Thanks to 911, and the Orange County EMS and First Responders...

I just made my first call to 911. Last week, my 10-year old daughter, Maggie, had an allergic reaction to Zithromax. We were on our way to the UNC hospital, when the nurse there (who was on the phone with me--I was in a panic as my daughter could not breath!), told me to pull over and call 911. It was the most scared I have been for her life--ever, but I have to commend the man on the other end of my call. He was very calm and reassuring as he told me what to do while we waited in the Wendy's parking lot for the first response crew from the fire department and then the paramedics. Each time he could tell that I was getting a bit nervous, he told me to calm down so that I could calm Maggie down--and it worked. The paramedics arrived, gave her oxygen and got her breathing back to normal and sent us home. They did not think it was an allergic reaction, but her pediatrician did think the Zithromax inflamed her lungs and esophogus, making her feel like she was having a heart attack, which is how she described it. All in all, it was an exhausting evening. The paramedic told Maggie that she had expended enough energy equivalent to running a marathon. As we were leaving, the paramedic reassured me that I would not see a bill for their services, but I told him that I would have been happy to pay any amount that he would have charged me for their immediate, decisive, kind and amazing attention to my daughter.