House's War: Break in Hostilities
After the dream last night, House never really got back to sleep. That was the only reason that the nursing staff saw House walk through the Hospital lobby. Whispers followed him as he limped his way to the elevator doors. His subconscious fed his brain a continuous loop, "She's not dead – you'll see."
Before he could quite the noise in his head, a new noise emerged. "House – clinic now." Cuddy said handing him a stack of charts. Before he could protest, Nurse Brenda took his bag and shuttled him toward an empty exam room.
He heard Cuddy announce his next patient.
One hour later, House walked out with another one of the mind numbing patients. "Stay away from the ice cream shops, your lactose intolerant." The patient smiled as another fart blew from behind the two of them. House didn't say anything, but his face said everything.
At least his next patient seemed interesting. "Katie Mathews?" Nurse Brenda said, "Please follow Dr. House to exam 1." A young woman got up and followed House. He watched as she began coughing into a tissue. He motioned for her to get on the table. "How can I help you?" It took about 5minutes for her to communicate the problem. "I need to check your lungs; can you lift your shirt a little?" She complied.
"You have some wheezing in your chest. Do you sometimes have problems catching your breathe?" The coughing fit told him all he needed to know. "I'm going to give you some antibiotics and an inhaler. Also I'm going to have the nurses set up a referral for a Pulmongist." Katie took a breathe, "Do you know what's wrong?" House handed her the slip. "The Pulmonologist will confirm this but I believe that you have Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease."
"It's not curable, but it is treatable." House walked over to the nurses. "Get an appointment for Exam 1 with Dr Roberts in Pulmonology, today – or tomorrow at the latest." She nodded and handed House the next folder. "Kevin Smith?" A round man got up very slowly and 'waddled' over to him. House was able look at the file in the time that it took him to rise.
Oh good God, bowel obstruction!
House still had a half hour to go before escaping the clinic. He began to wonder how much Cuddy was getting back at him. It took planning – but he would get his revenge and boy it would be very sweet in deed.