Mr. Hall: Ha ha ha...ha ha ha.
I oughta have this framed.
My last bill from Princeton.
And I thought we were celebrating
the fact that I actually graduated.
I always knew
you'd be able to graduate.
What I didn't know was whether
I would be able to pay for it.
Your mom...
She'd be so proud of you.
You always say that.
I'm so proud of you.
Always was.
Come on, dad.
You're gonna cry.
You wanna be embarrassed?
You got it. Ahhh.
Look, um, don't party
too hard tonight.
Your grandmother wants a picture
of you getting that sheepskin.
And it'd be nice if you didn't
look completely hung over.
Ooh, no, don't worry.
I've had enough alcohol in the past
week to last me another four years.
Good...I think.
Twelve fifty five!
Whoo!
Right!
You are the man!
Tell me something
I don't know!
Ow! Ow, ow!
Ow.
- That's not funny, man.
- What?
Yeah right.
You shocked me.
With what?
I got nothing.
All right, whoever's doing that
better cut it out! Ow!
Ow!
What the hell's going on?
Maybe there's a short somewhere.
The floor's covered with beer.
No way. The outlet's a GFI,
plus he's got rubber-soled shoes on.
Ow!
Somebody call 911!
House M.D.
Season 2 Episode 5
"Daddy's Boy"
Patient experiences
shock-like sensations
as well as headaches,
nausea, and drowsiness.
Shocks?
Excruciatingly painful shocks.
ER docs referred him to a neurologist, who referred
him to five other doctors in the last seven days.
Shocks could be Lhermitte's Sign,
early symptom of MS.
No, MRI showed
no white matter lesions, and
the shocks aren't
accompanied by neck flexing.
Good morning.
It's almost noon.
Really? That must be
why I'm so hungry.
Who's up for lunch?
What's with the jacket?
It keeps me warm and cool.
How does it know?
We're discussing your new patient.
It must be a boring discussion seeing
as I haven't accepted a new patient.
You accepted him
the moment I loaned you five grand.
Oh, wait, wait.
When I said I'd do anything for the money,
obviously I didn't mean it.
You're gonna like this. The kid's
getting shocked every few minutes.
Why would you need $5,000?
Bad night at poker or
a great night with a hooker?
Thank you for saving me the trouble of
deflecting that personal question with a joke.
College student?
Nitrous Oxide's fun at parties...
Can cause the shocks, and drinking till you
puke every night can cause everything else.
Give him some B12.
Been there, done that. Also ruled
out cancer, MS, pyridoxine toxicity,
and all the popular neuropathies.
- Cervical spondylosis?
- Doesn't explain the low white count.
He's black.
I'm assuming he's not just really dirty,
but is of African descent.
Which means
he'd have a lower white count.
- Not this low.
- He's a wrestler.
Probably uses
diuretics to cut weight.
It can also cause
low white count.
- Not this low.
- Not this low.
- Behcet's.
- No skin lesions.
- Cervical herpes roster myelitis.
- No external outbreak.
Something's missing.
Find out what it is.
Uh, I don't even know
what that means.
Well, figure it out, find it out,
and then find me. I'll be at lunch.
No ideas?
Lots of ideas.
Too many ideas.
That's why so many tests.
Have you used
any recreational drugs?
What?
I'm gonna get mad at you
for getting stoned?
Not today. Not here.
Um, at Christmas one of the guys
had some ecstasy, I mean,
it was...Ah!
Ah!
Son of a b*tch. Ow.
ANA is negative
for lupus... again.
House wants more information, not
the same information done over again.
"Find what's missing"?
For all we know the kid is dying,
and he's giving us riddles?
Did a more detailed history,
went back three generations.
- And?
- His mom died in a car accident.
His mom's mom had arthritis, His mom's mom's
dad served in an all-black tank battalion under Patton.
Fascinating.
If it's not a tumor,
it has to be MS.
Wilson already ruled out...
MRI can't rule out MS
100% of the time.
MS doesn't explain
a low white count.
Alcoholism does.
On admission his BAC was 2.0.
Liver enzymes off the chart.
It was graduation weekend.
He barely drank
in the weeks before that.
And he didn't drink at all
during his wrestling season.
- If you believe him.
- I did a tox screen...
It doesn't matter if she believes him or not.
It's already in the chart.
