Disclaimer: House MD is property of David Shore and Fox TV only the plot is mine.
Haunted
Chapter 15: Swine
Hour 35
Both Foreman and Chase were in the lab testing and retesting for everything they could think of anything to keep the thought of their friend's current condition as far away from their minds as they possibly could. Tiredness and grief had taken a back seat to the urgent need to find the cure in the precious little amount of time they had left, that Cameron had left. With every passing year we come closer to our deaths, with every passing hour Cameron grew closer to hers.
Time ticked away, another second gone, another minute, soon it would be another hour. And just as the time ticked away the disease marched on. The necrosis was at her waist now. If Cameron was awake she would be in unimaginable amounts of pain. If the men standing in the room had been able to hear her last thoughts before they put her under they probably would have cried as hard as she wanted to. Cameron felt the weight of her decision to inject herself with this disease. She tried to think again of why she had done it but found no real answer. Yes it had been to help Lily but Lily was dead and no one could help her now. She wanted to apologize, she wanted to tell them all that she was sorry for doing this but the words wouldn't come. She wanted to say goodbye.
Goodbye was a word that the others would not allow themselves to say. House would figure this out just in the nick of time like he always does, after all he is House. Chase struggled to keep the thought in his head, Foreman didn't allow himself to think of it at all. Cameron's death was not a possibility.
A new worry had surfaced in this case. The Center for Disease Control. Apparently one of the lab techs had dropped the ball on what was going on with Cameron. Cuddy had been able to buy them some time but would it be enough to find the cure?
The rapping of Foreman's fingers on the counter broke the silence. Chase glanced over at the neurologist giving him a weak smile as he noted the slight pale twinge to his normally dark skin. This case had been tough on everyone. Foreman was usually able to keep up a pompous exterior but the he felt drained at this point and found it hard to keep up. Even Chase could not keep his walls up that guarded his feelings his eyes had faded into a dull green only a speck of blue remained.
They wanted to speak, they wanted to reassure themselves that this would all work out but neither wanted to voice their fears and give life to them. Instead they shared a glance and clasped each others shoulders giving a light squeeze. Had it not been for the fact that they were firmly seated they would have jumped through the ceiling when the shrill cry of their pagers screamed through the air. A quick look at the display told them to go to the conference room. Abandoning their frivolous search with a sigh the two men headed out for diagnostics.
Hour 36
When they arrived House was standing at the white board which listed all of Cameron's symptoms. Another board had been set up beside that one and a fresh pot of coffee had been brewed. Wilson offered a cup to the two younger doctors as they looked over the set up. "What's up?" Foreman asked pointing towards the other board which was blank at the moment.
"What have we ruled out so far?" Sensing the beginning of a differential session Chase and Foreman gathered around the two boards and began to name the things they had already done.
"Marburg." Chase threw out their latest failed treatment.
"Leprosy." Foreman said. The list grew and grew with each passing minute until the new white board was full. The list contained Legionnaire's Disease, Rikketsial, Fungal Pneumonia, Sarcoidosis, Churg-Straus, Lupus, Multiple Nuerofibromatosis, Anthrax, Leishmaniasis, Filariasis, Fasciitis Necroticans, Pemphingus Vulgaris, and Cellulitus. They back tracked over everything that had been ruled out in both Lily and Alex Gale's cases as well as Cameron's.
"We know what its not. Now we just need to figure out what it is." House mumbled as he looked over the two white boards.
"That's a lot harder then it sounds, House." Wilson said as he handed the head of diagnostics another cup of coffee.
"Are you kidding? It's a walk in the park." House said facetiously as he took the red mug out of Wilson's hand and turned to his team. "What do we know about the Gale's?"
"Uh, Alex was in the Peace Corps, so he traveled a lot. Hannah is a school teacher." Chase said after picking up Lily's file.
"They live just outside of Princeton in the rural areas." Foreman added reading over Chase's shoulder.
"Since Alex traveled a lot they lived with his parents on a farm and still do." Chase said looking for anything vaguely relevant in the history but coming up short. Wilson was about to point out that there was nothing in the history that could help them but quieted himself when he noticed a slight movement as House cocked his head.
"What kind of farm?" He asked of his youngest duckling. Chase skimmed through the history until he found the answer House was looking for.
"Pig farm." He said. He wasn't sure of the significance of this bit of information but judging by the look on House's face, he did which was good enough for the team.
"What does that mean?" Foreman asked after House remained silent for a moment.
"Nipah." One word caused the other three doctors to look at the diagnostician quizzically.
"House, Nipah effects the respiratory system it doesn't cause skin lesions or necrosis." Foreman pointed out with an exasperated sigh. He knew it couldn't be Nipah.
"And it can't be transferred from human to human." Chase finished Foreman's line of thought with a similarly distraught look on his face.
"They're right, House. It's not Nipah." Wilson sighed is resignation and poured himself another cup of coffee.
"Not much is know about the Nipah virus. They had to make a new genus for it and everything, Megamyxovirus is the proposed name, I think. Its in the Paramyxoviridae family which makes very susceptible to mutation especially when mixed with another virus from that family. Namely the Hendra virus."
"So, you think this is a mutated strain?" Wilson asked, his interest now peeked again.
"There is a new strain of Nipah out of Malaysia." House was cut off by Chase who's voice almost squeaked with excitement.
"Alex had just came back from Malaysia when he got sick." They all focused their attention on House to see what he had to say.
"The new strain has more of an aggressive path then with the original. There has been no human cases but farmers say that their pigs rot away while they are still alive."
"Is their a treatment?" Foreman asked. He hadn't heard of this but then again he didn't stay up to date about Malaysian farm animals.
"Ribavirin has shown promise in testing." House said as he limped towards his office. "It's time I call in that favor that Lab Rat owes me."
"Lab Rat?" Chase asked of Wilson as House took a seat at his desk.
"House plays poker with him." Wilson said as he sat down. "Bryce Angle I think is his name. He owes House quite a bit of money so we should get the ribavirin within the hour."
Hour 37
Sure enough the ribavirin was delivered by way of helicopter since it was the fastest way to get it there and Lab Rat's debt was paid. Once again Foreman, Chase, Wilson, and House found themselves standing in Cameron's room. Cuddy had joined them as well.
"Are you sure this will work?" She asked as Chase prepared the treatment.
"We'll know in three hours if she is responding to treatment." House said while leaning heavily on his cane.
"In three hours she could be dead." Cuddy stated as she glared at the diagnostician.
"Then we'll know that I was wrong. But if she lives then we'll know that I'm right." Chase had finished preparations and gave one last look to House who nodded signaling him to go ahead. He inserted the new treatment into the IV jack and stepped away rejoining the rest of the group. "Draw some more blood and do an ELISA to test for the Nipah virus."
Chase complied after finishing drawing several tubes of blood he pulled back the covers to check on the necrosis once again. It was above her waist now, about mid way up her abdomen. House stepped up and looked over the young intensivist shoulder. "Its moving fast."