Heather Receives a Shocking Diagnosis — and Diane Has a Tantalizing Proposal for Alexis

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At the hospital, Portia makes calls trying to locate Dr. Paul Braddock, the man who misdiagnoses Marshall. Curtis, Marshall and Stella are with her. Portia is called away, so Stella takes over the call. The people on the other end are going to try and find the doctor and call back. Stella tells Curtis to get to his physical therapy as there isn’t anything else they can do right now.

In Finn’s office, Finn proofreads his dad’s work, as Gregory says his keyboard skills aren’t what they were. Finn offers to retype it for him but he says that’s not necessary. They are interrupted by Portia, who has the radiology report on Heather’s MRI. Gregory decides to make his exit.

Robert and Diane are walking through the halls, and Diane reads something on her phone and whispers out loud, “I’m going to break her kneecaps!” They are approached by Portia and Finn, who need to talk to Robert.

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In Heather’s room, Kevin, with Laura by his side, tries to give Heather a psych evaluation. She fumbles a lot and claims she can’t concentrate because she only sees Ryan when she looks at Kevin.

Laura and Kevin step out, and find Finn, Portia, Robert and Diane in the hall, along with a specialist. Kevin wishes he could say Heather was in her right mind. Robert cuts him off and says it doesn’t matter, Heather is going to San Quentin. Portia interjects and says she won’t be going anywhere.

Diane decides to leave, and Laura assumes she should too. Portia stops her and reveals that Heather has given Laura her medical proxy, so she can be here. Laura is stunned but guesses she’s the closest thing to family that Heather has left.

The specialist explains his theory that Heather has cobalt poisoning, which is coming from her old hip replacement. He explains it’s been slowly ongoing and often manifests in psychological ways. He asks if they’ve noticed any changes in her behavior over the years?

At the nurse’s station, Stella waits around for a call. Heather’s test results arrive and confirm the doctor’s diagnosis and the old hip replacement needs to be replaced. Robert thinks the prison can do that, but Laura says this information explains why Heather went off the deep end. Portia says this is about human suffering, and they could face a lawsuit for failing to treat Heather. Meanwhile, Stella gets a return call, seems shocked by what she’s told, and looks over at Kevin as he walks off.

Laura and the doctor go to see Heather and reveal tests have confirmed that she has cobalt metallosis due to her bad hip replacement, and it could have altered her behavior. She is stunned, as every doctor has only ever said she was crazy. The doctor explains they need to replace her hip, but before the surgery, they need to treat her cobalt poisoning. Heather asks for a minute alone with Laura.

Heather is confused and asks Laura if she can explain this to her now that she’s her guardian. Laura says she isn’t her guardian, that is in case she can’t make decisions. Heather cries she’s having a hard time making decisions right now. She asks Laura if she should have this replacement. Laura tells her this is a personal choice, but Heather can’t decide. Laura thinks she should do it.

Later, Heather asks Laura when it all went so wrong, and what happened to her. Laura says if it makes her feel better, she sometimes feels like she’s lived a few different lives. Heather feels like she’s in freefall and the ground is rushing up to meet her. Laura says the good thing is that though she’s gotten a lot wrong, there is still time for her to get it right.

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The doctors return, and Heather signs the approval for surgery papers. Portia says they’ll get the ball rolling, and she and the other doctors leave. Alone, Heather asks Laura what Kevin is like in bed, as she wonders if he and Ryan are similar in that department. Laura is stunned and says, “Here I thought we were getting along so well.”  Heather says they are. Laura tells her to have a nice day and leaves, as Heather yells out, “Was it something I said?”

Marshall watches Curtis during his PT, and Curtis can move his legs somewhat. After the doctor leaves, Marshall says he’s proud of his son. Curtis is proud of his father for confronting Dr. Braddock. Curtis asks what his dad’s impressions of the doctor were. In the beginning, Marshall says he was kind to him, and he explained to him that part of his brain was fighting the other. However, he couldn’t afford the pills he was prescribed, so he had to hustle to get them. The pills however made him rigid and weren’t working, so Dr. Braddock suggested shock treatment, and it was expensive. He blew up at the doctor, and he didn’t take it well.

Stella visits Kevin in his office to pick his brain. She asks if he knew a Dr. Paul Braddock, as she hears he was well known. Kevin says, “You can say that.”

Stella goes to find Curtis and Marshall with the bad news that Dr. Braddock died just before Christmas. However, the answers Marshall needs aren’t in Baltimore, they are upstairs in this hospital.

