Chapter 37
A/N – Thanks for hanging in there with me everyone! I hope you find the story as interesting to read as I did to write. We're nearing the end. According to my outline, we should go another three or four chapters. As usual, I own none of the show's characters and am just writing this for fun, not profit.
Day 8, afternoon
House was shocked by how much a 30 minute physical therapy session, during which he didn't exert much effort, wore him out. He was so worn out that he started having a little trouble breathing and had to back on the oxygen face mask again. He had no energy left for anything today, but the day was just getting started. Lynne, his day shift nurse, commiserated with him, but there were more therapy visits and several doctor visits left to get through today, and he wasn't going to get to sleep much. Not known for being particularly easy going even when he wasn't hurting and tired, House's mood was growing exponentially fouler as the afternoon dragged on.
Paul the occupational therapy aide, whom House had renamed Mr. Perky, came in to evaluate how well House was able to use the adapted eating utensils. One minute later, as the utensils sailed by his head, Mr. Perky figured they must be working well enough and made his quick exit from the room.
Not 15 minutes after Paul's exit from the scene, Allen (House's occupational therapist) came in for his evaluation and to present his plan of care. He had knocked on House's closed glass door, and received no response. House appeared to be asleep. Unfortunately Allen's visit could not be rescheduled. He didn't like having to wake House up any more than he himself would like to be awakened from sleep, but he had no choice.
House was determined to end Allen's visit the same way he ended Paul's visit, but Allen was just as determined to complete his evaluation and initial therapy session as House was to avoid it.
"Dr. House, my name is Allen. I'm your occupational therapist. Are you awake?" Allen asked, not wanting to startle House. There was no reply from the bed. Allen gently touched his right toes and House shot awake with an angry glare.
"Dr. House, I'm sorry for having to wake you up and I'm sorry I can't reschedule this appointment. My name is Allen, and I'm your occupational therapist. I understand you met Paul. He has informed me that your aim needs improving," Allen said and typed.
House's eyes remained closed and there was no response. Allen touched House's toes gently to awaken him.
"I didn't hear all of what you said and I don't want to. I'm tired. Bye," was the response from the bed. House's eyes remained closed.
Allen touched House's toes again.
"If you don't want to get kicked, please respect my wishes and let me alone!" was the warning growl from the bed.
House cracked his eyes open and Allen took advantage of the moment by saying "Dr. House, I'm sorry I have to wake you up. I don't like having to wake anyone. I have no choice. I'm Allen, your occupational therapist. I need to do my initial evaluation and first session. I won't take long; promise." he said and typed.
"Fine, but if you're still here 15 minutes from now, I'm sending you out the same way I sent the other guy out. Sorry but I'm just not in the mood for more than 15 minutes of your time. I'm tired, hurting, I've reached my limit of endurance for the day, and the day isn't even half over. Get started quickly because I won't be able to last much longer."
Allen took a deep breath and said to himself, Keep breathing deeply. He's just tired and hurting. It isn't personal. "Ok, deal. As a matter of fact I can keep it even shorter; my evaluation will consist of mostly yes or no questions."
"Are you right handed?" House was so tired he could barely talk anymore, so he just nodded Yes.
"You use your cane with your right hand?"
Yes.
"Do you play any musical instruments?" Allen had heard that he did, and he knew that the act of playing a musical instrument would be good exercise for the hands and fingers down the road. Allen just needed to confirm what he had heard.
Yes.
"Did you have any trouble with the adapted utensils Paul brought in?"
No.
"Ok. No more questions. I have a brief physical exam to conduct, won't take more than a moment or two; promise." Allen said and typed.
"As you know, some of the things we in occupational therapy focus on are activities of daily living like eating, bathing, dressing, and so forth. I don't think you're going to need much help from us right now because you can eat on your own and the bathing and dressing won't be an issue after the burns are healed a little more. Basically for now, I just need to be sure you have the adaptive tools you need while your range of motion is limited. You have the eating and drinking tools. We have clothing hooks you can use now to get your socks on and I'll put padding on your hairbrush handle, your comb, and your toothbrush so you can handle those things independently too. I also need to fit you for wrist splints." House vigorously shook his head NO to that.
