's not like he had anything else to do.

He took himself off to OT department, which wore him out, how was he going to manage if he had to be in one these things the whole time! As he entered there were already half a dozen people in a haphazard semi circle, he saw Helen and made sure he made eye contact with her so that she knew he was there. Then he reluctantly parked the chair outside the circle.

As he looked around the group there were people of all different ages and with varying degrees of disability, from burns to blindness, paralysis to losing a leg and he didn't want to know any of them. He kept himself to himself, half listening to what was being said, some of which actually made sense, then the phrase 'visualize the healing' came out of nowhere, he couldn't even imagine what the rest of that sentence was made up with. And that was it, no more group for him, he could visualize the healing at home. And that is exactly what he planned to do.

Wilson came by with dinner at about 7.30 a bit later than usual. But at least the food was good.

"Wilson, I need you to do something for me" He said quietly as if someone could hear him.

"What?"

"I need you to break me out of here?"

"What?"

"I can't stand this any longer!" He said looking around again" I want out of here asap!"

"House no! I'm not doing that, you have to do as they say or you could make things worse" Wilson said waving his hands around.

"WORSE! How the fuck can they get any worse, I am already in fucking wheelchair, I think it's about as bad as it can get!" He rubbed his thumb across his forehead and sat quietly for some time. "You know what, forget it, I'll sort myself out" he said quietly and wheeled himself to the bathroom.

"House, come on, what does that mean" He said through a closed door

"Go home Wilson!"

"House!"

"I said go home Wilson"

When House emerged from the bathroom Wilson was nowhere to be seen. He went to his bed and made himself comfortable, turned the tv on and surfed the channels, hatching his plan to break free, he could afford to buy a little time, but he knew what he had to do.