from UB

Yes, from now on Uncle Brian will be known as UB, aka Uber Brian, aka Ultra Brian but most importantly known as Uncle Brian to Courtney and my other hundred or so nephews and nieces whom I love very, very much.
I wrote a post this morning and somehow managed to delete it before it was published! DOH! (aka Uncoordinated Brian) Nothing frustrates me more than to put energy, emotion and effort (hey, the three "E"s!) into writing something only to lose it for one silly reason or another. The subject was the "Courtney Crane", a topic I will revisit asap.
One more thing Courtney and I have in common is that I have had pneumonia, too. Unfortunately, Courtney has had it three times now in a very short time period. I came down with pnuemonia around 1996. Other than being a smoker at the time, (no longer thankfully), I was healthy and strong. The best way to describe my condition is to say that pnuemonia dropped my energy level from 100% to about 25%. Walking 20 feet was a task. Other than a huge depletion of energy however, I felt and looked fine. It was deceiving.
So, we all know that I'm not a doctor having been forced to leave medical school in my ninth year to care for orphaned chimpanzees in the Congo. *sigh* (somebody had to do it). Accordingly, don't take anything I say about medicine seriously unless your plan is to sue me later for damages for passing on totally bogus and misleading information disguised as respected and accepted medical advice. Having said that,,,,, :), my thinking is these bouts of pneumonia are similarly draining Court of energy that her body could otherwise be spending on repairing the rest of her.
And while I joke about this, I believe in my heart that this is a real possibility otherwise I wouldn't write it. We pray that Courtney will continue to improve as she leaves pnuemonia in the rear view mirror of her recovery.