"Dr. House, as long as your hands are relatively immobilized with the dressings, your wrists need to be kept in a certain position or you could develop wrist drop. The splints only need to be kept on when you're sleeping. When you're awake, the splints need to be off so you can move."
House agreed to that, but only because agreeing to it was the only way to get Allen out of there faster.
"Ok, I just need to measure your hands and wrists for the splints and then I'm outta here." Allen produced a tape measure, measured House's hands and forearms, and said "I'm done. I'll be back later today with the splints. I was planning on starting your OT sessions today but I can wait until tomorrow if you'd prefer." Allen said and typed.
House said "Tomorrow."
Day 8, 2 pm, 30 minutes after Allen left
Cameron tiptoed into House's room. He looks so tired, she thought. The TV was on, sound muted, and the closed captioning display was on. Most bothersome was the fact that he was back on the oxygen face mask. Cameron turned the TV off and turned the lights off in his cubicle to try to help him stay asleep. Lynne came in quietly because House had another respiratory therapy session scheduled soon. Up until this morning he had been off the oxygen, but it was worrisome that all of today's activity had worn him out so much that he needed to go back on the oxygen again.
Lynne pulled Cameron out of the room so they could talk without waking House up.
"We're concerned about his respiratory status. Obviously the pneumonia hasn't completely cleared up. It's most likely taking longer to clear up because he's lying in bed. If I thought he would tolerate sitting up in a chair, we'd have done that by now, but he's been so tired that it might make his breathing a little worse. When Robin comes in to do his breathing treatment, she'll have to wake him up for that, and then I want to talk to him about getting up in a chair even just for a few minutes."
Cameron knew that would be a very good thing for House, but wasn't sure he'd see it that way.
Just then, Robin approached House's cubicle with the supplies needed for his breathing treatment. "He's asleep, but he needs the breathing treatment so we are going to have to wake him up," Lynne said gently.
Quietly all three women walked back into House's cubicle.
"House," said Cameron. She didn't type it. House's eyes fluttered open. It took him a few moments to wake up.
"Sorry to have to wake you up. You need a breathing treatment," Robin said even as it became obvious to everyone in the room that he really did need one. The coughing returned and House's eyes bugged out, unable to catch his breath. As his oxygen saturation slowly dropped, even with the face mask on, Robin quickly and efficiently attached the little container with the medication for him to inhale. Little clouds of humidified air puffed out of his face mask as he gasped in the medicated aerosol. Slowly, he began to relax. Robin increased the amount of oxygen he received during his breathing treatment until his oxygen saturation returned to baseline and the coughing stopped.
When the breathing treatment was over, House rasped "What the hell happened? I was doing fine before all the coughing…"
Lynne said and typed "The pneumonia is almost, but not completely cleared up. I think there are areas in your lungs that aren't getting fully inflated because you're lying in bed. We need to get you up, even for just a few minutes at a time, so your lungs can inflate properly and any fluid in your lungs can drain properly."
House shook his head and hesitated. Cameron thought, here we go. This is going to go over like a lead balloon. Instead, House shocked all of them.
"You're right. But I can't stand. Can you get a hoyer lift?"
Lynne said "Yes." She thought, and then said and typed "We can use a hoyer lift or we can scoot you over to what they call a stretcher-chair. It lays flat like a stretcher. We can scoot you over from the bed to the stretcher and then raise your head and lower your feet until you're sitting. We can do whatever you'd prefer. It might be easier to use the Hoyer lift."
House said "Hoyer lift. And I don't want a crowd. Lynne, just you and one other nurse. I know you are just dying to see my naked butt hanging out the back of this gown, Cameron, but not today," he smirked. "And let me sleep awhile first. I think they're coming back to punish me with more PT today so I'll get up then. Meantime, let me sleep please."
Cameron said "Mind if I stay until PT comes?"
House said "If you can't suppress your constant need to be needed, then stay. It's up to you." He actually was glad she wanted to stay with him, because he knew the pool of people who actually wanted to be around him that had no other agenda was pretty small. "In fact, get my mom too," he said.
