There's a much longer story here, which I may or may not end up blogging, but Sunday night (well, technically Monday morning, it was 1 AM), H, Larry and I found ourselves at the pediatric ER. Let me first say that the staff, the doctors and (ESPECIALLY) the nurses there are wonderful, and they took fabulous care of H.
That said, being in the exam rooms there is like being inside a casino in Vegas. There are no clocks, no windows, only artificial lighting and absolutely no way to tell what time it is. The only way you can tell how much time has passed is by watching the never-ending string of animated children's movies they show on the TV in each room. We came in the middle of Open Season, which I had never even heard of. It looked cute, though it was kind of hard to concentrate on it over H's wailing. After that went off, they put on Cars, which coordinated nicely with the stickers they gave H for being brave when they put his IV in. After Cars was Flushed Away which involved animated British rats who are trying to save the rat world from an evil plot involving a toad and the sewer system. Kind of ironic considering H's ultimate diagnosis. I think the last movie was Ice Age, but by the time that one came on I was bleary-eyed and H was asleep.
When we finally left, the credits on that last movie were rolling, and it was almost light outside. Sadly, the similarity to Vegas ended then - instead of being comped a meal and a room, we had to make due with stumbling into our own beds. So my recommendation? If you have to choose between the Bellagio and the Children's Hospital at Richland, I suggest you go to Vegas...
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