An Emergency Room with Cable

The good news, thank God, is that Ian is fine.  We sometimes go to the emergency room with symptoms of things that could be really bad, but they turn out to be minor.  It was the right call to go to the Emergency Room - and in fact, we were referred there directly by the Urgent Care (you know they take it seriously when there's no extra co-pay for the visit to the ER), but since everything turned out well, I thought it might be interesting to reflect on the visit from the nine-year-old perspective.

First we went to Urgent Care, and they had Reese's Peanut Butter Cups in the vending machine, but Daddy couldn't get his dollar bill into the roller-thing, and he didn't have enough coin change, so we had to forego that little bit of encouragement, on our way to the hospital.

Then we got to the hospital, and there was a really boring show on the TV closest to the lady at the desk, so Ian had to go sit at the far corner of the waiting room to watch that TV, since it was the only one with Disney on.

Then we got our own room, with our own TV, but there was no remote control, so we watched an awful "reality show" that was showing on the station that was on when we came into the room.  Daddy didn't know how to change the station, but when the doctor came in to talk to us, he turned it off pushing a little button on the side.  After the doctor left the room, Ian got up and examined the unit, and figured out where to turn it back on and which buttons to push to change the station.

So we started with the Cartoon Network - Ian's choice - and soon we were watching "King of The Hill."  Ian was very happy for Daddy at this point, because Ian has been trying to get me to watch "King of the Hill" for some time.  He knows it's almost the only show on TV that I like, now that XFinity has foisted "free" cable service on us for the next several months, and it runs almost non-stop from 9:00 p.m. to something like 2:00 a.m., so Ian has been encouraging me to have a "King of the Hill" marathon for some time, but that timing overlaps time that boys should be in bed, so he hasn't managed to arrange the festival yet.  And what serendipity - there we were, at 9:00 at night, in our own room with our own TV in the Emergency Room, and it was on.  High Five!

But then it occurred to Ian that Disney would probably be better, so we switched stations, with many apologies.  And what do you know - it was "Gravity Falls"!

It turned out to be a back-to-back episode of Gravity Falls, which was great!  Ian knew the episodes more-or-less by heart, and could predict what was going to be said next, and in exactly what tone.  The doctor kept turning the TV off so he could talk to us, each time he came in, but that didn't hinder our ability to get right back to the show when he left, and the whole thing was mostly a waiting game anyway.

A younger guy came in to take us to the X-Ray room, and Ian endeavoured to explain to him how to change the station, in case the next person didn't want to watch Gravity Falls.  This guy, very friendly like the others, explained that we're coming back to this room anyway, so we don't have to worry about the station being changed.  He thought that Ian was thinking of us and our own narrow entertainment priorities, but in fact, Ian was thinking of others.

At this point, Ian was thirsty, but the doctor said he shouldn't drink till we were all done.

More Gravity Falls, followed by "Jessie".  Also back-to-back episodes.

Some of this was interrupted by the doctor talking about the X-Ray and making a mild recommendation, a visit from the nurse, etc.  Finally a young male nurse came in, having heard that Ian was thirsty, and wanted to know what he wanted to drink.  Much time to ponder.  Then the details followed - apple juice, orange juice, maybe grape juice, a couple other options.

Apple juice.

The nurse came back with a styrophoam cup and two small plastic cups, with peel-off aluminum tops, full of apple juice to be poured into the larger cup.  The same nurse came back with a few pieces of paper, stapled together, full of instructions.

No vending machine in sight.

Gas station in Manchester in the middle of the night.  Girlfriend screaming at boyfriend.  [Apparently Ian didn't notice this detail as the gas tank was getting filled up.]  Would this Cumberland Farms station be a good place to get Reese's Peanut Butter cups?

Daddy didn't think so.

Ian was quite hungry.

Luckily, the Airport Diner is open 24 hours.  No buns, since they were gluten.  Ian did not resist this hardship.

The waitress brought us two Tootsie Rolls when she brought the check.  That was really nice of her.  Ian wanted Daddy to have one, if he liked them at all.

Could we get a toy from the McDonald's across the street from the Airport Diner?  Daddy hates McDonalds.  But this was an unusual night.

Daddy chose the drive-through.  Aren't we supposed to go inside?

"Just the toy?" came the voice from the talking menu.

The girl at the window asked which toy we would like - we weren't ordering "food".  She held several in her hands.  She was very sweet, and probably a bit amused.  I called to the far-back-seat (mini-van) to ask Ian which he wanted, but as the girl made the list, and mentioned that one was a Pokemon, my cross-van interrogation became unnecessary.

On the way home, there were some demo's showing how this one's tail could be wound up.  Ian was going to add this one to his collection.  Very happy!

When we got home, I told Ian I had never had more fun in the emergency room.  He seemed very moved by this disclosure.

(January 21-22, 2013)