Oh, for crying out loud

Delia, who tests for black belt on Friday, woke up today with a fever of 104.5 Fahrenheit.

Delia has strep throat

We have started her on the penicillin. I don't know what this means for her test on Friday, but she is missing class tonight, of course.

Jesus H. Christ

Delia's fever is 105.7.

Upon advice of our clinic, we are heading for the hospital.

Back from the hospital

Thank you all so much for your good wishes for Delia; I am sure they helped. We took her to Children's Hospital; they are just great with kids. They put her on an IV for a couple hours and gave her an extra dose of the penicillin and she is much better now. She is home again, and eating some chicken noodle soup, her first nourishment in the last 24 hours. Her fever is down again in the non-danger zone.

A huge personal THANK YOU

I would just like to take this opportunity to send my very heartfelt personal thank you to Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of Penicillin. And to Howard Florey and Ernst Chan, who developed the procedure to purify it (the three of them shared the 1945 Nobel Prize for their discovery).

If I were living as recently as 65 years previously, I might have been in fear for Delia's life tonight. As it is, she will probably be well enough to go back to school in a couple of days. For most of the history of humanity, people would have looked upon a recovery that swift as a miracle.

We get complacent, with all the accomplishments of modern medicine, but I don't want to forget that it damn well is.