House: It's a Tumor

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Should we take bets on whether Wilson will live or die? Are we really supposed to believe that Wilson wouldn't have called Cuddy in a time of need like this? You know, for a seventh opinion, if nothing else? It was interesting to watch the team solve a case completely independently of House, though I was wondering why Foreman didn't help more - he did do diagnostics in the past, and I don't know a lot about AT, but it IS degenerative, so it is probably neurological to some degree. I did think that they were going to wind up needing House's help, and figured that he'd answer eventually. Guess he was too busy being both himself and a caring, thoughtful guy for once. House giving Wilson the last of his Vicodin was a sweet, tender moment, especially when House was in pain and still helping Wilson down the hall. But, at the same time, House still managed to have a good time with passed-out Wilson, dressing him up and having bikini-clad women hang around him, etc. Not a superb episode, but you can't ask for too much as they're winding down an eight-year drama.

House "The C-Word" (S08E19): A father is with his six-year-old daughter at the park, and she wants to ride the merry-go-round alone. He reluctantly allows her to, but she gets a nosebleed during the ride and passes out. [there's no way they would keep that ride running after the father leaps onto it and starts looking for his child.] Her mother happens to be a doctor who is an expert in the rare genetic condition that gives Emily a lifespan of about twenty years. [and, I guess Foreman is familiar with this woman from Johns Hopkins?] During an MRI, the patient's fingers turn blue from loss of circulation, and the mother decides to go check the father's apartment, suspecting heavy metal poisoning. [I got tired of the woman flip-flopping her roles as mother and doctor.] Meanwhile, Chase searches her place, finding a laboratory in the basement, where the mother tests drugs on herself and Emily. Renal failure is the likely cause, as it's been linked with that medication. But, during the kidney ultrasound, Emily begins having chest pains and coughing up blood, so now if could be a blood clot. Her lungs are clear but her liver is failing, so the team thinks that Lyme disease could be the culprit, as the father took Emily into the woods once. The girl has a stroke just before they do a lumbar puncture, and they figure out that it's a tumor in the heart. [nice graphics.] 

House is unavailable as he's taking time off for "spring break." [battleship on the back of pizza boxes = win.] Really, he needs to cope with Wilson's illness, going with him to consultations and whatnot. The general plan should be daily radiation for three weeks to shrink the tumor, then remove it. But, Wilson is worried that it won't work if he doesn't have chemo and radiation simultaneously, instead hoping for a very concentrated dose of chemo, that has a 1 in 3 chance of killing him. [that seems a bit extreme for Wilson's character, even after he explains his reasoning.] Wilson has been stockpiling equipment at his place, and House points out that the odds of dying from the treatment and the thymoma tumor itself are the same. But, Wilson just doesn't want to die in the hospital, so House offers up his place to do the treatment. [if you can't beat 'em, join 'em!] House plays old-timey music and they have martinis while House lists the predicted side effects. Wilson thanks House

Cr: Jordin Althaus/FOX

for helping him, and soon hallucinates a child who died from thyroid cancer. When they run out of morphine, House gives Wilson his own personal painkillers, not mentioning that he doesn't have very many. Wilson's white blood cell count keeps dropping, and House wants to take him to the hospital, but Wilson makes him promise that he won't. Wilson also gets very mouthy at times, saying things like House deserves cancer more than he does because he's a bad person. He makes it through the night, and when he returns to work, there's a video of girls in bikinis all over a passed-out Wilson on his computer.