The Big One
- Lia has another, even worse seizure three days before Thanksgiving, 1986. Nao Kao can tell that this one is serious, so he calls an ambulance for the first time.
- Neil is at home when Lia arrives at the hospital. When he received the call, he "drove to MCMC as fast as he could" (11.9).
- By now, Lia has been seizing for almost two hours. That's really bad. Neil tells the family Lia needs to be moved to Valley Children's Hospital for special treatment. The family agrees, but misunderstands the reason—they think that Neil is handing off the case to take a vacation. Boo.
- Lia has another seizure on the way to VCH. When she arrives, her doctor diagnoses her with "septic shock, the result of a bacterial invasion of the circulatory system" (11.19).
- Foua and Nao Kao never leave Lia's side. Still, the prognosis isn't looking good: Lia is now "effectively brain-dead" (11.28).