"They long to be close to you."

[livingthelowlife]

Who: Ethan Marshall and Callum MacDonald
What: Extended connections
Where: Infectious Diseases Unit, Mount Sinai
When: Follows THIS

So, this was going to be a heavy case to be working on. Not that all of Ethan's patients weren't heavy cases, but this one was another special case. One of Jesse's new brothers, a twin, had presented with concerning symptoms indicating infection. Because he had literally just gotten off the plane from Africa, Alex's call was to put him straight into isolation in case he was highly infectious. They also did a range of blood tests on his twin, who had close exposure to him since he arrived back on US soil. All of Casey's test came back clear.

Callum, however, had bacterial encephalitis caused by malaria. Which meant that he didn't need to be in isolated, but he was still seriously sick and needed treatment. The encephalitis meant he had to be joint-managed with neuro so Ethan was assigned his case. It was just incredibly strange with Jesse being his best friend, and it was Ethan who discovered the error in his paternal bloodline. As a result of that, Jesse discovered he had a whole other family, including twin brothers and a sister. Ethan knew it was a mindfuck for him, and now Callum was ill, it would be extra stress.

Callum had been in and out of consciousness. The dangerously high fever had caused him to hallucinate, and there was a minor seizure when he first presented. He was awake now and Ethan was simply checking how he was doing so he could let Jesse and his family know his progress. This was the first time Ethan was seeing him while he was awake, though.

"Hi, Callum. My name's Ethan. I'm your neurologist assigned to you. I'm also Jesse's best friend, if that at all helps ease your mind about any of this," he told him gently.

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[actionthisday]

Callum had never felt this sick in his life. He had never thrown up this much in his life, and that was including the disastrous pub crawl he went on in London when he and Case went backpacking around Britain and Australia the summer before he commenced at Harvard. He had been so sick after that whole milestone, but that didn't even touch this. This was his first time in hospital too, and it wasn't fun. He had IV lines stuck in him, and an array of other stuff that he had no clue on what it was doing. He just felt completely rotten to the point he didn't even have the energy to wish he wasn't in hospital.

"Jesse..." he mumbled, closing his eyes for a moment or two because his mind was so foggy, like it was barely working. "Right, Jesse. The guy who's my brother. Sorry... that's just all... lot t'get used to, you know? Probably a lot f'him too. Am I dying? I feel like I'm dying..."

[livingthelowlife]

Ethan shook his head as he carefully took Callum's arm to check his blood pressure after checking his temperature. It was still high, but it had dropped out of the serious danger zone where it had been when he was brought in. "No, I promise you that you're not dying. You were in some trouble for a little while there, but now we know what's going on, we've started some epic treatment. It's just going to take a little while for that to help you start to feel better. I'm the doctor who did your neuro consult, but you weren't really cognisant at the time. So, what I'll do it just follow up a little here and see how you go. Don't worry, you're not being tested," he promised. At least not to being graded. He was being tested for neuro function right now, which would be reduced because of the cerebral swelling.

"Do you remember what your diagnosis is? It's okay if it's sketchy. You're going to feel hazy until the medication really takes action and reduces that swelling. Do you remember much about what happened with Jesse?" he asked and then placed his hand into Callum's. "Can you squeeze my hand? Okay, good. Now the other one? How's that nausea going?"

[actionthisday]

This guy was nice. Jesse's friend too, which seemed to be reassuring for Callum. He barely knew the guy who was now his second brother, and even though he had been unsure about the whole thing and felt like he had to get away from things to think them through, Jesse seemed very kindhearted and compassionate. In this scary hospital environment, feeling as bad as he did, kindness and compassion was very much appreciated. He knew Ethan was doing some sort of examination here, but it didn't matter what it was. Anything it took to help him feel better. "Can't stop constantly feeling like I'm going to puke. I didn't make Case sick, did I? Am I going to give this thing to him?"

He gave just the slightest nod of his head. "Malaria. I just don't know what that really means. I thought I got shots for all this stuff before I left. Do I remember he's my brother? Yeah. I remember that he's sick too. Do you know how he is? You been friends for long?" he asked, breathing slowly in an effort to try to quell the nausea. The meds he was given eased the constant vomiting, but he still felt sick. Hot, sick, uncomfortable sore, miserable. At least he had a couple of hot doctors on his case. Small silver linings and all that.

[livingthelowlife]

"That's because there's the pressure in your brain with the swelling from the infection. All the neuro-receptors are in the brain, the messages sent to your body to tell it what to do. That's what is making you feel constantly nauseous, along with the fact it's one of the prominent symptoms of malaria. Once the antivirals start to work more, you'll begin to feel better. But you didn't make Casey sick. He was very closely monitored and tested when he brought you in because he had been closely exposed to you, but this was before they knew it was malaria. Which is mosquito-borne, so he couldn't have caught it off you. That part, you can rest easy with," Ethan reassured him and checked the chart to see what fluid orders had been made.

He gave Callum the cup of water he had nearby. "You're allowed to have some small sips if you feel up to it. It won't help much with the hydration, that's what the drip is for. But it might help a little to have something to sip on. Malaria is an infection in the blood stream, carried my mosquitoes. It can make you very sick, as you've experienced, but it's very treatable. But because it may have been in your system as early as the day you arrived, it's caused encephalitis. Jesse's resting up. He'll bounce back. It just takes a little while. I've known him since he came to New York about two years ago and we've been close friends ever since. He listened when I needed someone to talk to."