House (2004–2012): Season 2, Episode 6 - Spin - full transcript

Star bicycle racer collapses, and the team must come up with a diagnosis after the patient admits to blood doping. House and Stacy continue sparring with each other. Clinic Case: Flight attendant poisons himself with gum.

As the riders begin Lap Two, Jeff
Forster is leading the pack.

Theyre jockeying
for position, now...

This is so cool.

Did we miss anything?

They've got, like,
11 laps to go.

We gotta find a good place where we
can see the sign when he goes by.

Wait up, kids!

There is a strong chase pack
forming led by Vernonski...

At this point in the race, things
are still too close to call.

It's anybody's race,
but Forster looks...

Turn six. Come on.



Mike Larson has made
a nice break from the pack

and has closed the gap
on Forster and the lead group.

That's it. Up there.

Can you see anything?

Did you bring his inhaler?

Crap!

I think it's in the car.
I'll go get it.

Are you okay? Your dad's
gonna be right back...

I can see him.
He's right up front.

Honey, you're wheezing.

Here they come. Go, Jeff! Yeah!

You're number one!

He doesn't look so good.

Ladies and gentlemen,
Forster is down.



Yeah!

We need to talk.

Oh, God. Are you pregnant? 'Cause I
really wanna finish high school.

You have to renew
your credential.

They're good
for two more months.

Three weeks. And the
paperwork takes forever.

Your application,
your malpractice insurance,

criminal records check and you know
that's gonna take some explaining.

You know, our relationship was way
better when we were sleeping together.

Why did we stop doing that?
Did you get married?

Yeah. Otherwise I'd be on you
like red on rice.

Look, rice isn't...
Oh, I get it.

You're also behind
on your dictations.

I don't do dictations.

Cameron does them, or somebody.

And you can't have your sole
female employee

doing your clerical work, which
you'd know if you'd attended

the required
sexual harassment seminars.

Now, I'm gonna pause so you can
make a crack about harassment.

Joke killer.

House, got a patient.

Sorry. Can't play anymore.
My mom's calling me.

We just admitted
a world-class cyclist.

- You gotta fire Stacy.
- Yeah, I'll get right on that.

Jeff Forster, respiratory arrest
at 30 miles per hour.

She's loading me up
with pointless paperwork.

Well, you're way behind
on your pointless paperwork.

- O2 sats are in the...
- She's hostile.

You know me, hostility makes
me shrink up like a...

I can't think of
a non-sexual metaphor.

She's gonna stand over my desk with
a ruler, checking my spelling...

ER checked for lung infiltrates.
Nothing there.

Professional athletes, Cuddy. It's
like watching an old movie at 2 a.m.

Reliving all the
classic moments.

The part where
he denies it's drugs.

The part where the good guys
ride in, tests a-blazing,

prove that it is drugs.

Oscar clip. He can't imagine
how they got into his body.

It's so familiar,
so comforting.

She can't handle
working with me.

Oh, right. Yeah.

She's still got a thing for you,
making it impossible for her to deal.

It makes perfect sense,
except for the pronouns.

Anyway, thanks for getting me
out of that meeting.

He's not denying the drugs.

I'm thinking
he's actually sick.

Jeff Forster, this is...

I'm a doctor.
You're a sick person.

And you are a loved one.
Actually, manager.

We've been together
for 7 years.

So what's the drug du jour on
the bike circuit these days?

Still erythropoietin, or are you
guys just chugging battery acid?

There's no way I'd touch EPO.
Too many guys stroking out and dying.

Damn.

10 bucks for the ticket,
six for the popcorn.

I do straight blood doping.

Plot twist.

That's a very daring
confession.

We've got confidentiality,
right?

Assuming I'm more ethical
than your client.

So, injecting yourself with donor
red blood cells for fun and profit.

Any other tricks
up your sleeve?

Well, nothing much recently.

I'm in town for a charity ride,
so it didn't matter if I won.

The kids just needed to see me.

If you go slower,
they see you longer.

Let's say our health could be affected
by things we did before last Friday.

Well, I usually sleep
in a Hyperbaric Chamber.

I've been pumping up
electrolytes with an IV drip.

Anabolic herbal supplements,
amphetamines and diuretics.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
But why would you be sick?

