The Big C

- Season 2

(2011)

Cathy seeks a second opinion, causing a strain on her relationship with Dr. Todd; Sean learns about his sister's cancer while adjusting to life with a pregnant Rebecca; Adam sees a therapist against his will.

Cathy finds that her experience with the great Dr. Atticus Sherman isn't anything like she thought it would be. In addition to not appreciating his bedside manner, not believing that he pays any attention to her file, or not believing that he sees her anything more than another nameless face in his office, Cathy learns he is conducting a clinical trial, about which she learns from another of his stage 4 patients, an extremely positive woman named Nadine, in which he has no space for her. Meanwhile, Cathy and Sean's relationship is still strained over the fact that she...

Cathy and Paul experience frustration in the bedroom. Cathy and Paul need to set patient/caregiver limits, and Rebecca is put off by Sean.

A fellow cancer patient intrigues Cathy; Adam's downward spiral continues.

Paul still not having a job places a strain on his and Cathy's financial situation with mounting medical bills. Paul has to make a decision to wait for the perfect job, to do freelance work without insurance, or take any job that has insurance. He is hoping that a meeting with his old friend Jimmy will lead to the first of those three. Cathy makes a unilateral decision for some one time immediate cash. In the process of getting that money, Cathy ends up spending the day with Lee, that day which takes an unexpected turn for her. Meanwhile, Adam makes another decision ...

Although he still hates his job, Paul settles into life at the electronics store. He bonds with a fellow employee, a young Ukrainian immigrant named Mykail, who in turn bonds with one of his customers. While Paul still struggles with his job situation, that struggle which includes reporting to a barely of age weaselly assistant manager, Cathy aims for an extra job at the school with more pay as the girl's swim coach. She is able to convince the principal to give her the job at least temporarily until the principal can find or wants to find a more permanent coach. ...

Cathy receives two minor pieces of bad news on her latest check up. The first is that none of the drugs' listed negative side effects have afflicted her, which to her means that the drugs aren't working. The second is that she has high blood pressure. Despite Cathy disregarding it upon Sean's suggestion, Cathy takes Lee's advice to visit an acupuncturist - his acupuncturist - to treat the high blood pressure. The acupuncturist has slightly better news: she immediately relaxed, which means a drop in blood pressure, when Lee entered the room. The acupuncturist ...

It's Thanksgiving, and Cathy and Paul are hosting their first ever Thanksgiving dinner with their new extended family, which includes not only Adam and Sean, but also Rebecca, Andrea, Mykail and if he accepts Lee, which he does. Cathy wants it to be a non-traditional meal in that besides the free-range, organic turkey Sean is in charge of getting, the rest of the meal will consist of whatever she feels like making, which includes a special dessert from Lee's childhood. The dinner has the potential to be marred in many ways, which includes Paul contemplating ...

Rebecca and Sean both have less than traditional ways to deal with Rebecca's miscarriage. Partly because Sean decides to go off his meds so that he can feel the true pain associated with it, Sean and Rebecca's methods of mourning end up being somewhat incompatible. Something that Rebecca and Sean do in combination about the miscarriage directly affects Cathy. In addition, it also makes Cathy realize that she has been so busy dealing with the life part of her illness that she totally forgot about the death part, namely making arrangements for what will happen to her ...

Following their Thanksgiving fallout, Cathy and Lee reconcile, with Cathy vowing to be honest with him about how things are progressing with her health. She sticks to that vow as her news is generally positive, while his continues to decline. But Lee tries to remain upbeat, focusing on living. As such, Cathy decides to help him with his bucket list in whatever way she can. Meanwhile, Adam decides to continue hanging out with Poppy, in part to understand the thing he noticed on her arm when they first met. Poppy's decision on the where to hang out catches Adam off ...

In her day life, Cathy runs into Dr. Sherman and his much younger second wife, Gia, who invites Cathy and Paul over for dinner. Not wanting to offend the person who is potentially saving her life, Cathy accepts. From dinner, Cathy learns a little bit about how to live in the face of death. It is difficult for Cathy to watch Lee give up on life as he decides to drop out of this trial, the latest failure of many in terms of trials. Based on what Cathy finds hidden in her kitchen, she tries to convince Lee to fight for his life. Cathy and Adam lead a campaign to find a ...

Cathy, Paul and Adam are getting ready to head to Italy for the Christmas holidays using Paul's cut from the electronics store thefts. They still haven't found Sean, but they feel they need to focus on themselves as a family. They are also leaving behind Andrea who is in engaged bliss to Mykail, with who she will spend the holidays. Owen tells Paul about the imbalance in store inventory, which leads to a revelation from Mykail which could affect his relationship with Andrea. Adam spends time with Poppy before he leaves. But he also finds out some information about ...

Cathy believes the two best Christmas presents she received this year are Sean returning home after missing for three weeks while he went to find himself following Rebecca's departure, and watching Lee die peacefully in front of her, which has now made her not afraid of death. Taking a play from Lee, Cathy decides to finish what Lee didn't and couldn't: run the Minneapolis New Year's Eve Marathon, despite she not having trained for it at all. Her new mantra is to use her body while she still can. But the race entries have closed already which means that she has to ...