"Gladly!" Cameron replied.
As House took advantage of the little bit of free time he had to try and get some more sleep, Cameron and Blythe sat quietly by his bed in his darkened room. Recent breathing scare aside, both knew that House was finally on the mend. Cameron knew that the road to recovery would be rough and full of potholes, but it was do-able with the right physical and psychosocial support.
Meanwhile, out in House hood, House's peeps had gathered for another meeting in front of the white board. As problems cleared up, the white board got cleaner and cleaner.
"House had another breathing scare. His recovery from the pneumonia is probably being hindered by the fact that he's still lying in bed. I spoke with Dr. Miller earlier today and they're planning on getting him out of bed for short periods of time. This is great, but he's so worn out that we need to think about a better way to handle the visiting. As you know, Anne is his primary care nurse, and we need to talk with her tonight when she gets in and see how she thinks we should handle the visiting," Wilson said.
"I don't think we need to be in the room all the time anymore." Cuddy announced. "I think it's stressing him out too much."
"Well *I* think you of all people shouldn't be making decisions for him. You underestimate him. Maybe I do too. Visiting might be stressing him out, but don't you think he should have something to say about it too? You probably think he's so antisocial that he doesn't really want us there. Well, Cameron and his mom are in there now and you don't see them running for cover. You think you're trying to help him by making decisions for him but you just treat him like a child. You think he acts like a child, but why are you treating him like one? Underneath that gruff cover he needs support and love just like the rest of us do; probably even more so. You think you know what's best for him so you make decisions for him without asking him," Wilson shot in anger back at Cuddy.
"Yeah, look who's talking, Mr. I-can't-live-without-House-needing-me"! I think you're hardly the one to give US relationship advice of ANY kind. You know what co-dependency is? You're just as co-dependent on him as any of the rest of us are, maybe even more so." Cuddy fired back.
"Geez, I never thought I'd miss Foreman…" said Chase. "Look, everybody. We're all tired. House is getting better. His mom is obviously staying. I agree with Wilson. We all need to talk to Anne tonight when she gets in and we need to do EVERYTHING she says. I might just slug one of you all otherwise."
Evening, Day 8
Dinner arrived early. Brenda and another nurse had lifted House up into a bedside reclining chair, a task made easier with a mechanical lifting device and a sling under House's back and butt. Riding a morphine high, House could have cared less and fell asleep again the minute his butt hit the chair. When dinner arrived, House was sleeping in the chair and he was pleasantly awakened by the aroma of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans and coffee. The evening dressing change was delayed until 9 pm to give his stomach a chance to empty. Brenda had another nice surprise for him.
She turned the tube feeding off and pulled the feeding tube.
No more feeding tube!
"Dr. House," she said and typed, "the feeding tube goes back in if you don't eat enough. So eat up. I have protein shakes for you too and we'll start those tomorrow morning. You have to drink at least three of those a day on top of eating at least half of your meals, or the tube goes back in."
He was able to handle the fried chicken with his adapted utensils pretty well once Brenda cut it up. Deeply engrossed in greasy fried chicken, and enjoying every mouthful of it, House was oblivious to anything else she said.
Right after dinner, sure as shooting, here came Gary for the physical therapy evaluation of House's legs.
House's eyes were closed, enjoying the last few bits of fried chicken, and when he heard Gary come in, his good mood went straight to hell.
"Your favorite son is back. I think I must be the last person you want to see tonight, right?" Gary asked.
House briefly considered pretending like he didn't hear him, but ended up just shrugging his shoulders.
"Well, I'll be nice tonight. How about I just measure your existing range of motion tonight, and we'll start on the physical therapy exercises for your legs tomorrow?" Gary asked and typed.
House shrugged his shoulders again, appreciative that Gary considered his needs, but feeling a post-dinner nap coming on he wanted nothing more than to go to sleep right now.
"Ok. Don't move your legs. Keep them slack, and let me do all the moving. I'm going to start with your toes and ankles, and then move up to the knees and we'll save your right hip for last. It might be a little difficult to evaluate your hips while you're in the chair but I'm really glad you're in the chair. We will do as much as we can while you're in the chair and you can stay in the chair if you want, or I can move you back into bed if you want. It's up to you," Gary said and typed.
