Watching House

Originally aired Tuesday March 27th, 2007, Season 3

The episode begins with a group of soldiers driving through a war zone. Suddenly there’s a burst of fire and the jeep goes over. One Marine hauls another wounded man away… and it’s House, wounded, missing part of his right leg. House is dreaming.

Cut to Dr. Cuddy visiting House’s office with a case for him. The new case is for a veteran with Gulf War syndrome, who just happens to be the nephew of a hospital benefactor. House checks the file, and sees the photo of the marine and realizes it’s the man from his dream.

Next we see Wilson and House in the mens washroom. House tells his dream to Wilson, but doesn’t believe he had a premonition. At the end of their washroom conversation Wilson reminds House to flush and House tells him that he didn’t pee.

House’s team doesn’t know what to make of the case at first and wonder why it’s been given to them. They area divided on the diagnosis of Gulf War Syndrome and run a diagnosis on him, while House wonders if he might have seen the Marine, John Kelley, on TV.

Kelley complains of fatigue and aching of the joints and the staff is still divided, while House wonders again where he might have seen him. House starts to feel some new pains and leaves the staff to test Kelley, and Cameron and Chase spar about who will stay to run the tests. Cameron suggests they have sex on a nearby bed. After some reluctance on Chase’s part, they end up together.

House is at some and still having trouble urinating and sleeping, and feeling more pain. Foreman comes in to find Chase and Cameron gone and Kelley complaining of a phantom odor. Kelley’s mouth is covered with bacterial vaginoisis which is causing the taste/smell.

House is soaking in the bed when the staff calls him with the new confirmed symptom. House suspects parotid cancer and tells them to track down Kelley’s former girlfriend for the possibility of a STD. Wilson tends to Kelley who admits he avoided chewing tobacco because of his concern out of cancer. The staff wonders why House is wasting their time, or if he’s wasting their time, but Foreman is more interested in where Cameron and Chase were. Chase lies (badly) until Cameron admits they were having sex. Foreman thinks she’s joking and doesn’t believe her.

House visits Wilson who says the tests are inconclusive. House then asks for a prescription but Wilson isn’t willing even though House hasn’t urinated in three days. Wilson doesn’t believe him but fills the prescription. The staff confirms Kelley hasn’t had a date in a year and leaves, and after Foreman leaves Chase is ticked off that Cameron convinced Foreman they weren’t together. Chase thinks they’re out of control and suspects Cameron wants to get caught and make House jealous.

House is meeting with a clinic patient, Gina, who is bragging about her sex life and admits she has OCD and drinks a lot of woman… in front of House. House diagnoses her as having diabetes caused by a damaged pituitary. Wilson is testing Kelley with a dye but the Marine goes deaf in the middle of the test. Wilson tells House that Kelley has cancer of the brain, with at least six tumors. After deafness comes blindness… and death.

The tumors didn’t turn up in the VA report, so House wonders if the x-rays got switched. Cameron and Chase report that everything Kelley has told them is true about his background, to confirm why he dreamed about Kelley, and Wilson takes over. Cuddy has the VA re-check the files but House still suspects something is wrong despite the fact a metal pin confirms the x-ray is Kelley’s. House now suspects radiation exposure and orders a new round of tests but Cameron wants him to admit the dream is something House can’t explain. House snaps at her before barging out, and Chase wonders if Cameron is really over House. Foreman and Wilson are preparing for surgery on Kelley when the scan shows no signs of the cancer. House suspects they were wrong diagnosing what they saw but they’re interrupted when Kelley’s legs are paralyzed and House asks him one question: has he ever appeared in any porno.

It’s back to the white board but Chase comes in to reveal he’s detected depleted uranium in Kelley’s uranium. But House doesn’t believe it’s relevant any more and then heads home to get some sleep. Foreman suggests they treat Kelley for radiation toxicity.

House goes home and puts in a catheter to drain his bladder and gain some much needed relief, then goes to bed. The staff prepares to administer the treatment but the paralysis is spreading upward. House can’t get to sleep and goes in the next morning for a new differential diagnosis. They mention they started to administer the radiation treatment and House is irritated since it’s introduced a new variable and didn’t accomplish anything. Cuddy calls them in to reveal that Kelley is unconscious and House believes there’s blood loss and orders a transfusion. Chase trips over a puddle of urine coming out of House’s catheter bag, which is leaking. House starts bleeding from the nose… then realizes he’s having a dream and wakes up.

House comes back in for the morning and now knows the answer: Kelley has cauterization scars in his nose from a childhood disease that destroys the capillaries and merges the arteries and veins together, which prevent his blood from being filtered, causing the infections. Surgery will clear up the condition and House can now urinate. He boasts to Wilson that now he’s fine but Wilson wonders why he was having trouble in the first place, trouble caused by Vicodin. House doesn’t buy it for a minute.

House confronts Cuddy about the fact that she lied and she dated Kelley two years ago, which is how House recognized him. Cuddy suspects that House remembered Kelley because the Marine made out with her and tells House to get over her. House denies it.

Later Cameron and Chase are making out when House barges in to interrupt them, then leaves smiling.

top secret, episode, recap, House, Gulf war syndrome, marine, ex-marine, cancer, disease, bleeding disorder, Hugh Laurie