I know I haven't updated in a while, but I am catching up. I will complete season 5 and am also considering adding a list of diseases discussed on the show.
As I discussed in my previous post, my reviews here have suffered because I no longer have transcripts to go by. I will continue to post my abbreviated versions. This is complicated by the fact that I waited so long to write them that I'm having trouble remembering what happened!


5.07 The Itch

Initial Symptoms: Man with agoraphobia + headache + seizures
Diagnosis: Lead poisoning from bullets left inside patient after a shooting (House)

Contributions by Team
House (2): Realizes patient's bowel is obstructed, diagnosis for lead poisoning
Cameron (2): Persuades patient to allow team to keep treating him, observes flattened villi in bowel
Chase (0): None
Foreman (1): Idea to perform EEG to diagnose cause of seizures
Kutner (0): None
Taub (0): None
Thirteen (0): None

Notes: The team was limited while diagnosing and treating this patient, as he refused to leave his home.
Removing the bullet fragments without anaesthesia was brutal even by House's own standards.
I'm assuming the partial bowel obstruction was also caused by the lead poisoning.
House spent a lot of the episode trying to force the patient to go to the hospital against his wishes. I'm calling this a value judgment and therefore am not awarding or deducting points around this issue.
Taub loses a point for igniting the patient's intestinal gas during the surgery, but that may be excusable given the circumstances under which he performed the surgery.


5.08 Emancipation

There were two cases for the Housepets this week. Foreman diagnosed a clinic patient with help from Chase and Cameron.

Case A
Initial Symptoms: Girl with pulmonary edema
Diagnosis: Arsenic poisoning (House) + acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) (Thirteen)

Contributions by Team
House (2): Diagnosis for arsenic poisoning, gets patient to admit truth and contact her family
Cameron (N/A): Not part of diagnosis
Chase (N/A): Not part of diagnosis
Foreman (1): Notices blood in patient's urine
Kutner (1): Observes on fMRI that patient is lying about her family
Taub (0): None
Thirteen (1): Diagnosis for APL

Notes: I'm assuming that the arsenic poisoning was contributing to her symptoms, or that it would have made her sick if she hadn't also had APL (which is treated with arsenic).
From the patient's fMRI Kutner deduces that the patient is lying about her parents, and House later figures out that she's lying from guilt and persuades her to contact her family. Because the patient is a minor and (according to the show) would need a bone marrow transplant to save her life, I'm awarding points for this.

Case B
Initial Symptoms: Boy with lethargy, diarrhea, bloody vomiting
Diagnosis: Iron toxicity from too many vitamins (Foreman)

Contributions by Team
House (N/A): Refuses to participate in diagnosis
Cameron (0): None
Chase (1): Suggests patient is being poisoned by his mother or brother
Foreman (1): Diagnosis for iron toxicity
Kutner (N/A): Not part of diagnosis
Taub (N/A): Not part of diagnosis
Thirteen (N/A): Not part of diagnosis

Notes: I'm going to brag here: I called the patient's brother poisoning him long before Foreman figured it out. But then I think most of the audience did.


5.09 Last Resort

Initial Symptoms: Man with lack of breath, fatigue, headaches, stomach aches, skin rashes, heart palpitations, insomnia
Diagnosis: Melioidosis (Cameron)

Contributions by Team
House (4): Observes patient has low lung volume, diagnoses seventh-nerve palsy, observes patient is sweating on just one side of his face, diagnoses patient with low calcium (Chvostek's sign)
Cameron (2): Suggests patient's medications have been protecting his kidneys, diagnosis for melioidosis
Chase (N/A): Refuses to participate in diagnosis
Foreman (1): Suggests chronic lung infection
Kutner (0): None
Taub (0): None
Thirteen (2): Observes patient has high heart rate, suggests chemical cardioversion to restore heart rate

Notes: Diagnosis was complicated by the patient, you know, holding House and Thirteen hostage.
The medicine was confusing. If the writers can't keep it straight, don't expect me to; I'm just doing the best I can.
Since chronis melioidosis can affect the brain, I'm assuming here that the patient's palsy and anhidrosis (sweating on one side of his face) were symptoms.


5.10 Let Them Eat Cake

Initial Symptoms: Woman with difficultly breathing
Diagnosis: Hereditary coproporphyria (House)

Contributions by Team
House (1): Diagnosis for hereditary coproporphyria
Cameron (N/A): Not part of diagnosis
Chase (N/A): Not part of diagnosis
Foreman (0): None
Kutner (0): None
Taub (1): Sees problem has spread to the patient's muscles
Thirteen (0): None

Notes: Either Kutner or Taub noticed that the patient had lost sensation in her foot, but I don't remember which.


5.11 Joy to the World

Initial Symptoms: Girl with hallucinations, vomiting, liver failure
Diagnosis: Eclampsia (Cuddy) + poisoning with hallucinogenic mushroom (Thirteen)

Contributions by Team
House (2): Notices high alkaline phosphate levels in patient's blood, stops Wilson and Cuddy from putting patient on chemotherapy
Cameron (N/A): Not part of diagnosis
Chase (1): Gets students to admit to poisoning patient
Foreman (0): None
Kutner (0): None
Taub (0): None
Thirteen (1): Diagnosis for hallucinogen poisoning

Notes: Yay, Cuddy got the diagnosis! She also found the patient's abandoned baby.

Labels: Season 5