I know that doping has risks.
I know that it's outside the rules.

But I do what I have to to
kick ass at my job. Don't you?

Dr. House is a firm believer in
good old-fashioned hard work.

This guy doesn't even get
sick like a regular person.

Instead of a list of symptoms
and no cause,

we have a list of possible
causes for one symptom.

Is the symptom death?

Respiratory distress.

Insanity doesn't cause it.
I looked it up.

It's the doping. Injecting extra red
cells boosts your endurance level

but it also
thickens your blood.

Thick blood equals clots
equals respiratory distress.

Not with a clean
spiral chest CT.

The guy's sleeping
in a Hyperbaric Chamber.

Over-oxygenation
can cause cell damage,

and if the cells
in the lungs are damaged...

That'd cause pulmonary edema,
which he doesn't have.

The supplements he's been
taking contain yohimbe

which can cause
nerve paralysis.

Tox-screen was normal.

All the tests were normal.

There's no clot, no edema, and
yet he still can't breathe.

So there's something in here
that we can't see.

Air.

Come to Papa.

This guy's been injecting
himself how many times a day?

All it'd take is one slip of the
needle to cause an air embolus.

So, air is keeping him
from breathing air.

Well, let's go with that
for the irony.

Get a VQ scan and check
his veins for bubbles.

Xenon 133.

It's just radioactive enough for us to
track the air moving through your lungs.

Was my accident on the news?

Yeah, you made
Plays of the Week.

A few more of those, and cycling
will be as popular as NASCAR.

We inject similar stuff into your
blood so we can watch it circulate.

If you accidentally
injected a bubble,

we'll see good air flow
but poor blood flow.

I'm careful, man.

With all due respect, man,

I doubt there's anything wrong with
you that you didn't do to yourself.

There's this kid in oncology, she's
got a picture of Jeff above her bed.

Mickey Mantle was an alcoholic.

At least he hit
his own home runs.

He didn't physically
alter himself.

We take drugs to help us fall
asleep, to stay awake...

Yeah, but we don't make careers out
of who can stay awake the longest.

Really? Ever been to, oh,
I don't know, med school?

Guys, he plays a game
for a living. Who cares?

You don't even like sports.

He's making millions of
dollars ripping off fans.

Anyone who thinks
they should pay a guy money

because he can throw a ball
really far or pedal really fast

- deserves to be ripped off.
- Yeah, stupid, stupid kids.

I've got an uncle. He can
spit a cherry pit 50 yards.

He's working part-time at a lube shop.
Life isn't fair.

Maybe it is.

You were right.

Now, there were
three wasted words.

There is a bubble in his lung. We
should do a Swan-Ganz catheterization.

I love when you do both
sides of the conversation.

It's like white noise.
It's very peaceful.

Is there a light somewhere
that goes on when I have food?

Green for food, orange for
beverages, red for impure thoughts.

That bulb burns out
every two weeks.

How's your biker?

Pumped an air bubble
into a vein in his lung.

The things people do.
Doping, Vicodin...

Hey, you're talking about me,
aren't you?

I'm just trying to function. He's trying
to win himself some little yellow jerseys.

Oh.

What?

Trouble in paradise. 2 o'clock.

Your 2 o'clock or my 2 o'clock?

There.

She seems perfectly happy.

Obviously they huddled in the hall
and worked up this circus act

on the off chance
you'd be in here.

She was unbelievably pissy
three hours ago.

Hmm.

Pissy with you,
happy with her husband.

Yes, there can only be one
possible explanation for that.

When she's angry
she gets sarcastic.

When she's annoyed she's funny.

But when she's frustrated
she gets pissy.

Yes, yes, I'm with you so far.

She's miserable with Mark
because he's not me.

So she's gotta make me not me,

so she makes my professional
life miserable.

- If I can't do my job...
- You really, really need to get some...

Oh, I get some
"some" all the time.

It's why I always need
to borrow some money.

Hi, James. Greg, you
gotten to that paperwork?

I've been pissy.

Pardon me?

I've been busy.

When you save someone's life,
they owe you forever.

You're right. Take Stacy.

Oh, wait, she'd probably
just leave you all over again.

How's your recovery going? Gotten
around to the small muscles yet?

It's not the size of the muscle,
it's where you get to put it.

