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My brother almost died Christmas weekend. From an ear infection.

Okay, it's a tad more complicated than that.

Sunday morning I got a call from my oldest brother in California. Our younger brother, Jason, was admitted to ICU. We didn't know what was wrong with him except that he had a blood infection. They ran 5 million tests (all of which he'll have to pay for because he just started a new job and didn't have insurance yet).

He was admitted to the hospital early Sunday morning and is still there. He tried to leave shortly afer they admitted him. He became violent. His fever was extremely high, he was severly dehydrated, and delerious. He wanted to leave but the doctors calmed him into submission by telling him that he was very ill and that if he left he would be dead within two hours.

The diagnosis, as of today, was that he had an ear infection for a long, long time and either didn't realize it, didn't treat it, or both. Over the Christmas holiday he drank. Alot. This is how he got dehydrated. And after he got dehydrated his body couldn't adequately fight his infection anymore. The bacteria spilled into his blood stream and turned his whole body into a war zone.

I talked to him finally yesterday. He was feeling better. His temperature had gone down and stayed down after so many, many IV bags of antibiotics and thanks to the saline drip his blood pressure was finally regulated. He was taken out of ICU and taken to a regular room today. He told me, "Dad's going to kick my ass." I agreed.

I acquired a new appreciation for my family this week. One of the best Christmas presents I could ever receive is another holiday with all my siblings present and accounted for.