Three Stories

"Three Stories" is the twenty-first episode of the first season of House, which premiered on Fox on May 17, 2005. David Shore won an Emmy in 2005 for Outstanding Writing for A Drama Series for this episode. It won the Humanitas Prize in the '60 minute' category for the year 2006.

Dr. Gregory House (Hugh Laurie) agrees to lecture on diagnostics in place of the sick Dr. Riley, in exchange for two hours free from clinic duty. On his way over to the lecture hall, he encounters his ex-girlfriend, Stacy Warner (Sela Ward), whom he has not seen in years. Stacy wants him to treat her husband whom she believes to be sick. House's lecture consists of three different scenarios, all previous cases House has diagnosed; all three patients complain of leg pain.

The first patient is a farmer, who was bitten by a timber rattlesnake. However, when the anti-venom is given, he suffers an allergic reaction. The results of venom testing leads House to believe the farmer's symptoms cannot be from a snake bite. Out of options, House informs the patient of his impending death. The farmer quickly changes priority, wondering what will happen to his dog. House deduces that the bite was caused by his pet, and that this was not the first time it happened. Dr. Eric Foreman (Omar Epps) and Dr. Robert Chase (Jesse Spencer) return to the farmer's field and take a sample of the dog's saliva, revealing a form of strep bacteria, more commonly known as the . The farmer's right leg is amputated, and his dog is euthanized, but he is given a prosthetic new leg as well as a new dog.

The second patient is a female volleyball player. Dr. Allison Cameron (Jennifer Morrison) believes the patient suffers from tendinitis, due to her thyroid gland causing a depressed mental state, in response to the patient's boy problems, resulting in the inflammation of the tendons. While tests confirm tendinitis, the Thyroxine the patient is given to level her moods does not work and the team becomes stumped when the patient develops hypersensitivity to touch and raised calcium levels. Chase theorizes parathyroid adenoma and an MRI is done to confirm. The scan reveals she has osteosarcoma, a cancerous tumor on her femur. Cameron warns the patient and her parents that, depending on how large and ingrained the tumor is, amputation might be the only way to recovery. Fortunately for the patient, her leg is not amputated and she makes a full recovery.