My goodness, it's like watching Oscar
Wilde and Noel Coward in the third grade.

Excuse us.

How awkward was that?

What's he doing here anyway? He's
got physio Tuesdays and Fridays.

Mark is in group therapy for
people coping with disability.

He was thinking about
developing a drug addiction,

- but that would be stupid.
- Hey, you're... You, again.

You're not gonna make some joke
about Mark being in therapy?

What's there to say? He's
doing the responsible thing.

I'm sure he's got
a lot to deal with.

You're making me nervous.

Every time an athlete goes down,
you guys assume it's drugs.

Look, the doctors say
it's probably acid reflux.

Yeah, look, call me tomorrow. There's
a good chance he'll be released.

Okay. Bye-bye.

So, is this fixing him?

If his acid reflux isn't worse
than we thought, yeah.

I gotta be in Spain
in four days.

Shouldn't be a problem.

Great.

If I could just find the little bugger,
should be able to suck it out.

My legs feel weak.

You're under mild sedation
for the test. It'll wear off.

There it is.

- Got it.
- Fantastic, I'll pack his things.

Not yet. I wanna monitor him for a
couple of hours, make sure he's okay.

Give him time to sign a picture
for me, maybe even a jersey.

"To Doctor Chase,
I owe you everything."

It doesn't
have to be that personal.

Not too many eBay shoppers
named Doctor Chase, huh?

Still trying to unload
the Barbara Walters spit cup.

Here you go.

Seriously, anything's fine.

Jeff!

You all right?

Jeff, can you swallow?

What makes a guy
start drooling?

Chase, were you wearing
your short shorts?

Muscle fatigue
in his neck and jaw.

He's obviously got something
worse than an air embolus.

Why?

Because you don't
drool from your lungs?

Maybe the problem is not
the embolus itself.

Maybe it's the treatment.

Maybe you hit a nerve,
literally.

The embolectomy was clean.
His legs were tired, too.

I thought it was from the
sedation, but if not,

it means he's got
something systemic.

Which means it would have nothing to
do with the stunts he's been pulling.

Lupus or polymyositis.

It explains the progressive
muscle weakness.

It could be ALS.

He's too young for that.

Some type of
muscular dystrophy?

He's too old for that.

So what would be
just right, Goldilocks?

Full blood workup,
including ANA for lupus.

And get a muscle biopsy. Find out if
we're talking myopathy or neuropathy.

I'm late for my session.

Session?

It's all a part of the process.

You get angry
and then you get...

Yeah. I'm right on schedule.

So, when am I gonna be done?

No, I need to know,
'cause I got plans to make.

When can I safely
book a game of squash?

When am I gonna
stop being angry?

Not today.

I've come for the healing.

Dr. Harper, as you know,
I have a bum leg.

What you don't know is I'm upset about it.
I need to talk.

You know House.
You know we have a history.

You've been telling me for
years that I should come by.

Here I am. Hi, guys.

- I've got a Thursday group.
- Poker night.

- Monday morning?
- Book club.

Well, look, if it's a problem, I'll
just go deal with my rage privately.

Wait.

If you two could
resolve this tension,

you could really
help each other.

I'm tired of fighting.

So either I say yes
or I'm the jerk?

Oh, God, I know that feeling.

I took the muscle specimen
from Jeff's thigh.

I figured that's where we'd have the
best chance at finding something.

The most painful place
to cut into.

I assume that's caffeine-free.

Wouldn't want to be artificially
boosting your performance.

Don't start her up again.

Caffeine's legal.

All about the rules, eh?

It's a bike race,

a completely arbitrary set of
rules that everyone complies with

for no other reason than that some
committee says that they should.

But that's the point.
That's what the game is.

So, if you break an arbitrary
rule, Cameron damns you to hell.

But if you break a rule
that actually has a reason

that's designed
to protect people,

Cameron develops
a crazy crush on you.

House doesn't pretend
to be some golden boy.

He does it to help people,
not to glorify himself.

So why don't you report Jeff
to the biking authorities?

Ethics.

Well, you wouldn't be doing
it to glorify yourself.

You'd just be trying
to make a better world.

At least you can still
get around on your own.

Yeah, I know.

But you're starting to walk.
You're gonna get better.

You have a job,
a way to be productive.

