"I was ten when 'Nam started." Give or take. He remembered watching it on the television. He remembered his mother sitting by the phone, waiting for the call that said his father wouldn't come home. But he had come home.

House sits back down, and rubs the handle of his cane under his chin. "A little advice from you to me, kid. Don't trust women. Don't let your girlfriend have the right to make medical decisions. Even if she is a lawyer."

He shifts the cane and taps it against his forehead before going back to rubbing it under his chin. "I had an infarction, initially misdiagnosed as muscle strain. By the time I figured it out, a third of the muscle was dead. My doctor wanted to amputate. I refused to sign the papers. I asked for a medically induced coma, and my girlfriend authorised a debridement to remove the necrotic tissue. I've tried every pain management option out there, and Vicodin is the only thing that works so I can function."