Chapter 7
House sat at the head of the diagnostic table reading through the file. The MRI for MS was negative, no sign of MS was present. But at least the bleeding had stopped.
Taub and 13 came into the office, House looked up as he heard them come in.
"He has a rash" stated Taub
"Meningococcus" Said Foreman
"Load him up with Anti-Biotics and do a lumbar puncture to confirm" Said House to all the minions. At which point they all left with great speed.
House was getting irritable and stiff while sitting at his desk waiting for the tests to be done so he decided to take a lap of the 4th floor. He had already taken 2 Vicodin, he seemed to be taking more and more these days "more pain more pills" he had said to Wilson once, did he really believe that? What else was he supposed to do he thought to himself as he went passed the elevator bank. Towards him came Ella, he noticed that you could hardly see today that she had anything wrong. She was obviously having a good day. Looked at her a little longer…Muscular Dystrophy in its early stages he was thinking as they came face to face.
"What's up Doc?" She greeted.
"Walking off the Lasagne you're Mom made" No idea why he said that or why he was even making conversation.
"It's good isn't it?" She said smiling, thinking her Mom would be pleased he liked it. "I'm going to see Jonah, how's he doing?"
"You can't go in there. We think he has Meningococcus" He said with warning.
"Right! Yesterday it was MS, the day before it was Parkinsons" She stated sarcastically, shaking her head and walking passed him.
"Well we have to rule everything out. Has his Mom turned up yet?" He questioned as she passed.
"Yeah, I think so" She replied without stopping.
"I'll join you" He said turning around at speed.
.
They went to Jonah's room, his Mom and Dad were waiting outside. "What did your husband die of?" Questioned House without introduction.
"What? Who are you?" She countered
"I'm his Doctor" He said gesturing to Jonahs' room.
She looked at the floor and then back at him "Cancer – Pancreatic Cancer. 13 years ago" She stated clearly.
"Where did you live before you came to the USA?" He continued
"Perth, Australia" She stated again "we moved here in 2000 after I got offered a job"
House said no more and walked away. Nothing of interest there. They all glanced at each other as he went back down the hallway, shaking their heads.
On his way back to his office, he decided to pay Wilson a visit. Without knocking he barged into Wilson's office and sat on his couch, put his leg on his coffee table and spread his arms out which pretty much covered the width of the couch.
Wilson looked up from his patient file and waited curiously, as House just sat and stared. "What's up?" He questioned, knowing House was probably just thinking.
"I had a visitor last night" He said quietly and still not understanding what had happened.
"Hooker?" Quipped Wilson
"Nope! Neighbor!" Retorted House
"Requesting a cup of sugar?" questioned Wilson, not really knowing where this conversation was going, but he was also finding it somewhat amusing.
"Nope! Bringing me dinner!" Said House quietly, giving Wilson a sideward glance.
"Whoah! How come?" Said Wilson, unable to hide the amusement in his voice.
"An apology apparently"
"Was it good?" Asked Wilson. After a few minutes of silence Wilson changed the subject "I hear you patient may have Meningococcus?"
"Well that's what we are treating him for"
"But you don't think it is?"
"Nope!" Said House, getting up and leaving as quickly as he had entered.
Wilson sat back in his chair and smiled. They were definitely getting back to normal now. He had missed this and whilst he knew that House was out there on the fringe somewhere, he did make him laugh.
House sat looking at the white board. Symptoms/diseases crossed out but nothing was working. All the tests were negative and yet he was still in pain and getting worse. The rash had gone but the lumbar puncture had come back negative, so they were literally back to square one again.
He opened up the file again and read through it, there had to be something missing, some detail had been missed.
Having missed lunch, he decided to grab Wilson and go to the cafeteria. Wilson could buy some dinner. Wilson willingly went along with House's plans. They were waiting in the line to get their food, when House noticed his neighbors sitting at a table. He hadn't seen the Mom since she had given him dinner and he really didn't know what to do. "I'm not hungry anymore" He said about to leave.
"What? Course you are House, come on. I'm not eating 2 meals" Said Wilson curiously, taking both their meals to a table. House took a deep breath and followed Wilson. As they passed the neighbors table, he stooped slightly to Ella and said quietly "Muscular Dystrophy"
"Nope!" she responded without even thinking or looking at him. He continued to his own table to join Wilson.
He sat so that he could see them in his peripheral vision and saw Ella leave her Mom alone. He really had lost his appetite, he really didn't want to be in the cafeteria, he sensed her looking over his way on occasion and he felt uncomfortable. He really hoped she would follow her daughter out of the cafeteria. Then Ella returned and sat down and they started talking again. As he was contemplating his next move to get out, his pager went off and saved him. "I gotta go" He said getting up and limping off before Wilson could say anything.
