Although expected, the fever was nevertheless frightening, because it meant she had already contracted an infection, even though twenty-four hours had not yet passed since Dr. Werner had declared her in remission. She was given massive doses of antibiotics intravenously throughout the morning and into the early afternoon, but her fever continued to rise. As a result, around two o’clock, she was once again placed on a chill blanket. By the time my parents and I arrived shortly after five, Peg’s temperature was almost back to normal, and she had been taken off the chill blanket. But she was a wreck. She was soaked with perspiration, she was shivering uncontrollably even though she had been off the chill blanket for over an hour, and she was exhausted from the fever and the antibiotics. So the visit was short and nothing like the night before. But the good news was that Peg had won another round. As we prepared to leave, I remembered I had wanted to tell Peg that Dave had called. “When did he call?”