And you have a wife.

Which gives greater meaning?

A wife could make things
harder, too, I suppose.

This isn't about Stacy.

When it happened to me,
Stacy was great.

She kept telling me
not to rush it.

I never believed her.

She means it.

I know, but...

Stacy. She shouldn't
have to wait, right?

And you know she feels it, too.

There's more time at work. There's
more satisfaction from work.

She didn't get married
to be a nursemaid.

She wants a man.

How the hell could she have loved a
manipulative son of a bitch like you?

That's an interesting question.

Maybe she was attracted to
different things in the two of us.

She left you.

But why was she with me
to begin with?

- She made a mistake.
- Maybe it's that simple.

Or maybe she saw
something in me,

something she doesn't get
from you.

- I'm not an ass.
- Maybe she wanted an ass.

- She obviously did once.
- Either he goes or I go.

You think that's the kind of
thing you can just turn off?

- Get him out of here!
- Dr. House, cancel your book group.

You're coming on Mondays.

Here's my new theory. The drooling's
another competitive edge.

Nobody can draft behind it.
The road gets slick.

He's the only one
not racing in the rain.

He can barely move
his arms and legs.

- Paralysis?
- No, just general weakness.

Muscle biopsy is negative
for polymyositis.

And ALS and muscular dystrophy.

ANA for lupus, also negative.

Maybe his bike shorts
are just on too tight.

So, by your rationale,
House shouldn't use a cane.

He should just drag his bum
leg around as God intended?

House has a handicap. All
he's aiming for is normality.

And who decides what's normal?

What if we find a drug that makes
people live 20 years longer?

Should we ban that
because it's not normal?

Jeff doesn't want normal.
He wants superpowers.

- So why is he normal?
- Oh, God, you too?

He's shooting
for extraordinary.

So why is everything
so ordinary?

I mean, this guy's breathing,
drinking and injecting himself

with everything he can find
to amp up his body chemistry,

and yet every test is normal.

He's artificially raising his red
blood count, so why isn't it raised?

Maybe his count is raised.

Maybe what's normal for us
is out of whack for him.

Can't slip anything by you.

Well, if that's true,
his white cells are up, too.

Which would point
to some kind of infection.

Muscle weakness, exhaustion.
He could have encephalitis.

- That's kind of a long shot.
- Yeah.

But it's been over an hour
since we've poked the patient

with something sharp.
So, get a lumbar puncture

and order broad-spectrum
antibiotics.

No, it's not about judging.

It's just that on a dating
service you should post a photo.

I have to go.

- I am so sorry to bother you.
- Nope, not a problem.

I was just accounting.

I'm Jeff Forster's manager.

He's been here a whole day,

and it doesn't seem like we're
any closer to a diagnosis.

Jeff Forster. A whole day, huh?

Mmm-hmm.

I was just wondering if I
could help speed things up.

Your client's had a muscle
biopsy, a full blood workup

and he's scheduled for a lumbar
puncture at 10 a.m. tomorrow.

Jeff is in the Lucas Wing.

If Mr. Lucas showed up
needing a lumbar puncture,

would he have to
wait until tomorrow?

- Mr. Lucas is dead.
- Good.

Then there's an opening.

Jeff is used to doing whatever
he has to to be first, isn't he?

It's been
very lucrative for him.

He feels it's important
that he give something back.

I hear you've been raising funds for
your nuclear medicine department

or whatever.

Thank you, guys,
for working so late.

Glad to be here.

The lumbar puncture will tell us
what kind of infection you've got.

In the meantime, we're
administering antibiotics.

Do you like being a hero?

It's a living.

You don't feel
a sense of responsibility?

There's kids out there
that worship you.

When I was a rookie
on the tour,

I got a letter
from a guy in Wisconsin.

He wanted me
to send a note to his son.

He said he worshipped me.

You know what worship means?
I looked it up.

It means to love unquestioningly
and uncritically.

So the kid doesn't even
know me, but he loves me

unquestioningly
and uncritically.

So you decided
to take advantage of that.

What should I have done?
"Dear sir, I'm just a guy"

who rides a bike pretty good.

"You and your kid
are out of your minds."

My arms feel funny.

The sats are dropping.
He's in respiratory arrest.

He can't be. We fixed that.

Apparently not.

