ER

Steve is no stranger to the emergency room. He has been there many times for various reasons with varying degrees of severity. I get to tag along on these trips, so I am pretty much an expert at emergency room procedures and protocol. The way the ER works is that you are seen by a doctor according to the severity of your condition, not necessarily by time of arrival. If you are having chest pains or squirting blood, chances are you'll go right in. It's like having a fast pass at Disneyland.

When Steve goes to the ER he usually has a fast pass.

Just for the record, Steve does not enjoy his trips to the ER (or the doctor, for that matter) and he tries to resist going. He rarely thinks that whatever is wrong with him rates an ER visit. (one time he took a cleat to the head in a soccer game; huge gash in his skull, blood everywhere, and he mentions casually that he might need to go to the ER) Last night when he came home from soccer he says he's in pain and is thinking about going to the ER. If he's even thinking about it that means he really needs to go. When the kids were younger it was much harder to make a late night ER run, we either had to find someone to watch them or take them with us. They've spent several nights in the waiting room, it's not fun. Now that they're older and can hold down the fort by themselves, Steve and I get to go to the hospital alone. It's almost like a date.

We got to the hospital just as two ambulances were unloading patients, in the waiting room among all the various sick people was a guy covered in blood with gauze around his head and a toddler with a partially severed finger. Steve was there because his shoulder was separated.

No fast pass for us.

As we waited, and waited, Steve started getting impatient and I think he was missing the good old days of pulmonary embolisms and head wounds that always got him sent to the head of the line.

Albeit slowly, the healthcare system worked and Steve's separated shoulder will be just fine.