We're supposed to
find out what's missing.
Well this...
this is perfect.
Invite me to dinner
Thursday night.
Come on. We haven't had
a nice meal together since, oh...
Yesterday when I loaned you
$5,000 to buy a new car.
My treat.
Two-wheeled vehicles that
travel 150 miles an hour...
don't really go well with
crippled irresponsible drug addicts.
Actually, two-wheeled vehicles
that go 180 miles an hour...
do not go well with
healthy, responsible architects
who don't know how to
separate braking and turning.
The good news is
it brings the price right down.
You're taking it back.
Mom.
How 'bout we talk
about this over dinner?
Forget dinner.
You're gonna kill yourself!
Nice bike!
Thank you.
See, that's how you do it.
Compliments, dinner.
What do you with your cane?
He buys me dinner,
he'll find out.
Evel Knievel had
the same set up.
And he broke
every bone in his body.
We went through all the imaging studies
and redid the blood cultures and...
I don't want hand-me-downs.
I want brand new stuff.
There's nothing...
There's nothing missing!
Sorry, I didn't
catch that last part.
There's n...
There's n...
There's nothing
else we can do.
- You check the police report?
- On what?
- On his mom's car accident.
- It was 15 years ago.
The kid wasn't even in the car.
She veered off a straight, dry road in broad daylight.
That doesn't seem odd to you?
She probably got distracted changing
radio stations or something.
That's what the police thought.
Of course they didn't know that she has a family member
who is frequently incapacitated by shock-like sensations.
A genetic component
seems unlikely.
But it's interesting.
A type two neurofibromatosis
could cause the shock.
You knew this was missing?
I knew something was missing.
Maybe this. Maybe something else.
Get a DNA analysis of
the long arm of chromosome 22.
You'd rather have dinner
with your wife?
Yes, I would...
if she were speaking to me.
Unlike her, I could
make it worth your while.
Fine.
Should I drive?
Ah... no.
And I'm not letting you in my car
until I see your wallet.
NF2,
it's an inherited disease.
It could cause abnormal growths
on the cranial nerves.
It would explain
the shocks and other symptoms.
DNA analysis will show whether your son has the specific
chromosome mutation which causes the disease.
But if it's inherited, that means
someone else in our family would have it.
We think
your wife may have had it.
No, she never had
any sort of health problems.
No odd-looking freckles?
Nodules in the iris?
Nothing. I mean,
why would you think she was sick?
We think it may have been
what caused her car accident.
Wait, what do you mean?
My mom's car was hit by a drunk driver.
That's not what
the police report indicated.
Well, you must have
gotten the wrong report.
No.
They didn't.
When you started driving...
I, um...
You lied about
how mom died?
I figured if her death could
somehow mean something...
How's lying about it
mean something?
How could you
use her like that, dad?
Her death?
I was just trying
to protect you.
What else isn't true?
She wasn't a teacher.
You just wanted me to read?
What's that smell?
I don't smell...
We're gonna need a nurse.
- What the hell?
- It's okay.
We'll take care of it.
You didn't feel anything?
No.
- You feel that?
- Yeah.
But you didn't
feel any of this?
No.
Sphincter paralysis plus shocks
equals Miller Fisher Syndrome.
Not if you add the stool sample,
which is negative for C.jejuni.
He lied to his son
about how his mom died?
He was just protecting him.
Manipulating him.
That's what parents do.
They lie to us
because they love us.
Who's getting teary?
Mom's death is irrelevant.
DNA revealed no NF2 markers
or any other inherited disease.
Apparently, she really did
fall asleep at the wheel.
So what exactly
are we talking about here?
A little peeker or did the prairie dog
actually come out to play?
Excuse me?
We talking explosive?
The hemoccult was
negative for blood.
And I wouldn't say he actually exploded.
More like gushed.
Good.
We're getting somewhere.
Yeah? Where?
I have no idea.
Of course.
Love the riddles.
Hello? Hi, Mom.
Look, I have a business dinner
on Thursday night. I can't get out of it.
I know. I really
wanted to see you too.
Actually, can I call you back?
I'm in a meeting right now.
Okay, thanks.
Who was that?
Angelina Jolie.
I call her mom.
Who thinks that's sexy?
So explosive or gushing?
She never calls here.
Is everything okay?
Great. Yeah.
My dad's taking her to Europe.
