Hunt finds Cristina and reports that he had a good session with his doctor that morning but instead of giving him his own congratulations, she asks if he talked about his mom and if he's seen her, reminding the viewing audience at home that she lives nearby and thinks Owen is still in Iraq. He's super-uncomfortable and manages to say he's planning to see her, but when she asks him pointedly when, he's got no answer and she walks away. George then walks up to Hunt, confused to work with him since George isn't on trauma today.
The guys walk into a room where Callie is studying an X-ray that looks like a series of nails running through a bone. And that x-ray belongs to none other than Matt Saracen! I guess it's a good thing he graduated from high school and his football career earlier this year. He tells Hunt that his C.O. told him a lot about Owen and the two joke about their mutual friend. Matt is in the Army, and while Callie tells him nothing is functionally wrong with his leg; he explains that he can't do anything without pain, and that medications and physical therapy don't work. While it could be nerve damage or chronic pain syndrome, they could look into different ways to help him manage the pain, but she tells him there is nothing she can do. He thinks, however, that there is. "You could cut it off." He wants that so that he can get a prosthetic and go back to Iraq where he is needed.
Shockingly, Callie doesn't seem too keen on the idea and in the hallway demands to know if Hunt knew that's why Matt came here. He avoids answering and instead asks if it's unreasonable; she think that cutting off a viable limb is dismemberment, so yes. She and Hunt argue -- he points out that Matt is only 19 and thought he had his whole life figured out. He tells her that many soldiers have gone back with prosthetics but she wonders if any of those amputations were voluntary. Hunt doesn't know, but he tries to make her feel guilty by pointing out that Matt's C.O. sent him there because he trusts Hunt. George pipes up to suggest they do a new set of scans and an epidural for the pain. (I have no idea what the epidural has to do with Callie's decision, so maybe it's unrelated but George didn't explain that well?) She grudgingly agrees to it but declares that if the scans show the leg is healthy, she isn't cutting it off. George and Hunt exchange raised eyebrows which she can't see.
Arizona finds Bailey and asks if she is busy, but Bailey tells her that depends. "You have any more dying children you want me to become over-attached to before they expire?" But no, this time Arizona actually has something uplifting -- an 8-year-old with neuroblastoma, and she's certain he's going to live. "So scrub in with me and see the joy!" But before Bailey can answer, Richard asks to borrow her for a moment.
Callie is still arguing with Matt about cutting off his leg (con) to cure the pain (pro). Hunt is taking the dangerous position of getting on Callie's bad side when he doesn't just back her up -- she points out that this is no guarantee the pain will be gone, but Hunt agrees with Matt that it might. She argues that it will be months until the prosthetic has fitted, it's won't feel like his leg but rather like a pinching hulk of metal. And the Army could say no. After some more back and forth like that, he completely snaps and yells, "Do you think I want you to cut my leg off? Of course not." Mmmm, Matt Saracen yelling, with no tentative mumbling and stumbling? He's even cuter now. He's not sure of anything except that he's in hell with a pain pill habit that's ineffective and that nothing she can say will scare him. So are they going to do this or no?
Chief and Bailey come out of surgery and run into Arizona, where the Chief brags about Bailey's just having removed a gallbladder through a guy's bellybutton. Arizona goes from impressed to disturbed, but Bailey quickly tells her how awesome and good it is. The Chief offers her another surgery that afternoon and she accepts, having totally forgotten about the neuroblastoma surgery with Arizona. Arizona assures her that it's fine and she's got the rest of her life for that, so Bailey happily runs off to lunch.
Once she's gone, Arizona glares at the Chief and walks towards him over some quirky music. She announces, "I am going to cry and I just want you to know that it's going to happen, and I just want you to ignore it." She apparently cries when she gets mad at people in authority, which is somehow connected to her daddy issues. The funniest thing is that through her anger and tears, she still manages to be peppy as she throws down a gauntlet. She knows the Chief is trying to lure Bailey back to general surgery with the robot because she doesn't have one, and kids are not as fun as robots. A parent or two might possibly take exception to this statement, especially from their child's surgeon, but they would have to agree that kids aren't shiny and new and can't pull things out of a bellybutton. Actually no. They'd have to agree to the shiny and new, but I would say that children have definitely pulled stuff out of their bellybuttons. Just not a gallbladder. I hope. Wow, that was a long ride to Tangentville! But her point is that she is going to fight him and win, because what she has that he doesn't is joy. Again, one could argue... okay, fine. Let's just leave it. The Chief chuckles in disbelief that she thinks she can contend, so he just wishes her good luck and leaves.
Matt, meanwhile, gets on his crutches and goes to find Callie and George to apologize. They try to stop him but it's something he needs to do, since he knows they were trying to do their jobs. "And your job is to put people back together, not take them apart." He knows it doesn't make sense for him to want to go back to somewhere that people are getting hurt and dying, but he wants to help people just like they do as doctors. The camera focuses in on George's face as Matt is talking so that we really, truly don't miss that he's Learning Something from this. Matt then asks them to think about what they'd do if they couldn't be doctors anymore -- wouldn't they do anything they could to be doctors once again? Callie's mouth drops open a little and George just does some extra-deep brow furrowing.
Izzie is now up in Allison's room, moping about how she and Alex had their first fight. Allison tries to cheer her up with talk of makeup sex, although I would think at this point Izzie would just want to one day have married sex at all before she contemplates makeup sex. She then tries to chatter about the birds Izzie sees around her head. Izzie doesn't really bite and keeps talking about her brain surgery and her husband, like it's a giant, life-changing decision or something. Allison assures her that Alex will come around, even if it takes her getting back to work, tumor-free for him to really do it, and then she muses some more about the hallucinated birds just so we really do know she's chipper and likable and optimistic.
Mere finds Cristina and tells her to talk to Izzie, but Cristina's having none of it since she thinks it's just Meredith trying to get Derek to not be mad at her. Cristina presented the options to her as a doctor should and let her make the decision. Mere, however, actually fesses up to what she did, admitting she presented it more like, "You're having the surgery over my dead body." It's like they've switched roles, it's such a Cristina statement, but Cristina is just aghast as Meredith adds that Derek has a right to be mad. Cristina then gets some sort of crappy page, so she and Mere will have to finish this later.
She and Mere run into Allison's room to find Izzie doing compressions in a panic on her new friend, and Cristina takes over and yells for Swender.
Matt's plea seems to have finally gotten through to Callie, because she's firing up the bone saw in the OR. She's still not happy about it, though, and asks Hunt to remind her why she's doing this. Hunt sighs and says that Matt could possibly go back and fight, win and save lives, but if they don't do the surgery he won't have a chance. He insists that they are saving him, not crippling him. George then adds, "We're doing what he wants." Oh, that! Callie nods, and oh my god I have to cover my ears over the squeal of the bone saw as she starts to work. By "cover my ears" I might also mean "cower into the sofa in the fetal position" because something about that noise makes me picture just what is happening, even if it's not to a real person.