"Let me stay right where I am," House affirmed.
"Ok, I'm just going to rotate your joints through their normal movements, and all I want you to do is tell me or raise your hand or something when you feel any pain." Gary said and typed.
Gary proceeded all the way up House's left leg and left hip without meeting much resistance and House only raised his hand when his left knee creaked a little. "Forgot to tell you I had an old lacrosse injury there," House said.
Gary had only to start gently with evaluating House's right foot when he felt every muscle in House's body tense up. "Dr. House, are you hurting more now?" Gary said with concern. "Not yet. My thigh doesn't need any reason to cramp up like a vice, though." House said through gritted teeth. "Please be careful."
"Ok, I will." Gary gently moved House's right toes and ankle through their normal range of motion. He noted no resistance.
Gary said "How about I put my hand under your right thigh and you let me support it, so we can check out your knee and hip?"
House just shrugged his shoulders.
Gary gently placed his left hand under House's right thigh to support it an inch or so off the bed, and placed his right hand under House's right calf. Then he gently began to bend House's right knee. He didn't flex it 5 degrees before House screamed and the thigh began to cramp like rigor mortis had set in. "Wow, that's bad," Gary commiserated. "I told you! Oh God, make it stop! Geez! Don't touch me!" House screamed between coughs as his oxygen saturation began to drop again. "Help me, I can't breathe!"
Brenda came running in and as Gary explained to her what happened, she was already drawing up the Toradol and some valium to give through his IV, to stop the cramping. As House felt the chemical relaxation flooding his body, the coughing and the cramping stopped and House weakly rasped "Houston, we have another problem. I need to get back to bed but my muscles have turned to jello…. I'm sorry but I can't stay up in this chair any longer and I can't help you get me back to bed…"
Gary said and typed "You have the hoyer pad underneath you so don't worry about it. We'll have you back in bed in a jiffy with the hoyer lift. You don't need to do a thing. And I'm sorry about the cramping. Is it always that bad?"
As they were moving him back to bed, House whispered "It is after I haven't moved in awhile, like when I wake up in the morning. It isn't your fault so don't say you're sorry. The damn thing has a mind of its own."
"Alright, well, you're back in bed now so I'm going to let you go back to sleep. Have you tried Flexeril or any other kind of muscle relaxant before?" Gary said and typed. House said "Yes, and they make all my muscles too relaxed."
"Ok, I'm going to suggest Vitamin E supplements to Dr. Miller if that's Ok with you. Sometimes Vitamin E helps prevent cramping in patients on hemodialysis, and it might do the same for you," Gary said as he left.
The dressing change later that evening also held a surprise for House. This would be the first time he would get a good look at the burns. Once the dressings were removed, they would not need to re-dress his arms or his left leg. Only his hands needed to remain covered with dressings.
Before they lowered him into the whirlpool, Brenda gave him some extra morphine and an injection of prochlorperazine to prevent nausea. As doped up as he was, it was hard to keep his eyes open until he hit the water. As he hit the warm whirlpool, his eyes shot open because the donor skin was falling off his hands. "Stop, stop!" he screamed.
"What's wrong, Dr. House?" the evening ICU physician asked and typed.
"I don't think my skin is supposed to be sloughing off, idiot!" House yelled.
"Dr. House, that was cadaver skin. It's going to fall off. If your own skin is growing back sufficiently, we don't necessarily need to do anything else. If it isn't, then it's time to do an autologous skin transplant. Honestly, from the look of things, we may need to do an autologous skin transplant but I'll talk with Dr. Miller about that in the morning. Don't worry about the cadaver skin falling off. That's normal. As more of it sloughs off, you may hurt more, so don't hesitate to say anything. We'll give you whatever you need for pain relief," he said and typed.
"Well do it now!" House yelled again. As many "gross" things as he had seen in his lifetime as a physician, nothing was worse than seeing skin from his own body slough off. It did hurt a little more but it wasn't so much the pain as the sight of skin sloughing off of him (even though it wasn't his skin) that freaked him out so much.
