Foreman and Chase call House at home and tell him that Melinda's condition has worsened too quickly for her to have Guillian-Barré. When House finds out that Cuddy is now in charge of Melinda's case after Melinda's parents "lost confidence" in House and his team, he says he'll be right in. But first, he must take the time to place sleeping Wilson's hand in a pot of water. Gee, I can't imagine why the Melindarents wouldn't have faith in a guy who'd rather make his friend pee in his sleep than rush to their dying daughter's aid.

Early in the morning, the Cottages wonder if Melinda has been poisoned somehow, due to the rapid onset of her paralysis. The Munchausen's red herring rears its head again! But then everyone remembers that the poisoning storyline was last week, and they forget about it. House thinks they should look at the patient herself. She's so stubborn that she found a way to have sex with her boyfriend right under her overprotective mother's nose, which House tastefully refers to as Dan "bringing the hot beef." I really want to know how lines like that get past the censors, but we aren't allowed to hear a guy pee into a toilet. Maybe, House reasons, Melinda's stubbornness extended to eating food filled with botulism, even though this was already dismissed as an option since botulism paralysis is descending, and Melinda's is ascending. They can find out for sure by injecting a rat with Melinda's blood and watching it die, although House will not allow them to use Steve McQueen for this. While they do that, House will go interrogate Melinda on her eating habits until she cracks and admits to something.

House finds Cuddy and Wilson already hovering over his former patient to check for spinal lesions, which House scoffs at, since he's already brilliantly deduced what's wrong with Melinda and there's no need for anyone to do anything else now. He takes the breathing tube out of Melinda's mouth while Cuddy stands there staring in horror but not actually doing anything to stop him. As usual. House asks Melinda if she's eaten anything she wasn't supposed to lately, specifically something that came from a can that was previously featured in the clearance aisle of the Five Cent Store. Of course, we all know that the botulism is also a red herring here, since Stacy has obviously injected all botulism in the state of New Jersey into her forehead to achieve that perfect wrinkle- and emotion-free face. But House continues to ask Melinda about her diet, wondering if her boyfriend brought some treats over when he visited her that night to have sex. "Surprise!" House sing-songs to the shocked parents standing nearby. Melinda denies it, but he keeps asking, listing off a variety of sexy edible products that could have gotten her sick. But when she hears that they explained away her anaphylaxis with the penicillin sperm, she informs them that Dan didn't have any penicillin in his sperm after all; Dan had taken a non-penicillin antibiotic, which Melinda somehow knows because I guess she's super-tight with Dan's friend's dad. This means that they have three symptoms after all -- heart failure, paralysis, and the anaphylactic shock. They must be connected...and Cameron's throwaway suggestion of tick paralysis is the only thing that fits. Well, well, well!