They got a nine-hour layover
in Newark on Thursday.
If it's gastrointestinal...
You lied to avoid
seeing your own mom?
Are you kidding?
I can't lie to my mom.
Seriously, I can't.
Wilson's invited me to dinner.
It would be rude to stand up a guy
who just loaned me five grand.
Transverse myelitis?
It causes numbness,
anal sphincter dysfunction.
And the shocks.
Thank you for taking
no interest in my mother.
That begs the question,
what caused the transverse myelitis?
We've ruled out
cancer and MS.
Leaves infection.
If there was infection,
there'd be a fever.
And his blood and CSF cultures
are already negative.
Maybe the infection's gone,
but the memory remains.
Molecular mimicry.
Nice.
Okay, get an immunoglobulin level
and electrophoresis.
You're good, my friend.
I'm sure we'll meet again.
You really think that was
his mom on the phone?
Probably, I don't know
why he'd lie about that.
Who cares?
You're not the least bit curious
what his parents are like?
I'm sure
his mom's a piece of work.
Only a mother could
do that much damage.
My bet's he was born
the way he is.
Probably tormented his parents,
not the other way around.
He was either a fast runner
or one hell of a fighter.
Where you going?
You guys handling
the test, right?
Is there something important that
you and House need to discuss over dinner?
Other than the skyrocketing
interest rates on personal loans?
You know, this is the fourth time
I've loaned him money.
Not lunch money...
money, money.
House's parents?
They have a layover
in Newark Thursday evening.
I'm canceling dinner.
No, I thought maybe you could just
invite a few more people.
An infectious agent's molecular structure
can resemble the spinal cord's.
When the immune system attacks infection
ends up attacking spinal cords as well.
So he has an infection.
They just said I don't.
Even after the infection is gone, it goes right
on attacking because the spinal cord is still there.
Is there a treatment?
Depends on what the
original infection was.
All right, you're done.
You need to lay flat after a lumbar
puncture for about an hour.
I feel like
I'm gonna throw up.
Hey dad, can you
get me a coke please?
Yeah, that usually helps.
You're done.
If you're nauseous...
No, I'm not nauseous.
I just want him outta here.
He's your dad.
He's gonna be around.
Yeah, I know.
It's not that, it's...
Are these people completely incapable
of telling the truth to each other?
He went to Jamaica
with his friends.
No wonder he lied.
Children aren't supposed
to have good times.
One of his friends
flew them down.
Carnell's dad has this thing about him
accepting stuff from rich friends.
Wants him to remember who he is,
and where he came from.
Where have you been?
Making dinner plans.
What's up?
The boys have uncovered the shocking fact
that the patient has a crappy relationship with his dad.
They seem to actually care.
Well, I don't. There's only one reason
any kid with a plane flies to Jamaica.
It wasn't for marijuana.
He doesn't do
anything but drink.
He said that
to you or his pops?
Tox screen was
negative for THC.
Spring break was
over a month ago.
Even pot would have
washed out by now.
Even if he'd smoked, no way marijuana
causes transverse myelitis.
True, but the stuff
that they put on it does.
Pesticides.
Why would he come clean about the trip,
but lie about smoking pot?
He wouldn't necessarily have to
smoke to get pesticide poisoning.
He could have eaten fruit that had been
sprayed or been exposed through his skin on a hike.
Or he could have smoked it.
A lot of it.
And lied about it. Because
that's what this family does.
Start him on
IV pralidoxime.
Two grams per liter, then one gram every
eight hours until you see some improvement.
You have no evidence to
support a poisoning diagnosis.
Which is why it's gonna be so cool
when I turn out to be right.
Cameron.
Who are you making
dinner plans with?
No one.
You bastard.
You invited
my parents to dinner.
Jeez, Cameron's
got a big mouth.
Ha, not as big as yours.
Hey, you used me to
avoid seeing your parents.
What do you care?
I don't, I just thought it might be
interesting to find out why.
You could have just asked.
You would have lied.
And you would have believed me,
which would have kept us both happy.
You want your money back?
Is that what this is about?
No!
Wait...well...
have you got the money?
If you have the money, then
why did you need the loan?
I didn't.
I just wanted to
see if you'd give it to me.
I've been borrowing increasing amounts
ever since you lent me $40 a year ago.
A little experiment
to see where you draw the line.