11:30 PM, Day 8
Anne was back. She knew she'd need to have a family conference with Blythe and the rest of House's people because the stress level out in House hood had gone up considerably and it was starting to have an effect on House. Blythe was the only one who managed to come into his room calm, pleasant and seemingly without any other agenda. Everyone else was moody, short-tempered and quick to judge every time House asked for anything. Anne noticed that House would start to clam up and shut down every time any one else besides Blythe came into the room. It was so bad that he stopped talking altogether after Cuddy walked in. Anne noticed it, Brenda had noticed it earlier, even Lynne noticed it on day shift. Everyone seemed to be aware of the problem except those who were causing it.
So it was time for a family conference.
House was asleep and Blythe was with him. Brenda had told Wilson earlier that Anne would have a conference with all of them so he should arrange to have everyone in House hood after 11 pm if at all possible.
Chase, Cameron, Taub, Thirteen, Kutner, Cuddy and Wilson were waiting in House hood when Anne came out with Blythe to met them.
"Glad you were all able to make it. We do need to have a family conference. It's apparent that there are times when the stress level in Dr. House's room goes up to an intolerable level. I don't think any one particular person in this room is causing the stress. I think it's overstimulation. There's too much going on and he doesn't have enough down time. The way to address the problem is to eliminate the stressors that can be eliminated. One of those is the number of visitors. He does need someone there. He doesn't need the constant coming and going of *different* people, though. He relaxes and seems to do fine with his mother and Mrs. House, you're his next of kin. I'd like you to decide who else can visit, and I'd respectfully ask everyone else to bow out for now. I understand you have good intentions, but having so many people get involved is causing more stress than it's worth."
Wilson looked at Cuddy, Cuddy looked at Chase, Kutner looked at Taub, and Cameron looked at Thirteen. Then everyone looked at Blythe. Kutner said "Maybe I can help catch up on referrals."
Thirteen said "I could help work off some of his clinic hours."
Taub didn't say anything and actually, was looking for an excuse to get out of this environment anyway. He wasn't much help to House and his presence just seemed to irritate House.
Cameron and Chase really did want to help. Cameron didn't want to relinquish any control of anything to Blythe, but Chase did it for her. "Come on Cameron, you need to get back to the ER and I can help out with some of the surgery cases. He knows we care and he doesn't need all of us hovering over him all the time now that he's getting better. We need to get back to our lives."
Wilson and Cuddy resumed looking at each other as if to say Who's it gonna be?
Blythe resolved that issue.
"I'm not quite sure how to say this without upsetting either of you. I know you are nice people but I understand what Anne is saying. I appreciate what you've done here, I really do. But Dr. Cuddy, I think you should go back to your job. If he wants to see you, you can visit. I'm not kicking you out. I'm just asking you to give us a break for awhile. Dr. Wilson, I know he thinks of you as a friend. I don't know you well enough yet, I guess. I know I've let my son down over the years and now I have a chance to fix things, so let me do that. I'd appreciate your being with him whenever I can't, but I will be spending nights and most days with him. When I'm there, I don't need anyone else there too. I do want him to have some down time, though. I'll talk to him when he wakes up and see what he thinks. Those are my wishes though. Please understand my son needs people with him who don't have any other agenda. You all have other lives. Right now, I'm the one he needs."
"Ok," Anne said. "For now, then, visitors will be limited to Mrs. House, and when she can't be there or needs a break, Dr. Wilson. There will also be times when he doesn't want or need visitors. Mrs. House, he needs to relax and know that you are taking care of yourself too. He can't worry about you too but he probably will. You don't have to stay 24 hours a day. He'll be alright with a little downtime, with no visitors."
Anne went back into the ICU. House was awake, watching the news on mute with the closed captioning on.
"Can you hear the TV?" Anne asked House.
"Yes, but the ringing gets bad when I turn the volume up so it's easier to just read the captions. It's getting better though."
"Ok. I talked to your mom and all your people out there."
Oh God, wonder what you all talked about… geez… thought House.
