Volleyball Player is one of the three case studies in the episode Three Stories. During most of the narrative, she is portrayed by actress Andi Eystad, although at the beginning, she is portrayed by Brent Briscoe, the actor who plays The Farmer.
Case History[]
The Volleyball Player was brought to the emergency room after she fell down during practice complaining of severe pain in her right leg which left her unable to stand. Her coach thought it was a pulled muscle. However, the emergency room physician, Dr. Cameron quickly diagnosed her with tendonitis. However, to find the underlying cause, she took a full medical history.
Going back three generations, the patient had no family history of cancer, Parkinson's disease or any other degenerative condition. Dr. Cameron thought she might be depressed by whatever was also causing her tendonitis as she was still upset about a boy who had treated her badly although the patient also realized he was just a jerk. Dr. Cameron had also found a nodule during the physical examination. Dr. House agreed it might be a problem with her thyroid gland, which can cause both symptoms and authorized a thyroid biopsy.
However, Dr. House reminded the students that the nodule itself signified nothing. It only forced them to perform a painful and expensive test. Dr. Cameron administered the biopsy.
The patient responded well to the anti-inflammatories. However, her T4 turned out to be below normal. Rebellious Student complained that Dr. House had said the biopsy was a wasted test.
The patient was started on thyroxin. However, her symptoms continuted to get worse. When the treating physician attempted to draw blood for testing, the patient complained of great pain even at the slightest touch. Testing her blood showed her calcium levels were over 16. Several possible diagnoses were indicated - parathyroid adenoma, kidney problem, intoxication and hyperthyroidism. Another student complained Dr. House was going too fast. He slowed down and said the adenoma was most likely and that they should check her PTH, phosphorus and ionized calcium. He also ordered a technetium sestamibi.
The MRI of her neck showed no adenoma. However, an MRI of her sore leg did - an osteosarcoma in her femur. The only treatment was surgical removal followed by chemotherapy. Her chances of survival were excellent, but if the tumor were large or had spread, the surgeon might have to amputate her leg. They proceeded with the surgery, and she is later seen playing volleyball again with her leg intact.