You're... you're trying to objectively
measure how much I value our friendship?
It's five grand.
You got nothing
to be ashamed of.
So what do you say?
One little phone call,
one big check.
Fine.
Thanks.
Now be a grownup and either tell mommy
and daddy you don't want to see them,
or I'm picking you up
at 7:00 for dinner.
What do you mean?
- You just said that...
- I lied.
I've been lying to you in increasing amounts
ever since I told you you looked good unshaved a year ago.
It's a little experiment, you know,
see where you draw the line.
How's the patient?
Haven't been in yet today.
As long as he hasn't
gotten any worse.
You're treating him for pesticide poisoning
without any proof of pesticides.
We're gonna have a hell of a time
explaining that to our lawyer.
I told House not to...
Wow.
Lawyer's not
gonna believe this.
Ha, ha, ha.
He's got his appetite back.
Whatever you did,
it's working.
He is healthy.
Swallow is forgiven.
Now I'm feeling nauseous.
He is not healthy.
Nausea and diarrhea
were not his only symptoms.
- Shocks have also decreased.
- But not disappeared.
And he's out of the diaper,
which is good news for everyone.
What about
his low white count?
The little buggers
need time to grow.
Don't worry, our wrestling
Rastafarian will be back on his feet
and sneaking around
behind pop's back again in no time.
Yeah.
Check it again.
I'll be right there.
What happened?
Apparently I can save money by
switching to another long-distance carrier.
Oh, I was right, wasn't I?
Oh yeah, it's always
about you, isn't it?
He has the chills and
his temperature is spiking.
It's nearly 106.
What's that mean?
I mean, what's happened?
You want the truth? Do you want me
to make something up to protect you?
We think a drunk driver
broke into his room.
What's happening to my son?
The truth is I have no idea.
There's the fever that
Cameron was looking for.
We knew if it was myelitis
there had to be an "itis."
This must be the infection
that set it off.
Yeah, except in this universe
effect follows cause.
I've complained about it, but...
- Maybe the tests were wrong.
- No, the tests were right.
Yesterday he had
no fever, no infection.
So he just happened to catch a bug
while he was here? That's all this is?
Yeah, because his white blood cell
count was down, he was vulnerable.
Because it's really down, it might
kill him, but that's all this is.
Is he still pooping his pants?
He just started again.
Again?
It stopped when
he was getting better.
He was feeling better.
He was never getting better.
So all we have to answer is
what causes a 22-year-old kid
to become immuno-compromised
with GI involvement and shocks?
That stop and start
for no apparent reason.
We need to find an answer
before this infection kills him.
Yeah, that'd be the ideal.
You, intravenous broad
spectrum antibiotics.
You get a cervical thoracic and
lumbar T2 weighted fast spin echo MRIs.
And you, track down all those
Richie Riches who went to Jamaica.
See if any of them got
the shocks, the trots, or the hots.
The hots, it's fever.
You guys gonna join us
for dinner Thursday?
Um, gotta do my laundry.
You're not curious?
Curious about crocs, but I don't
stick my head in their mouths.
I'm out too.
House is a freak.
There's no virus that causes that,
no DNA mutation.
You're gonna have
one dinner with two people.
60 minutes, most of it spent chewing,
talking about the weather.
Unless they something like,
"Do you prefer the Chardonnay or the Merlot...
we kept Greg locked in the closet for 17 years",
you're not gonna
learn anything.
Okay.
We'd like to talk to some of your friends,
see if they have any similar symptoms.
The doctors in the ER
already asked me that.
We understand.
But they didn't have all
the information that we have now.
What kind of information?
Would you mind if I spoke
with Carnell alone for a minute?
- Is this bad news?
- No.
It's just confidential.
Why is something
suddenly confidential?
I mean, if you know something about
my son, I need to know what's going on.
I'm sorry.
I have to insist.
I'm his father.
And if I'm going to take care of him,
I need to know the truth.
Dad.
She wants to know
who I went to Jamaica with.
You never been to Jamaica.
Taddy's dad flew a bunch of us
down over spring break.
You told me you had two papers
to write over the break.
'Cause I didn't wanna come
home and work my a** off.
I wanted to take an actual break
during the break for once.
I shouldn't have lied to you.
No, what you shoulda done is come home
instead of partying with your rich friends.