"No secrets here. I had a speech prepared, but I didn't have to use it. Your fellows are going back to work and back to their own lives. Dr. Chase took care of Dr. Cameron. She's going back to the ER. Your mom took care of Dr. Cuddy and Dr. Wilson."
House looked at her with wonder. "She didn't hurt them…?"
"No. I was amazed. Your mom must be some lady. She told Dr. Cuddy to go back to her job, that she wasn't needed here, that she could visit but only if you wanted her to. Dr. Wilson will be relieving your mom here when she needs a break. Your mom wants to help. Nobody seemed hurt. They know you need them even if you won't admit it, and they need you, but you also need down time and you need time with your mom to help get through this. They understand and from now on until you say otherwise, Dr. Wilson and your mom will be with you. I hope it was Ok that we had that conversation without you. Sometimes there are things that need to be said that aren't easy." Anne said and typed.
"Actually, yeah, I'm kind of relieved that you did that. How's my mom?"
"She needs her rest. She went back to the hotel room. You know your dad went back to Lexington." Anne said and typed.
"Dad wouldn't be any help here anyway. I hope mom can sleep ok." House replied.
"Want to hear something funny?" Anne said. House said "Yeah, I could use a laugh."
"My leg fell off the first time I went out in public in a skirt. I went to some function; I think it was a dinner or something. They had a dress code. Women had to wear dresses or suits. So I had this beautiful long skirt on and I was still getting used to the leg. I didn't have it on right and it fell off under the table when I sat down. I had no idea what to say. What do you say in that situation? 'Pardon my while I put my leg back on?'" I was mortified at the time but when I look back on it now, all I can do is bust a gut laughing." Anne said and wrote. House burst out laughing too.
"Wilson sawed halfway through my cane one time. We were playing practical jokes on each other when he stayed at my apartment after his last wife left him. I played a joke on him one night that resulted in him peeing the couch he was sleeping on. The next day, he and I were working on a really difficult case and we were walking down one of the halls here together and the cane snapped. I crashed into the wall before I hit the floor; all arms and legs flying everywhere. Everyone snickered and I was so embarrassed at the time, but after I got home I realized I wasn't injured and it really was hilarious."
Anne said "Wanna hear something else?" House said "Yeah".
"One time I went bowling with some friends. The idiot manager of the lanes came down and said something about how much he admired that I could bowl with a fake leg. I said "I think it's pretty amazing that you can manage with a fake brain." I just blurted it out. I was mad, and embarrassed, and my friends thought it was hilarious. It actually was hilarious; I just didn't think so until later that night. To make matters worse, the manager apologized. It would have been better if he'd just walked away. I had a perfect game going until that happened." Anne said and typed.
House said "I know what you mean. When I bought my motorcycle, some other sales guy who wasn't even involved with the deal had been watching me. He came over and asked what I would do with my cane. I said 'I don't know. Bend over and let's find out.' Fortunately I had already paid for the bike."
Anne said "Do you go swimming? How do people treat you at the pool when they see your scar? It's not like you can hide it."
House said "I wear long shorts that go down to my knees. I can't swim all that well anyway, anymore, since I can't kick. When I swim, I mostly just use upper body strength."
Anne said and typed "I used to wish I could hide my disability too. Before this," she pointed to the razor scars on her wrist, "I hid in the house all the time. It's not like people couldn't figure out immediately that I had a fake leg. I could hide the leg under long pants, but I couldn't hide the limp. I tried and tried to walk without a limp but I could never manage it. I even tried different prostheses, but I could never completely shed the limp. But after the suicide attempt and a healthy dose of psychotherapy, my therapist prescribed a trip, of all places, to a public swimming pool I figured, I can't go around wearing long sleeves and long pants all the time. I didn't want to go in the water with long sleeves and long pants on. It was hard, but I wore a regular bathing suit, I took the leg off and went in the water and you know, nobody really seemed to care."
Anne said "The first time I really tried to swim, instead of just playing in the water, I found it difficult because I kept getting thrown off balance. I was trying to kick with one leg and kept flipping over all the time. I learned how to do a dolphin kick with one leg from one of the guys in my support group. After you're healed, I could show you if you want. It works great."
