dear lj

So I was in MT for almost two weeks. My 22 year old brother had the flu, and it became strep, and then became pneumonia, the bad, kill-jim-henson-christian-science kind. He was put into a medical coma and his vitals slipped, and my mom, myself and my uncle made it out to Bozeman, MT.

We arrived and it looked like he was getting better and would be off the respirator in a few days. My uncle left. My brother slipped. The doctor said he'd be dead within the day. His vitals climbed a bit, but now his kidneys and liver were failing, building up dangerous levels of potassium. But with the stronger vitals, we decided to airlift him in a small jet to Billings, where he could recieve dialisis for his kidneys.

He's now been in billings for two weeks. I'm back in LA. He's still in a coma, but they turn down the sedatives and paralytic once in awhile and his wriggles his eyebrows. My moms still with him. He's inching towards health, but then he'll get a new infection. His respirator balloon is deterioating and he needs to get a tracheotomy on friday.

He has no health insurance. The jet plane was 10k.

I'm not particularly close with my brother, but goddamnit, I've known him his entire life.

And that's why I haven't been blogging much lately.