"I'll start a central line when we get there," Wilson said, getting House ready to move onto a gurney.
"I thought you wanted him stable first?"
"Yeah, but he's getting worse and I'd rather he didn't bleed out on his bed." He rolled House onto a bed sheet and signalled for the paramedics to grab the other side so that they could lift him onto the gurney. Once there Wilson fussed over the oxygen mask. "Let's go," he told the paramedics, grabbing his bag as he followed them out.
They managed to get House into the ambulance without incident and Wilson climbed in so that he could monitor Greg's condition. He kept his eye on the oxygen saturations and the lowering blood pressure, which confirmed his thoughts that House was bleeding somewhere.
He checked his pupils as they bounced along through the journey from House's apartment to PPTH, they were still small, but at least they weren't any worse. He shook House's shoulders, no response. He ran his knuckles over House's chest and got a groan.
"Greg? Come on, buddy, open those eyes," he said, but there was no response from House. "How much longer till we're there?" he asked the paramedic who was driving.
"'nother few minutes. Want me to put the siren on?"
"Not unless we hit traffic," Wilson replied. The rest of the journey passed uneventfully. It felt like hours before they pulled up at the entrance to PPTH, but in reality it had only been a few minutes. Cuddy was waiting for them at the entrance and led the way to the room she had prepared.
"Any improvement?" she asked, as they walked alongside the gurney.
"Nope, he's responding to pain, but he won't wake up. His blood pressure is dropping, I'm pretty sure he's bleeding somewhere."
"I'll page surgery," Cuddy said, nodding. "Through here." They lifted House from the gurney and onto the bed. The paramedics left with their gurney and Wilson dumped his bag before heading to House's side.
He lifted his shirt and started to feel around the massive bruise that had grown on House's abdomen. "It's distended."
"Surgery are on their way," Cuddy said, giving him a worried look. "You said something about a Vicodin OD?"
"His pupils are pin point. He took some while I was there but I don't know how much he had before then," Wilson explained. "I'll draw some blood while we wait."
"His leg looks pretty bad, might be an idea to x-ray it."
"He needs an ultrasound anyway, I don't want him moved until he's stable so any x-rays will have to be portable." Wilson turned and grabbed the supplies out of the drawer so that he could insert a central line and get some blood out of House.
"Central line?" Cuddy asked.
"His body's shutting down, he needs fluids, blood and probably a stomach lavage."
"I'll get everything ready," Cuddy said, leaving Wilson to work on House.
Wilson sighed and started to undress Greg so that he could get access to his chest. "Why do you do this to yourself?" He swabbed the area with an alcohol wipe and prepared the needle and line. He couldn't help but talk to his friend as he worked.
"Sharp stick, Greg." He threaded the line in, drawing some vials of blood before hooking him up to the fluids hanging on the IV pole. At least now they could replace the blood he was losing.
Cuddy re-appeared pulling along a trolley which had an ultrasound machine on it, underneath on a shelf was a lavage kit.
"I thought it would be better if we did this, stop the rumour mill. You realise you're going to have to cath him, right?"
"I was hoping he'd wake up and tell me to leave him the hell alone," Wilson replied, sadly. Cuddy gave him a sympathetic look.
"I've order some A neg for him," she said.
"Thanks."
"You get the line in?" she asked. He nodded. "You wanna do the ultrasound first or the lavage?"
"Lavage." Cuddy nodded again and pulled out the lavage kit. "Turn him on his side."
Wilson gently turned House so that he was lying on his left side, Cuddy ripped open the sterile tube that would be threaded down into House's stomach. "This is gonna be uncomfortable, Greg, but you've left us no choice," Wilson told him.
"He probably can't hear you, James," Cuddy said, softly.
"I know, but if he can, I want him to know what's going on." He held House's shoulder and kept his knee in his back to stop him from rolling back over. He watched silently as Cuddy pumped Greg's stomach and he was slightly disappointed to see that it was mostly blood that came up. Where were the surgeons? They'd better hurry before he bled out.
Cuddy pulled the tube out and looked at James. "That was a waste of time, I'll chase up the bloods and let you do the ultrasound and cath him, do you want a nurse to help undress him?"
"I can manage." She left and Wilson set about removing Greg's pants, Cuddy have left him a gown which he placed over him, he'd ask a nurse to dress him when he was finished with the tests. He prepared the ultrasound machine and run it gently over Greg's stomach. The monitor confirmed what he had suspected, he had a bleed – not too large, but enough for the surgery to be urgent. He'd page the surgeons again if they hadn't appeared by the time he was done.
"You're not going to like this Greg, but you leave me no choice," he told his unconscious friend as he lifted the sheet and prepared to catheterise House. He swabbed the tip of his penis, took a deep breath and pushed the tube in. Even though he felt more for his friend than a platonic love, he'd never thought he would be doing this. There was no way he'd tell Greg that he'd been the one to place it – it was either him or Cuddy so he was sure he'd appreciate that it was him, but still.
As he hung the bag, the surgeon arrived. One look at the ultrasound and he was rushing House off for emergency surgery. Now all Wilson could do was chase up the labs and check to see if House ihad/i OD'ed.