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Amber found Cuddy pretty soon but since she was talking with a very important donor right then she decided to go to Kutner first, since he was nearby as well.
"Hi Amber," Kutner nearly stuttered. "You... You look..."
"Never mind that right now," Amber cut him short. "We have a patient. Could you get Foreman, Taub, Hadley and if you see Dr Cameron, she should come too."
"Ok," Kutner emptied his glass quickly (fortunately there was hardly anything left in it anyway) and set it on a table. "Anything you can tell me about the patient?"
"Dr Wilson and Chase are with him in the ER," Amber said. "They will fill you in."
"Since when have you been our boss?" Amber heard Taub's voice from behind her. "I would have thought that if there is any ordering about to do House would do it himself. So why are you here?"
"It is true that I'm not your boss," Amber looked down on Taub – both literally and figuratively. "But our patient is."
Taub looked at her with incomprehension, but Kutner was more on the ball: "House? Our patient is House? I get the team." With that Kutner moved quickly through the crowd to find the people Amber had requested.
"What?" Taub couldn't believe what Kutner had just concluded. "Is House sick?"
"Yeah, so run along to the ER will you," Amber told him patronizingly but left it at that as she saw that Cuddy was moving towards her next target.
"Dr Cuddy," Amber stopped Cuddy before reached her next victim. "I need a word with you."
"What is it?" Cuddy asked. Amber's serious voice told her that she probably wasn't going to like what she was about to hear.
"House," Amber started but didn't get any further before Cuddy gave a deep sigh.
"What did he do now?"
"He got sick," Amber stated bluntly.
"How sick?" Cuddy was immediately concerned.
"It could just be a 24 hour bug he picked from the clinic," Amber started with House's own explanation. "But he is running a fever of 103 and it seems to be rising. He is in one of the isolation rooms near ER with Chase and Dr Wilson right now. Kutner is getting the team together and we will run some tests to make sure it isn't anything contagious."
"Oh, god!" Cuddy realised immediately what the implications of that could be.
"Currently it doesn't look bad, but we want to be sure," Amber tried to sound reassuring. "His fever is too high for him to stay home alone so he is definitely staying here for tonight. And with the team on it, we should have the tests ready in no time. It could be something simple."
"If it is something he got from the clinic he is never going to let me hear the end of it," Cuddy muttered trying to muster some anger against House. She had noticed long time ago that when she was angry at House she worked better and was able to stay more objective. "Keep me posted. Especially if it turns out to be something contagious."
"Wouldn't dream of keeping it from you if that is the case," Amber promised as she turned to go back to the ER and House.
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She found the team there with Wilson and Chase as well as Dr Cameron. She wasn't too happy to see Cameron but there was no help for it, ER was her department, after all.
"Anything yet?" Amber asked the crowd as she walked in.
"No," Wilson told her. "We only just got him changed and into the bed. But his fever is still rising, it's 103.5 now. And he vomited."
"Hey, don't talk about me like I'm not here," House muttered from the bed, though his voice lacked quite a bit of the rancour Amber would have normally expected from him.
"A nurse is bringing the drip and some medicine for the fever," Chase said. "But we need to find out what this is before we can do anything else."
"I'll go and see what is keeping the nurse," Cameron stated and hurried out of the room.
"What are his symptoms," Hadley piped in.
"I think we better ask him," Amber suggested giving Hadley a withering glance. She moved next to House and touched his cheek with her hand – both to get his attention and to check his temperature. For some reason she wanted to feel it too, and not just see it on the monitor. "House, can you list your symptoms for us?"
"Fever, which suggests infection or inflammation, nausea and vomiting – the nausea seems to locate itself more on the upper abdomen, and I can't take deep breaths. I feel worse if I try," House listed.
"Anything else?" Amber prompted. "Pain?"
"Do you know how boring these fundraisers are?" House asked back.
"What he is saying is that he dosed himself up to the gills with Vicodin before he came here," Wilson translated from House to normal speech.
"In other words, you feel no pain but that does not mean there isn't any," Amber concluded.
"Upper abdomen could mean liver," Taub suggested. "We better examine the area."
"Let me check," Foreman said and moved to the bed. He ran his hands over House's abdomen and pressed gently but firmly on different areas of it trying to determine if anything felt wrong. He found a spot on the right side, just under the rib that made House wince. "It's his liver." He concluded.
"Could be Cholecystitis," Kutner suggested. "He has never been one to keep to a healthy diet. Gallstones are entirely possible. There is no need to conclude that it is his entire liver that is in trouble. Not yet."
"Except for his Vicodin intake," Taub muttered.
"Oh, come on, guys!" Kutner wasn't going to let go of his optimism. "Even first year med students are told to look for horses not zebras. High fever, abdominal pain, nausea, difficulty in breathing deeply – they all fit Cholecystitis."
"And are you a first year med student?" Foreman asked Kutner.
"No," Kutner snapped back. "But neither is House one of those patients who have been to several doctors without anyone finding out what is wrong with him. Let's get the horses checked out first before we start looking for zebras. I sure don't want to see him die on our hands with septicaemia from a perforated gallbladder while we are looking for Kala Azar or the plague."
"Boy has a point," House muttered from the bed. "And you can check the gallbladder with an ultrasound scan. That shouldn't take long."
"I'll get the machine," Amber nodded and got ready to go. Before she left, though she remembered something. "I do think we should check for some zebras too, just in case, since there is a party out there and we don't want to find out too late that you had something contagious."