I'm sorry.
We need those names.
What do you want?
To apologize.
I realize that my attention to the clinic has been
somewhat lax of late, and I want to make amends.
How 'bout tomorrow night?
I take the night shift.
The clinic's closed at night.
Yeah, but I'm sure there's
plenty of things to be done.
There's charts to be reviewed,
supplies inventoried...
Dinners avoided.
- You're going too?
- I love their Cobb salad.
Give me a reason
to get out of this,
and I'll tell you who started the rumor
about you being a transsexual.
There is no such rumor.
There will be unless you
get me out of this dinner.
No one's making you
do this, House.
Just do what everybody
else does, lie to them.
- You lie to your mother?
- Only since I was 12.
My mom's a human polygraph.
My dad should be taking her
to Vegas, not the Louvre.
Trust me, your mom would much rather think
you have a business meeting than you hate her.
I don't hate her.
I hate him.
We all had headaches,
nausea, vomiting.
You know, we figured it was connected
to the massive amounts of drinking.
Or you think what happened to Carnell has
something to do with the trip?
Don't know.
You haven't had any unexplained pain
or strange feelings since you got back?
Nope, except for a little
athlete's foot, I'm fine.
Can I see it?
- See what?
- Your feet.
There's a common parasite in Jamaica
that can resemble foot fungus.
It's not really my feet.
You know, I figured
fungus is fungus.
It's my groin.
I'm going to need
to take a look at that.
Now?
Unless you wanna come down
to the hospital with me.
No, I can't, I mean,
I just started two days ago,
- and we're right in the middle of a big merg...
-Then drop your pants.
Reilly, I need the...
What the hell's going on here?
She's a doctor.
I'm a doctor.
He has a rash.
- And a friend of his...
- Right.
Well, as soon as she's
done treating your rash,
I need the numbers
on D-Port Technology.
Yes, Sir.
And Doctor, why don't you
leave a card on your way out?
Except for one guy with a rash
no one else on the trip has any health issues.
What kind of rash?
I don't know. I took some scrapings.
It doesn't appear to be ringworm.
What did it look like?
Aside from not ringworm.
Basically like diaper rash.
He's been working
around the clock.
Said he hasn't changed
his clothes in three days.
Kaposi's sarcoma can
look like diaper rash.
Any discoloration
around the edges?
Get him in here.
We all wanna take a look.
Even if it is Kaposi's,
it's not related.
The patient doesn't have
any skin symptoms, and
we've already
ruled out cancer.
What are the odds of two friends who've
just returned from a trip outside the country
coming down with unexplained,
but unrelated illnesses? Get him in here.
He won't come. Just started
a new job after graduation.
They're working
on some big merger.
Tell him his friend's life
hangs in the balance.
That's what I told him
the first time.
Still wound up
driving into Manhattan.
Tell him his life
hangs in the balance.
Tell him the rash
is flesh-eating,
and the next course on the menu
is his frank and beans.
Where is Stacy?
Uh, speaking at a
conference in Baltimore.
Why? What do you need?
Can I subpoena a patient.
House wants me to lie
to the kid to get him in here.
Well, then you'll be
the one getting the subpoena.
Well, we do need him
to diagnose his friend.
Take the test to the kid.
There is no test.
House just wants to look at it.
Then take House to it.
Yeah, like that's
gonna happen.
Tell House
his parents called.
Said they were
coming in early.
He'll go anywhere
just to avoid them.
So it's okay to lie to House,
but not to a patient?
Yep.
- Ahh! - What's wrong?
- His stomach's getting a lot worse.
Ahh!
He's rigid.
- Ahh!
- He's bleeding into his abdomen.
- Ahh!
- What's going on?
- We need a surgeon and an O.R., stat.
- On it.
Ah!
Try to hang in there, Carnell.
Ahh!
Infection caused a perforation
in his sigmoid colon.
It's repairable.
It means the antibiotics
aren't working.
Double the dose.
And add Tygacil to the list.
As soon as he's
out of surgery.
Where's Richie Rich?
He said he can't leave work.
Yeah, you told me that
two hours ago.
I'm not gonna lie.
Why? Because it's wrong?
Or because you're a coward?
Hmm, tough choice.
You'd be wasting
two hours of the kid's time.
Is that deeply and unforgivably
morally wrong? No.
