‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Recap: What’s Catherine Fox’s Diagnosis?

While Meredith and Koracik bond in Los Angeles, Webber has to deal with a nurse who becomes a patient. Grey’s Anatomy also puts a wedge between Maggie and Jackson. Who survives and who doesn’t? Is there any hope for Jaggie?

Nurse Frankie Has A Difficult Decision

At Grey Sloan Memorial, Nurse Frankie starts her day as normal but then starts to suffer from abdominal pains. Fortunately, it’s not her unborn baby but Webber finds out that it is her spleen. It needs removing but that means an operation and Frankie isn’t willing to risk her baby’s life.

At first it looks like the spleen is fixing itself, but it soon turns out that the problem gets worse. Webber makes sure the best team is on hand just in case the baby has to be born at 28 weeks.

Fortunately, Karev is the one in the OR when the baby does need to be born prematurely. That’s great for the baby, but Webber can’t stabilize Nurse Frankie and she dies on the table.

The loss hits Webber and he goes straight to a meeting to help. As he hears a woman’s tale about a bar that takes chips for shots of alcohol, he leaves the meeting and heads to the bar. Handing over his eight-year chip, he gets eight shots of vodka. Instead of drinking them, he takes his chip back and smashes up the bar, angry that this bartender and former alcoholic is willing to help others fall off the wagon.

Jackson Has A Secret Woman

When Maggie picks up a phone she thinks is her own, she realizes she picked up Jackson’s by mistake. That leads to her seeing the text messages to his phone from a woman he met while at the monastery.

Jackson claims that he never cheated on Maggie, but there’s clearly something else going on with this other woman. To help Maggie learn the truth, Jackson gives her his phone to look through all the messages. It’s sweet, but Maggie points out a good fact: women don’t use heart emojis and “miss you” to a guy that doesn’t mean something more.

At the same time, Jackson admits he’s still talking to April. Maggie’s insecurities come out but Jackson also has some home truths for her. As Maggie complains that Jackson doesn’t talk to her, Jackson points out that she doesn’t talk to him.

It’s what Maggie needed to hear. She finally opens up, sharing her fears of opening up. When Maggie does that, Jackson now admits the truth. While he’s happy that April is happy, he’s also grieving over the lost relationship.

Meredith Goes On Location

While all this happens, Meredith heads off to Los Angeles with Dr. Koracik. Catherine Avery (now Fox) needs help with a patient and it’s a case that surprises all. Catherine is the patient and Meredith isn’t allowed to tell Webber right now.
It could be cancer but a biopsy is needed. While doing the biopsy, Koracik and Meredith connect on a level that only people of their stature in their jobs can. Koracik understands why Meredith is constantly looking over his shoulder and trying to control everything. It’s also clear that Catherine and Koracik have a past, and it turns out Catherine was the one who helped him after his son died.

While they wait for the results, Meredith and Koracik go through the treatment options available. They run through the two types of tumors it could be. One is treatable and the other isn’t. Every time Grey’s Anatomy has done this, they’ve always opted for the worse diagnosis. It wasn’t surprising to learn that Catherine has the cancer that can’t be treated with chemo and it’s going to be extremely difficult to cut it out without paralyzing her.

As Catherine tries to call Webber, we find where everyone from the episode is now. Jackson and Maggie are on the rocks, Frankie’s baby (now named Francis) is healthy, and Webber has been arrested and calls Meredith for help.

What did you think of tonight’s episode? Did you see Frankie dying on the table? Were you surprised by Jaggie’s storyline?

"Grey’s Anatomy" airs Thursdays at 8/7c on ABC.