So glad we cured
his respiratory arrest.

It freed him up to develop
respiratory arrest.

LP was negative
for encephalitis.

The white count's
still the same,

but the red count's
fallen to 29%.

What was my theory yesterday?

That I screwed up
the embolectomy.

We'll get a chest x-ray
to check.

I didn't screw up.
Why would you...

How can you be so petty, Chase?
He's down a quart.

Either he's losing blood
because you nicked something

or he's just
not producing blood,

in which case,
we're talking acute anemia

combined with
a muscular disorder.

Paraneoplastic syndrome?

Either you screwed up
or he's got cancer.

I think I should
start smoking again.

You want a medical opinion
supporting that decision?

The symptoms started
as soon as I quit.

Symptoms meaning diarrhea.

- A lot of diarrhea.
- 10 or 12 times a day.

It's really embarrassing.
I'm a flight attendant and...

Well, on the up side,
my hiccups are gone.

You went to his group.

Well, you were the one who was all, "Greg,
you need to confront your feelings".

That was five years ago.

Well, I've been pissy.

Fine, you don't want help. Does
that mean nobody should get it?

Mark's looking for help because,
what, he's resentful, overwhelmed?

- I'm asking because I care.
- Not about him.

You still wanna jump me, so you
don't care whose marriage...

Listen, I can get my rocks
off any time I want.

What I don't seem to be
able to do is my job

without you hanging over
my shoulder.

How many packs?

A bit over one a day, but
they were lights, and I quit.

You used to go out with her?

Yeah.

What was I thinking?

I'm talking about the gum you're chewing
to replace smoking as an oral fixation.

- How many packs?
- Six, maybe seven.

I'm trying to protect you.

Cuddy and I may be the only people
stopping you from jumping off a cliff...

- You're pissy.
- Oh, I am angry!

- You get pissy when you're frustrated.
- Shut up.

Okay, I'm wrong.

This is unbelievably difficult
for Mark, which you should know.

Which you should be able to summon
up some level of empathy for.

Right. The crippled boys.
We should start a band.

I have a good thing with Mark.

We are handling this
the best way we know how.

And none of this has
anything to do with me?

No, nothing, except that you
can't or won't just let it go.

Let it go.

You're being poisoned.

By gum?

Sugarless gum uses sorbitol
as a sweetener.

We use sorbitol as a laxative.

This will tell you if he's
got cancer in his blood?

If he does, we'll see
abnormal cells in the marrow.

How long will the tests take?

I'll get them in
as soon as I can.

And if he doesn't have cancer,
what else could it be?

It's possible some damage was done
during one of the tests we gave him.

So either one of your doctors
screwed up a simple procedure

or he's got cancer.

We can't know anything for sure
until the biopsy comes back.

It stings, I know.

No, he wants the tube out.

I can't do that, Jeff.

If you wanna say something,
you've gotta write it down. Okay?

Here.

If it's cancer, it's possible.

There's no way
to know for sure.

Phone not working?

One of the morgue attendants
asked me to bring this to you.

Wonder why they're calling me.

Yeah, me too, actually.

I was wondering why the Times
was returning your call.

You a doctor
or the bicycle police?

He's cheating.
He shouldn't get away with it.

Have you actually
told them anything yet?

You worried
about the precedent?

I'm worried about you.

You gonna turn me in?

No.

He's made a mistake. Revealing
the truth doesn't undo it.

Kids love him, and he's not who
they think he is. It's not right.

Who cares if he's what he says he is?
Who the hell is?

If love is based on lies, does
that mean it's not a real feeling?

It doesn't bring
the same pleasure?

Are we still talking
about the patient?

Have you ever cheated?

Well, I have.

You wanna punish him?
Good for you.

But you can't do it without
punishing the people who love him.

Is that how you justified
lying to your wives?

I always told them.

Well, he's negative for bleeds.

Congratulations, Chase.
It's cancer.

Clean him up and let oncology have him.
It's their party now.

He doesn't have cancer. Biopsy shows
he's got pure red cell aplasia.

There's no way PRCA
could manifest so suddenly.

Unless it's drug-induced. He's
lying about not being on EPO.

Why would he lie?

What does it matter?

People lie for thousands of reasons.
But there's always a reason.