They go to meet with Kevin in his office, and he explains Dr. Paul Braddock made a name for himself, an infamous one. Kevin says Marshall didn’t have schizophrenia, and he was misdiagnosed because he was young, male, poor, angry and black.

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Nina storms into Alexis’ office and calls her piece on what happened at the docks a smear job against Sonny. Alexis tells her to stop antagonizing her, or she’ll quit, and she can run the paper.

Gregory arrives with his article, which Nina snatches to make sure isn’t anything like what ran yesterday. Gregory explains it’s about the PCPD youth outreach program. She asks why there are red marks all over it, and why he didn’t submit it electronically, calling this unprofessional. Alexis tells her if she wants this paper’s edition out on time, get out of her office! Nina huffs on her way out.

Alexis apologizes to Gregory and points out Nina doesn’t know about his ALS. He says Nina wasn’t wrong, and he’s no longer able to meet Nina’s standards as the publisher, but Alexis disagrees. He asks her to allow him to quit with dignity, and this will be his final article. He’s going to make the corrections and submit the copy electronically. Alexis thanks him, and he says the pleasure has been his.

Gregory returns to Finn’s office to take him up on his offer to retype his article. Finn asks if Alexis likes it. Gregory says she always likes his work, but he’s decided this is his last article, as the newspaper world isn’t for him. Finn says he always wanted to write a novel, and maybe he can scratch that off his list. Finn submits his final article, and Gregory decides to head home and squeeze in a nap before Violet gets home. He says he’ll see Finn at home.

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Finn calls his good friend, who is in Doctors Without Borders. He says his dad has been diagnosed with ALS, and he’s the best neurologist he’s worked with and could use his help. Unfortunately, his friend has been sent somewhere dangerous in the world and can’t get back now.

Diane goes fuming into Alexis’ office quoting the gossip column accusing a Port Charles’ red-headed attorney of shacking up with the DA. Alexis explains that is Nina’s doing, she installed a gossip columnist. She gives her some good news, that Nina has made her top client Sonny off limits. Alexis fumes that nobody reads newspapers anymore, they scroll, and she’d practice law for free if it meant getting out of this place. Diane has a proposal for Alexis. She hates that all people think she is is a mob lawyer, and she asks Alexis to come work with her as her partner. Alexis reminds her she’s been disbarred and can’t practice law. Diane believes she can get that overturned.

Dex packs up his place and asks for Joss’ help, but she refuses. She says his leaving makes no sense to her. She asks how he can leave and pulls him into a kiss. They quickly take things to the bedroom.

After making love, Dex says he still has to pack, and she can’t believe he’s still leaving. He says he has to, but she calls it a choice. Dex says he doesn’t know Sonny as well as he thought, which she may be thinking about Jason after his shooting Dante. Joss insists Jason didn’t shoot Dante, and he and Jason are a lot alike, and she can’t understand why they are loyal to Sonny. Dex explains he’s also afraid of Sonny, and who he’s becoming under him, and maybe she should be too.

After they dress, Joss says she could come with him, but he knows her family is too important to her. He loves her and wants what is best for her, and that isn’t him. She says she could protect him from Sonny, he’d listen to her mom if she asked her to talk to Sonny. Dex fears it’s too late. There are knocks at the door, and Joss answers. It’s Nina, and Joss asks if she’s looking for more backs to stab.

Nina says she is looking for Dex, and asks him to let Sonny know she had no idea The Invader was going to run that story on him. Joss scoffs, “Have you seen Sonny read a newspaper?” Nina sees the boxes, and asks if Dex is going somewhere, and is Sonny going with him? Joss says Dex is through with Sonny, much like Sonny is done with her. Nina says she is her mother’s daughter, and guesses if Dex broke up with Sonny, then Joss is next. Nina says not only is Joss a chip off the Carly block, but she also bets the only secrets she likes are the ones she keeps to herself. Joss asks what she means. Nina guesses Dex never told her about when she spotted him coming out of Cyrus’ hospital room dressed as an orderly.

On the next General Hospital: Kevin tells Marshall he just diagnosed himself. Alexis asks Diane, “What does any of this have anything to do with me?” Lois comforts Olivia, and Olivia cries she doesn’t know if she should be relieved or terrified. Joss cries to Dex that she never thought he’d cross this line. Nina asks Ava to advocate for her. Sonny sits with Dante and tells someone, “Your secret’s safe with me.”