'Grey's Anatomy' Season 9 Spoilers: Arizona's Disability ''Threatens' Work, News on Recovery & Callie Romance
Episode 12 of "Grey's Anatomy," which aired on Jan. 24, focused on Arizona's road to recovery after having her leg amputated and her newest obstacle will jeopardize her career as a doctor at Seattle Grace, actress Jessica Capshaw said.
In "Walking on a Dream," Arizona thought she felt such excruciating pain in her leg that she had to walk out of a surgery she was performing. Choosing not to bother her life partner Callie about it, she turned to Chief Owen to help her. She told him she thinks she is going insane and the actress who plays Arizona told TV Guide that phantom leg syndrome will overcome Arizona and her profession.
"The syndrome is actually that you feel pain, at times excruciating, in the limb that you actually no longer have," Capshaw explained, adding that the syndrome will "threaten [Arizona's] ability to work."
"Because of her not wanting to deal with it, and her feeling like she can keep working, she's bringing it to work with her and it's hard to be operating on someone when you're feeling excruciating pain in your leg like someone's cutting it off."
"When we finished the table read, everyone was like, 'Whoa!' It's really creepy. It's really tonally different than a lot of the show," she added. "It takes a sharp turn into this nightmare."
Because Arizona turned to Owen for help and not Callie, the issue might put a strain on the couple's relationship. But Capshaw clarified that Arizona and Callie are "in a sweet spot right now" and Arizona does not want to "go back into the dark place and bring Callie back into the dark place with her."
As far as their romance rekindling, Capshaw said "it's challenging" but that Arizona and Callie will stay together since they have already supported each other through so much. She added, "There wasn't a love lost. It was never gone."
For fans hoping to see Arizona overcome her disability, Capshaw revealed her character will continue to walk without a cane and in episode 13, she will have "a reckoning with a teenage girl about the handicapable and how you see them."
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