Philosophically interesting,
medically irrelevant.

Unless he's not lying.

You've got a leak. The press is
all over the Jeff Forster story.

On the off chance that one of
you was stupid enough to call

from your own office, I'm
pulling your phone records,

including your cell phones.

I assume if I point out the fact
that you have no right to do that,

you'll interpret that
as a sign of guilt?

Wilson's chatty, plus he's
got two ex-wives to support.

You want me to tell him
he's fired?

Until we figure out who's behind
this, I'm sitting in with you guys.

You have the ethics of a 4-year-old.
I'm gonna treat you like one.

How am I supposed to practice medicine
with a lawyer sitting on my shoulder?

- Responsibly.
- You know I can't do that.

Cameron.

I'm not the leak.

Somebody once told me
that everybody lies,

and since you're the only people
who know he has cancer...

He doesn't have cancer.

The point is,
you're his medical team.

He's threatening to sue.

Why would Cameron leak cancer?

How does cancer
make the guy look bad?

He's on EPO.

Your anemia is caused
by pure red cell aplasia.

This is gonna hurt,
but we gotta talk.

What the hell are you doing?

He'll be fine, sort of.

I just don't have time to
watch him write out answers.

PRCA comes in two varieties,
chronic and acute.

Since it came on fast,
you have the acute version.

He doesn't have cancer.

Is the good news.
The bad news is

pants are on fire.

Acute PRCA is caused by drugs,
most commonly, EPO.

Ready, and action!

But I haven't used EPO.

Okay, but this time,
with more anger.

Remember, this guy's
accusing you of cheating.

I haven't used that stuff.

I believed it. It was simple, it was pure.
Did you believe it?

I guess it's silly to cast someone
after the first audition.

- Why don't you do a reading?
- Give me that.

- He doesn't do EPO.
- What did you think?

It's a different way to go, but, I
don't know, I just didn't buy it.

Does she handle
any of your injections?

You think I'm giving it to him?

Test him.

Gee, that's a great idea.

I sure hope that EPO's not one of those
drugs that's undetectable after six hours.

Hey, you know what we can test for?
Phone calls.

Take her cell phone.
Push the redial button.

Even money says you'll be
connected to the newspaper

that leaked your cancer story.

Okay.

Okay, I should have told you.

It's not just about
the races, Jeff.

It's about your image, okay?

If you come back from cancer, those
sponsors will be all over you.

Okay, so I messed up. Okay?
But I did not give you EPO.

That stuff could kill me.

Come on, give her a break.

She was only doing what she
has to to advance her career.

Don't you have that tattooed
on your tushie?

I would never do
anything to hurt you.

Who are you gonna believe,

the manager you've trusted
for years?

I've been to college.

You're fired.

Okay.

You're basing this
whole diagnosis, everything,

on the idea that I was
slipping him illegal drugs.

You're gonna kill him.

If Doctor House is so sure,
why do you need to stay?

He's a very cautious man.

Your breathing's better.
Let the prednisone do its job.

Get some sleep.

Jeff?

His red blood cell count
plummeted to 16%.

He passed out, had to be resuscitated,
and he still can't move his legs.

That's not possible. The drugs should
be flushing out of his system.

Can't leave
if they don't exist.

The EPO use explains
every one of his symptoms.

He's been lying and cheating, and
now it's coming back to bite him.

The only problem with that theory
is it's based on the assumption

that the universe
is a just place.

If it were, then his poor manager
wouldn't have been fired for no reason.

- Lambert-Eaton.
- His chest was clear.

So we run
an electromyography test.

You're still not explaining
the PRCA.

What's his red count now?

I had to give him
a blood transfusion.

He's back around 30.

He needed a transfusion?

Well, he was losing blood, so, I
thought maybe he needed blood.

Go forth and scan his neck.

His neck?

Or repeat everything I say
in question form.

She came into the clinic
and yelled at me.

Then she left, she came back
and yelled some more.

Hmm.

Yelling. That might be a clue.

I know what the yelling means. It's the
coming and going I find interesting.

- It's not rational.
- Anger is not rational.

Some anger is.

She could have pulled me aside,
screamed at me privately.

Her beef is simple
and well founded.

But she was out of control.

You're having fun, aren't you?

She's in my face.
I need to know why.

Professional reasons.

