House: Top Secret

House is puzzled yet intrigued when he meets his newest patient, John Kelley, an ex-Marine who had saved House’s life in a realistic dream just the night before. House is bewildered by how this man could have appeared in his dream before he met him. Recently returned from a two-year deployment in Iraq, Kelley is complaining of fatigue, pain and other non-specific ailments he thinks are the result of Gulf War Syndrome. Just like the V.A. doctors before them, the team is wary about the validity of Kelley’s symptoms, but since his uncle is an important benefactor to the hospital, they continue to investigate his case. Meanwhile, House is suffering from ailments of his own: he is unable to urinate, most likely a side effect of his Vicodin abuse, and is sleep-deprived. Unable to concentrate on the case, he eventually turns to Wilson for an under-the-table prescription. While administering tests in the sleep lab, Cameron and Chase forego their clinical duties when they find each other much more exciting. A foul infection shows up in Kelley’s mouth while Cameron and Chase were supposed to have been on the clock, and his condition only worsens as he begins to lose his hearing, sight and mobility. A brain scan reveals tumors in Kelly’s brain that were not there a week earlier when the government doctors at the V.A. examined him. But when traces of uranium show up in Kelley’s test results, the team wonders if the government has something to hide.