As he walked hurriedly passed his neighbors table their conversation caught his attention. He stopped abruptly and turned to them. "What did you just say about Jonah's Mom?" He demanded
A little confused by his interruption neither said anything, they just looked at him.
"What did you just about his Mom?" He repeated more softly this time.
"She died when he was born" Said Nicky
"What else do you know" He enquired; he had heard them say something else too but couldn't be sure what it was.
She stared up at him but continued "Marie met Sean when Jonah was about 2, he had just come back from Papa New Guinea"
"Do you know what he was doing there?" His interest growing.
"No, I don't, Sorry. Why?" She questioned looking down at her coffee. When she looked up House was already out of the cafeteria.
He marched into the patient room "Where was Jonah born?" He demanded
"What? Why does that matter now?" Asked Marie
"Because I'm nosey. Just tell me" He retorted, beginning to lose his patience
"Papa New Guinea" She said quietly.
"What were his parents doing there?"
She looked between Jonah and House, Jonah already knew everything so this wasn't new information. "His Mom was doing some kind of doctorate when Sean met her. They were living as part of a tribe, she died whilst giving birth" She took a sad breath and continued "Sean stayed for about 18mnths, but he couldn't do it on his own so he moved back to Australia. He said that they all took good care of him and Jonah, treated Jonah like he was one of their own. But he just couldn't stay. I met him in Perth. Jonah had just turned 2" She finished.
"I really do wish people would tell me the truth!" He grunted as left the room, moving rapidly to his office to page the team.
As the team walked into the office, they saw the word KUBU written on the Whiteboard in big bold letters. They looked at each other and sat down.
House was sitting at the head of the table "He has KUBU" He said sadly.
"There hasn't been a case of that since 2005 and probably earlier outside of Pap New Guinea" Stated Foreman
13 and Kutner looked oblivious they had never heard of it.
"He hasn't been to Papa New Guinea" Threw in Taub
13 and Kutner looked at House for more explanation.
"It's a terminal Neuro-Degenerative disease. Up until the 90's it was writhe amongst the tribes of Papa New Guinea, particularly the woman and children. They get it from cleaning and preparing lots of dead bodies or from eating the brains of a relative, which was a tradition"
"But he hasn't been there for over 20yrs" Said Kutner
"It has an extensive incubation period, can be instant or there has been the odd case of 40yrs. Do a brain biopsy to confirm" Instructed House.
He stood staring at the white board, he had his answer, he knew what it was, he didn't need the results to be sure. But these ones sucked! The guy was 24 years old and had a year of debilitating degeneration to go through.
A couple of hours later the team walked in with the results, it was positive, he had been right.
He looked up from the results "So, who's going to tell them?" He said looking between the minions. Silence fell amongst them. "I guess that will be me then" He said walking out of the office.
He went straight to the patient's room, where his Mom and Dad were waiting for news. He closed the door quietly and looked at them. "Your Son has a disease called KUBU" He said pausing, waiting for something.
"What's that?" Asked Marie
"It's a Neuro-Degenerative disease he contracted in Papa New Guinea" He stated
"So, what do we do now, what's the treatment?" Asked the Dad
House took a deep breath "There isn't one. All we can do is treat the symptoms as they occur"
There was silence in the room. "You can take him home tomorrow, I'll set you up with a Neurologist in Pennsylvania".
"Neurologist?" Questioned Marie
"Like I said it's a Neuro-Degenerative Disease. It's terminal" He stated
"He's going to lose his body functions, like ALS?"
"Yes and….." He went to continue the pattern that the disease would take.
"I don't want to know" Said the Mom.
"He will experience….." House tried to continue
"Look, we've heard enough, can you leave now!" Said the Dad
"But…." House tried again. He thought they would want to know what they were heading for.
"Just leave!" Shouted the Mom
He left them to their grief and went back to his office. When he reached it the minions were still sitting at the table
"What?" Said House as he walked in.
"I can't believe he has this disease" Said 13 sadly
"Well we biopsied his brain and it was positive" He stated
"I know that, I mean it's just so rare and a horrible disease, he a has a year of suffering and he's only 24"
"Yeah, that's what we deal with here, zebras not horses". He took a breath and looked at the team, this one was hitting them hard. "If you can't deal with it, find another department to work in" He ordered and went to his office, gathered his belongings and went home. He had solved his mystery.