Because it's not
a waste of his time.
Unless we're wrong.
Unless his condition's got
nothing to do with his friend's.
You're just afraid
of being wrong.
Your parents called.
- They had to catch an earlier...
- You don't have to lie to him.
Kid's on his way here.
- He got off work?
- Yeah. By vomitting blood.
Ambulance is
ten minutes out.
- You Taddy?
- What?
I love the name.
I never had a dog...
Take off his pants.
Hey.
Don't talk to her.
Listen to me.
He's vomited in excess of three units of blood.
He needs to be admitted before...
If you wanted to be a doctor, maybe you should
have buckled down a little more in high school.
Bite me.
- What are you doing?
- Exactly how close were you and Carnell?
Not so close.
Spend a lot of time together in Jamaica?
Share a room?
Wait, you don't think...
Look, we're not gay.
I'm not saying you're gay.
I'm saying you had sex.
Look, we're not gay.
We hardly even hung out.
Right, you flew him down to Jamaica
because he won a contest.
No, he's in my frat.
Between school and wrestling and going
home every break to work at his father's junkyard,
Carnell didn't have any time
to hang out with anybody.
It's not fungus.
I already told you that.
There's no pustules.
It's not staph.
His dad's what?
His dad owns a
scrap metal salvage yard.
Carnell worked there
during breaks.
You lied.
What are you talking about?
Oh yeah, of course, in this family
you probably need more specifics.
You told us you owned a construction
company, not a salvage yard.
I know the way things work.
The better my job,
the better my son gets treated.
Right, that's why I'm mad.
We wasted all that
filet mignon on you.
Did your kid find anything unusual
the last time he worked for you?
- No.
- Braided wire?
Metal weights on each end,
a lead canister, maybe just the lid.
He probably used it
as a doorstop or a paperweight.
Why would he wanna...
Okay, here it comes.
I gave him an early graduation gift,
an old plumb I found. It looks like a fishing weight.
I put it on a keychain, so he'd
always remember where he came from.
So he can lie about it later.
- Where's the keychain?
- I don't know.
He never used it.
Just kept it as a good luck charm.
- Kept it where?
- I don't know.
Why?
Why does it matter?
Where are the
kid's clothes?
In the bureau back
in his regular room.
You two,
get it to radiology.
His clothes?
The bureau.
Don't open it.
You, come with me.
Set it down there.
Now get out of here.
This thing is radioactive.
The chances of radiation
causing CNS symptoms...
Wow.
Call the boys in the lead pajamas.
RL measurements weren't high enough
to cause central nervous system damage.
It might not have caused nerve damage,
but it definitely destroyed his immune system.
And caused tumors.
We don't know that.
None of the MRIs showed anything.
Do a PET scan.
Check his cervical spine.
It's not gonna be good news.
Mr. Hall,
it's not good news.
The piece of metal you gave Carnell was
from an industrial device used to test wells.
People aren't supposed to
just dump radioactive material.
But they do.
So what now?
I mean, what do you do?
Anyone who has had
contact with the source...
will have to immediately get
treatment for Radiation Sickness.
Taddy carried it
on his lap on a flight.
So there is a treatment?
Transfusions.
And we try to get the fluids
and the electrolytes balanced.
Carnell... he's had
much more exposure.
The equivalent of
about 70,000 chest x-rays.
His ability to create white blood cells
has been completely destroyed.
That's why he can't
fight off this infection?
He's gonna need a
bone marrow transplant.
And we did...
we did another PET scan.
There's a cavernous angioma
within his spinal cord. It's a tumor.
That's what's been causing
the shocks and CNS symptoms.
He has a tumor
inside of his spinal cord?
The cord is-is made of strands
put together, sort of like a kite string.
The surgeon should be able to pull
the strands apart and excise the tumor. But...
Surgery on someone who's as hemopoetically
compromised as your son is... extremely risky.
And, uh...
if you don't
do the surgery, I mean...
The tumor could cause
his breathing to stop.
Possibly his heart as well.
There's no way
you could have known.
You're gonna have to
come with us.
You need to start
treatment yourself.
No, no, no, no, no, no.
I can start
my treatment later.
But he can't.
He needs to be in a sterile isolation
room to prevent further infections.
- Mom.
- We're early.
- It's great to see you.
- Oh, Greg, don't lie.
