Pneumonia!!!!!!!!!!!

Celia is recovering from her first bout with pneumonia. The poor wee thing spent her 7 month birthday sandwiched in the back of the 4-Runner riding to Key West between concerned Mom & doting Grandma. The typically 8 hour drive turned into a 9 1/2 hour affair with bickering aplenty & some creative driving by Grandpa. We finally arrived at our fabulous penthouse condo overlooking the bay & Old Town. Unpacked the food, baby support units & beer & wondered about the accuracy of all non-rectal thermometers. Celia's temperature concerned us all, so we kept a close watch on all vitals. Grandma the Trooper volunteered to pull the first shift with Celia. Mom, Dad & Grandpa limped off to bed, tired, stressed & pissed off. Grandma woke us at 2:00am after 11 seconds of sleep, snatched between screeching tire car wrecks, sirens & bloody motorcycles. (Funny how sound rises eh?) Celia's temperature was @ 102.5 & climbing. After bumbling around in the dark sidestreets of Key West we finally located the Hospital. During a weird deja vu, where a security guard questioned our ER parking & earned hisself a good cussin' out, (ORMC 11/11/06) we checked the baby in and waited for the bickering night staff to remember what an emergency was. A bar room brawl victim received all his friends as visitors once they'd been kicked out of "The Red Garter Saloon" Finally we were summoned, tested, x-rayed & diagnosed with aspiration pneumonia. The ER Dr. in Key West scared the shit out us by expressing a desire to airlift Celia to a pediatric unit in Miami but informing us he didn't know how long the medevac would take. We asked him if she could go to Arnold Palmer in Orlando but that wasn't an option. He spoke to our pediatric guy, Dr Cannizarro, & they agreed we could make it to Orlando . Abandoning Grandma & Grandpa at the penthouse, off we went with our little darling erupting snot & saliva like a Rotorua geyser. After a quick return trip taking 6 1/2 hours we made it to APH in Orlando where the kind doctors let us bring the little one home to her own ICU. Three doses of antibiotics later she sits happily beside me as I type. Gurgly as ever & basking in my adoration!! She is doing well now & continues to fight.