Christmas Eve in east central Florida

Unfortunately Dorothy's condition again worsened considerably during the night, with the onset of a fever to accompany the violent cough and upset stomach, so we had another decision to make at 4:00 AM - what to do; knowing we had to do something. I decided that returning to St. Lucie made sense as they had seen us the previous day so we wouldn't have to start over again from the beginning. We arrived there around 7:30 AM.

St. Lucie Medical Center

Our experience was not nearly as positive as the previous day. A new procedure had been implemented so there was now a detailed form to fill in. Many of the staff had changed - I had the impression very much some of the second stringers. It was over 20 minutes before Dorothy received any attention and she was on the verge of collapse. Everything seemed to move slowly but after about half an hour we did see the doctor and fortunately he was the same one we had seen yesterday. He later told us he was very concerned about Dorothy's condition. So we had another round of blood work, x-rays and monitoring. Dorothy had several episodes of racing heartbeat with a pulse over 145. Antibiotics and anti-nausea drugs were administered via IV and very slowly she began to feel a little better.

Trying to open Dorothy's air ways.

The decision was made to admit Dorothy to hospital for observation, treatment and "complete rest" as the various lab tests continued. She was rather unsteady so was told not to try going to the washroom without assistance. I made some phone calls and then had to pass through hospital security to get back in.

Apparently I have the world's most difficult name to keep straight.

Dorothy insisted I carry on with our plan of joining Gwen, Heather and Kevin for Christmas Eve dinner, which I did, hoping that she would get some much needed rest, and food and water.