House hesitated awhile. Anne knew there was something else he wanted to talk about, but he was finding it difficult to bring the topic up. Anne took a chance and broached the subject for him.
"I used to be really popular with the guys until my leg. After that, well, let's just say that a few pay per view channels on TV were about the only kind of action I got. My psychotherapist helped me deal with that. The first time I met a guy who really wanted to go all the way, I showed him how to take my leg off. I wasn't sure how he was going to react. He said 'That's nothing. Wanna see how to use my penis pump?' Turns out he had a penile prosthesis… the thing had a little pump in his scrotum…"
House just smiled, sadly.
"The first time a hooker saw my leg, that was the end of the night. I never even got a refund," House muttered.
"After that, I started wearing pajama bottoms, and thank God my mom never sees my cable bill either."
"Do you have a girlfriend?" Anne asked him gently.
"I used to. I drove her away, and now I'm all alone. Nobody wants to get that close to me. The hookers are just a diversion."
"I know." Anne said. House believed her. "After my leg, my mom paid guys to date me. They weren't prostitutes or anything. They were normal, nice guys, sons of her friends. I found out later that the only reason they even called me in the first place was because Mom paid them to. She paid them in full after they took me out to dinner or to a movie or something. I noticed that I could never get any of them to do more than just go on social outings with me. I picked up the phone by accident one time when she was discussing such an arrangement with one of them. I hated her so much after that that I moved out of the house and quit speaking to her."
Anne said "Dr. House, I notice I don't have to type very much. You seem to hear me pretty well."
House said "Yeah, it's getting better. I hear better at night when there's less background noise out there. I guess it's better, anyway. I don't know."
House looked down at the covers on his bed a long time before he said anything else. Anne could sense that he still had something else to say, and she gave him all the time he needed.
Finally he looked up at her, slowly, with relief that finally, after all these years, he'd finally met someone else like him and he wasn't alone.
"Can I ask you something?" House said quietly.
"Sure," Anne replied softly.
"When you were in the hospital, for your leg amputation, who helped you through it?"
"My dad. Mom couldn't deal with it any better than I could. I think Mom thought I was maimed for life or something and she couldn't get over that. That's why she thought she had to pay guys to date me later on. My dad just treated me normally, like nothing changed. That's exactly what I needed. I needed to be treated like nothing changed. Who was there for you when you had your surgery?"
"My girlfriend."
"Oh God. Where were your parents?" Anne asked incredulously.
"I didn't tell them until after the second surgery. My parents were already getting up there in age. Dad was about as much help as he is now, and Mom didn't know what to do to help. I think she thought I was in good hands with my girlfriend. I wish Mom had come, but she didn't."
"So you went through the hospitalization and the aftermath with no family to help you?" Anne was even more incredulous. "Geez. Did they suggest any disability support groups while you were in the hospital?"
"Yeah, but I only went once. I thought it was a waste of time." House practically whispered.
Anne said and typed, "I told everybody around me that I thought it was a waste of time too. But the truth was, I really didn't want to hang out with a bunch of pathetic gimps. I thought if I hung around with gimps all the time, it would just remind me what a pathetic loser I was. I kept going back because my dad made me. I didn't get my head straightened out until after I cut my wrist and wound up with Dr. Golan in the psych ward here."
House's eyes shot open and he stared at her.
"Yep, I still see him once a month. He started the same disability support group my dad made me go to, and he still comes to those meetings," Anne said with a smile.
"So that's why…." House's voice trailed off.
"I just suggested his name to Dr. Miller, that's all. Dr. Miller doesn't know I'm seeing Golan too. Miller just knows that Golan has a lot of experience with people with disabilities. That's why Miller referred you to Golan."
House had been trying to stifle a yawn for some time now but he was too caught up in what Anne was saying to admit that he was tired. He couldn't hold the yawn back any more, and Anne said and typed "You ready to go to sleep? You want me to call your mom, or are you ok without her for now?"
"Yeah, and thanks but let my mom sleep where she is right now. I'm ok if you just leave the little night light on," House replied.