We came at a
bad time, didn't we?
Actually, yeah. I...
I have to take a rain check.
Aw, plans have been made.
Wilson made 'em.
I asked him to cancel.
I'm dealing with kind of
a complicated case right now. So...
Well, we'll just come back
when things aren't so out of control.
My team is busy.
You don't wanna see us.
Mom, don't make me feel guilty.
No, no.
Of course not, sorry.
I've got a patient who's probably
gonna die of radiation poisoning.
So that means you can't eat.
Come on, let's grab a bite
in the cafeteria.
I'll buy you a Reuben.
I guess I got time
for a sandwich.
Good.
Yeah?
I just wanted to let you know
Carnell's prepped for surgery.
Thank you.
Hi, I'm Allison Cameron.
I work with your son.
Greg's told us all about you.
Really?
- New, huh?
- Nope, just gullible.
I'm sorry. I was just
making fun of my son.
Not of you.
We were just about to go to get something to eat.
Would you care to join us?
You don't have
a lot of time with your son.
Maybe another time.
Do you like the Beatles?
They're all right.
My 12-year-old just
turned me back onto them.
McCartney's gotta have
more money than God.
I think that's all of it.
Reverse him.
How's he doing?
Looks pretty good down here.
Do I rock, or what?
His pressure's dropping.
- Give him another two units.
- I did already.
His heart rate's falling.
He's hemorrhaging.
They're talking about
mom's last trip to the dentist.
Grown children talking to their parents,
nothing gets talked about.
Trust me.
You're not missing anything.
So besides work,
what you been up to?
Not much.
You always say that.
"Not much."
It's always the answer.
Any new babes
you might wanna tell me about?
Leave him alone, John.
I got a new motorcycle.
You might have seen it out front.
It's orange with a gigantic scrape.
Is it the one in the
handicapped parking?
Yeah.
Looks like crap,
but it drives great.
Well, you'll be careful, right?
Last I checked
you still have two legs.
Actually three.
You know what
your problem is, Greg?
Shifting gears?
You just don't know
how lucky you are.
Where's the head?
Good thing
we got that cleared up.
He was just trying to help.
I don't need help.
I know.
You're absolutely perfect
just the way you are.
Thank you.
So how much longer
do you think he'll be in surgery?
It's hard to say.
Hmm...hmm.
You know, he just
started school when Ann died.
I was a mess. Hmm.
Still adjusting to being a parent,
much less a single parent.
You know, I used to put
cold pancakes in his lunch box.
I mean, that was the only thing
I could make that he would eat.
You did okay.
He's a good kid.
Yah.
Hey. So how is he?
Well, the surgeon has removed
the tumor without damaging the spinal cord.
But the infection has caused
another intestinal perforation.
We stopped the bleeding,
but his white count keeps falling.
Okay. Um...
So what now? Another drug?
Antibiotics? What?
I'm sorry.
The reality is no matter
what we give him, it's...
unlikely he's gonna be able
to fight off the infections.
Okay. Okay.
The father and the friend are
responding well to treatment.
Things aren't looking
so good for Carnell.
Thank you...
for not eating.
It was none of my business.
They seem perfectly
pleasant, don't they?
They are.
He was a Marine pilot.
She was a housewife.
Married 47 years.
They had one child.
My mom is just
like everyone else.
She's nice enough.
Great sense of humor.
Hates confrontation.
My dad's just like you.
Not the caring-till-
your-eyes pop-out part.
Just the insane moral compass that won't
let you lie to anybody about anything.
It's a great quality for
boy scouts and police witnesses.
Crappy quality for a dad.
Hey.
How you doing?
I'm hanging in there.
I'm sorry
I lied to you about mom.
I'm sorry
I lied to you too.
There was nothing good
that came out of her dying.
I'm not mad.
I know why you did it.
It worked.
I never drink and drive.
I'm scared, dad.
Come on.
There's nothing to be scared of.
You're gonna be just fine.
Don't play me.
I wanna know the truth.
I'm telling you the truth.
You're gonna be fine.
I swear.
I love you, dad.
I love you too.
Why does he hate
seeing his parents?
So his dad tells the truth,
he can't handle that?
He hates
being a disappointment.
He's a doctor.
World famous.
How disappointed can they be?
You know what I figure is worse than
watching your son become crippled,
watching him be miserable.