Where I Want To Go When I Almost Die

I'm not looking forward to any of the myriad of potentially life threatening conditions that may beset me, but it's likely that at least one will happen at some point. Take my brother for instance: Rob suffered an episode of extreme arrhythmia that required a trip to the hospital AND a three night stay at the ICU in the cardiac unit. Not fun - for Rob at least.

I'm almost ashamed to say it, but I did kinda have fun keeping the 'ol bro's spirits up. It may not have been as much fun if he were immobilized or visibly damaged but he was just so darn normal. No artificial breathing not even an I.V. for crying out loud. He was at high risk for a repeat episode of his original troubles so they kept him in the ICU while waiting for surgery. In the mean time, Rob (like anyone in his position) gets a little board, a little stir crazy, so I volunteer to visit and relive the monotony. XBOX to the rescue! We both agreed that bringing the games to the hospital would be the ideal time passer, so with permission, I return a few hours later with the 360.

Here's where things start to move in Doug's favor. We plug into the HD LCD TV in Rob's room and game away. I'm taking the next day off so I elect to stay late in an attempt to wear Rob out. Ends up that we game for about four hours straight and I get in another couple hours in after Rob wimps out (j/k the man was working on 3 hrs sleep out of 60) and catches some Z's. Rob's surgery the next day is postponed 24hrs and I, considering I still had the day off, return for another night of gaming.

Though I can't imagine being in Rob's position, I was amazed at what a great time I was having. Here were two brothers who seldom see each other forced into spending endless hours bonding over video games, favorite TV shows, food, cars, helicopters and any number of other topics. Add to that the good fortune of being kindly offered refills on my Diet Coke by the night shift nurse, and I ended up with two days of great times with my brother. It is, of course, a tragedy that my brother needed to suffer a near death experience and an invasive surgery all while scaring the living b'geezes out of everyone - but if clouds have silver linings, these were sterling indeed.