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John's orbital cellulitis and hospital stay (2007)

story · status: told 10×, last update 2026 · last event: mentioned (2026-02-14)

In March 2007 John was in NYU Medical Center for about a week with orbital cellulitis, an infection behind his eye. It was the only time he missed a scheduled vlog day, and he has kept telling the story ever since.

Told alongside: Stuff on Heads: viewers send pictures and videos of stuff on their heads (2007) · Hank asks viewers to put stuff on their heads (2007)

About: NYU Langone Health, orbital cellulitis

date event what video
2007-03-26 update Hank hopes John is feeling better, as he last heard, and the video ends with wishes that John's eyeball gets better. March 26th: Stuff on Everyone's Heads! 00:00:10
2007-03-27 update John reports from NYU Medical Center, on an IV and expecting to stay at least one more day, doing better; he expects discharge Wednesday or Thursday and shows his improving eye. March 26th: Thanks 00:00:00
2007-03-28 update Hank hears John is feeling better; he had been really worried after looking up the disease, orbital cellulitis, which penicillin now makes rarely fatal. March 28th: Taxes 00:01:13
2007-03-29 update John reports he is back home; his eye still looks jacked up and probably will for a week or two, and he still can't see well out of it. Brotherhood 2.0: March 29th: JUDGMENT FOR HANK 00:00:00
2007-04-10 update John films himself at the eye doctor again, saying he is always there and is now more an ophthalmological patient than a writer. (playful) Brotherhood 2.0: April 10th: Role Models 00:00:10
2007-08-29 retold The song recalls that John's eye got infected this year (2007). (playful) August 29th: Goodbye 29 Year Old John 00:01:17
2009-04-21 (happened 2007-03) retold John jokingly recalls his March 2007 hospital visit for an eye infection, claiming they installed robot eyes. (playful) Question Tuesday 00:03:31
2012-09-14 retold Hank says John has missed only one scheduled vlog day, because he was in the hospital; a clip of John says 'I'm sick, that's my IV port.' 1000 VIDEOS!!! 00:02:39
2013-04-09 (happened 2007-03) retold John recalls his March 2007 hospitalisation with an infection behind his eye: not life-threatening, but at 2:30 one morning he thought he was ready for death. Inside North Korea 00:02:10
2013-10-08 retold Listing hospital stays on the insurance form, John names his orbital cellulitis. Applying for Health Insurance: Then and Now 00:04:06
2014-08-08 retold Hank recalls that John missed a video for his orbital cellulitis, when the back of his eyeball got infected. Who Owns a Monkey's Selfie? And a Song About Meningitis! 00:02:19
2020-10-07 (said on 2020-10-06, implied) (happened 2007-03) retold John recalls that 13 and a half years ago he was hospitalized for about a week with orbital cellulitis, a staph infection behind his eye. The Golden Age of Vlogbrothers 00:00:00
2022-06-21 retold John says he got orbital cellulitis because bacteria invaded the soft tissue between his eye and brain, but the name means his own white blood cells caused swelling behind his eye. On Disease 00:02:26
2023-09-14 retold John recalls an infection behind his eye that needed a $12,000-a-pill antibiotic; his doctor said he was paying twice, since the public also funded its development, which John agrees with. Talking Tuberculosis, GeneXpert, J&J, and more with MY HEROES 00:41:20
2023-09-19 (happened 2007) retold John recalls that early in 2007, at the start of Brotherhood 2.0, he was hospitalized for an infection between his eye and his brain. So, um.... GOOD NEWS?!?!?! 00:04:54
2026-02-14 (happened 2007-03) mentioned John recalls that when he was ill in March 2007, about 270 viewers sent pictures with stuff on their heads to cheer him up, the first moment he and Hank thought of doing more with the community. Project for Awesome 2026 part 4! 00:08:24

Dates are upload dates, which set the order. Where the speaker gives a different recording date in the video, it is added as "said on YYYY-MM-DD, implied" (derived from the date said in the video).

What is said about it

13 statements, by date (the events above are the turns of the thread; these are the details).