"True," House agreed. "Somebody get some blood out of me and start testing for the zebras that would cause most harm to Cuddy's fundraising."
"I'll do it," Hadley said and turned to go and get the necessary needles and tubes.
"Oh, no you won't," House told her. "I'm not trusting you anywhere near me with anything sharp. Chase can do it. He is a surgeon. He wields sharp objects every day."
"You have no reason not to trust me," Hadley protested. "I'm a doctor! I've drawn blood and even taken biopsies many times before."
"And I remember one of them," House nodded. "Chase will do it. Now, those of you who are not needed here go wait in the lab for the blood, Amber get that scan. Wilson, you can stay if you want. Somebody needs to be able to report to Cuddy once we know something."
Everyone scattered as instructed but Amber was soon back with the scanning equipment. She had to wait a moment with it, though, since Chase was just taking the blood and Cameron was attaching the IV on House's hand.
"His fever is up again," Wilson muttered worriedly to Amber. "It's already 104. If it rises this fast, it will soon boil his brains."
"The drip will help," Amber reassured him. "And once the meds kick in the fever should go down soon enough. But I'm sure Cameron will be happy to provide you with cooling packs if you want to have them ready at hand just in case."
"That might be an idea," Wilson accepted the suggestion with some relief.
"I have the blood," Chase announced as he moved away from House. "Your turn Amber."
"Thanks," Amber smiled at him and wheeled her scanner closer, but stopped when she came face to face with Cameron.
Cameron had changed her clingy, silver off-shoulder gown into scrubs. She looked professional unless you counted her evening sandals and curls. "You seemed awfully bossy," Cameron remarked tightly. "Are you his doctor now?"
"One of them," Amber replied mildly. "But of course Dr Wilson has seniority so if we are suggesting anything he doesn't approve of I'm sure he will let us know."
"This is still my department," Cameron pointed out.
"But I was the one who admitted him," Amber countered. "And he is here only because the location was most convenient. He will be removed to a regular room as soon as possible. Besides, if it is his gallbladder, he will then become Chase's patient since he will probably need a cholecystectomy. Right now, however, he needs to have his liver scanned and I am the Radiologist here."
"Cameron, please," Chase inserted mildly. "We are all worried. Come on let Amber get on with the scan."
"Fine," Cameron sighed. "I'll get some icepacks ready, just in case the meds need help in reducing his fever."
"And get the usual antibiotics ready, too," House instructed her from the bed. "The way this fever is spiking it is more than likely that the gallbladder is infected. And even if it isn't the gallbladder, the antibiotics will probably help no matter what the infection is."
"I stand corrected," Amber muttered as she watched Cameron and Chase leave the room. "It seems that House has the seniority himself here."
"Less lip there and more action," House told her. "I don't have all night, you know."
"Actually all night is exactly what you have," Amber gave House a suspicious glance. "Unless you know something I don't. Like that you may have suspected that you have gallstones for some time already and though the fever has spiked only now you have reason to suspect that the gallbladder has turned gangrenous? Feel like confessing anything? Because now would be a very good time to do it."
"I may have had some mild symptoms for the past couple of days," House grumbled. "Nothing significant; just loss of appetite and some mild nausea after fatty food and maybe a twinge or two. But no, I don't think it has turned gangrenous."
"House!" Wilson exclaimed. "Those could have been signs of your liver acting up, too. Why didn't you get yourself checked? You know what Vicodin can do to you."
"It was hardly anything," House snapped. "I decided to wait and see if it gets worse."
"Well, it did," Amber stated as she moved the bedding and House's hospital gown out of the way. She squirted some gel on House's abdomen: "This will feel cold, sorry." Then she performed the scan. She turned the monitor so that both House and Wilson could see the results. "Well, the problem is definitely in the area of your gallbladder, but there is too much noise. I do think Kutner was right and it is Cholecystitis, but I want a more detailed scan. We need a CT."
"Can we do it tonight?" Wilson worried.
"I work in Radiology!" Amber reminded him. "I can get the scan done any time I want. Besides, there is hardly any demand for it during the night, even though we do have a technician on stand by just in case. I'll go and arrange it."
"You probably need to get my fever down, first," House observed. "Otherwise I may seize inside your machine."
"The medicine should kick in soon," Wilson said but as he checked the monitor he saw that House's temperature had risen again. Now it was 105. "I don't like that."
"Neither do I," House pointed out shivering.
"Cameron should be here soon with the icepacks," Amber reminded them, though she was worried, too. "I'll go and hurry her along."
"Cut-Throat," House stopped her before she left the room. Amber turned to look at him questioningly. "Amazing though those shoes are, get rid of them. They'll cripple you by morning if you keep running around in them."
"Leave my shoes alone," Amber told him mildly.
"He is right," Wilson supported his friend. "Besides, they are extremely distracting."
"Fine," Amber huffed but with a smile. "I'll hurry Cameron along and then I'll go and see about the CT. While in radiology I'll change my shoes. I have a pair in my office."
"Good," House approved and closed his eyes. He was still shivering, and his temperature was climbing. 105.1 now.
"See you soon," Amber said to Wilson. "He'll be fine once we get the icepacks."
"I hope so," Wilson didn't look too convinced. "Hurry."
"As much as my shoes allow," Amber tried to smile reassuringly, but she was very worried. So worried that she quickly slipped the sandals off her feet and ran.