Why else?

Do you really think this is
going to end well for anyone?

After this, let's scan some other
totally random body parts.

50 bucks says
we find something.

Find what?

Don't have a clue. We on?

No way.

No. We'll find something.

- We found a thymoma.
- How'd you know to look in his neck?

Thymoma's usually present
in the chest.

I knew it wasn't in his chest.

All we've done since he checked
in is look at his chest.

- All the more reason not to think...
- There are two types of PRCA.

Acute comes on suddenly,
chronic takes its time.

We all thought Jeff's was acute because
it happened right in front of us.

But what if it'd been there
for months, maybe years?

There's no way. It would
have kept him from racing.

With that kind of anemia, he
would have needed constant...

Blood transfusions.

Which he was getting in
convenient blood doping form.

He was treating himself
without even knowing it.

Up to half of patients with
chronic PRCA have a thymoma.

And up to half of patients
with a thymoma...

I've always wanted to do this.

I'm not getting any better.
Does that mean I'm...

You are healed. Rise and walk.

Are you insane?

In the Bible,
people just say, "Yes, Lord",

and then start right in
on the praising.

First you tell me
I've got cancer.

And then you tell me
that my manager...

What did you do?

No, "What did you do, Lord?"

Thymoma is a tumor
on the thymus gland.

He's a bit of a wimp, but he
hangs with the tough guys.

PRCA and an autoimmune disease
called myasthenia gravis.

MG causes muscle fatigue

including respiratory problems
and difficulty swallowing.

And it can hit you that fast?

The treatment for PRCA
is blood transfusions.

The treatment for MG
is hyperbaria.

You were doing both as part
of your regular freak show.

When you took a break,
everything went to hell,

which is not an uncommon
reaction in Jersey.

So, the whole thing
with my manager...

Oops. No, no EPO.

This has nothing to do
with anything you did.

- Let her know she's in the clear.
- I could.

Or 10% of a Nike contract

is a hell of a lot of cash.

You don't need your thymus.

If we take it out,
everything else is manageable.

Manageable?
I thought you just cured me.

Uh-uh. This is just diagnostic.

Tensilon erases the symptoms
of MG for five or six minutes.

Sometimes less.

This is exactly
why I created nurses.

Clean up on Aisle Three!

If you've come to search my office,
you should wait 10 minutes.

I'll be out of your hair.

Here, start with my purse.
Just save me some mints.

What do you wanna know?
My sex life with Mark?

My guilt over
crippling your damn leg?

Or are you just here to gloat
because you weren't the leak?

I want to apologize.

Maybe I've

been punishing you
for a little too long.

And maybe you've been
punishing me.

If we're going to work
together, I need to know.

Do you hate me
or do you love me?

Either way, I think
we've got a problem.

I hate you and I love you.

And I love Mark.

And you don't hate him.

No.

So what do we do?

We deal with each other.

Right.

That plan's been
working great so far.

It'll get better.
It'll get easier.

- Why?
- I don't know.

That's what my therapist
tells me.

In the professional cycling
world, we are subject to

what seems like constant
witch-hunts and finger-pointing.

But I want to thank Dr. House
and the excellent medical team

here at Princeton-Plainsboro.

My hope is that this diagnosis

will put to rest any rumors
that I would ever...

He needs blood transfusions
every two weeks,

which means
he can dope all he wants.

He's got a doctor's pass.

It's medicinal.

He got away with it.

Mmm-hmm.

He cheated and won a game.

Life's more complicated than who
gets to the finish line first.

I fell in love
with my husband's best friend.

Near the end, I was at
the hospital every day,

and Joe would come by
after work.

We'd go for walks and try to
talk each other through it.

We kind of clung on
to each other.

My wife

wasn't dying.
She wasn't even sick.

Everything was fine.

But I met someone who

made me feel funny.

Good.

And I didn't want to
let that feeling go.

What happened to you?

How can anyone
go through that alone?

You can't control
your emotions.

No.

Just your actions.

You didn't do it, did you?
You didn't sleep with him.

I couldn't have
lived with myself.

You'd be surprised
what you can live with.

Hey.

I need you to open a door.

It's not allowed.

Yeah, I was having
therapy in here today

and I left my cane.

Sorry.

Dude,

I'm crippled.