We had our dinner and financial seminar after church tonight. After we got the kitchen cleaned up, we stayed late talking to Mark again. We just have a good time sitting around and talking.

We told stories of some of the things we saw and heard in the emergency room this morning. And Brandon told nursing home stories.

The people in the room next to us in the ER were a constant source of amusement. The whole family went in - probably 5 or 6 people in the room. The doctor went in and asked (I believe) the son, "What's wrong with him?" I believe the older man did not speak English. So the son started telling the doctor all that was wrong...with HIMSELF! The doctor said, "Forget about that. What's wrong with HIM?" Imagine that....the doctor wanted to know what was wrong with the person who actually came in for treatment. But our ER nurse friend said it's common for a whole family to try to come in and get treated under the pretense of having one family member that's sick.

Then we heard the doctor say, "Ok, guys, let's let him have the bed." Everybody but the patient was on the bed!

I'd swear we saw some of the dimmest bulbs in Pasadena, Texas today.

But there were some people that I had to wonder what their story was. While we were in the waiting room, a 50ish lady came out of the ER, obviously dressed up, in a long black satin skirt and white satin and lace blouse. But she had been crying, and she had blood down the front of her white blouse. She left by herself. I wondered what had happened. I wondered if maybe she and her husband had been in a car accident. And I wondered if he made it.

Brandon told us tonight about a guy they saw at a nursing home where they were servicing the AC. He wasn't a patient....just some guy trying to bum money. He told Bill (my bro-in-law) that he needed 75 cents. Bill told him he didn't have any money to give him. Then the guy told Brandon (he didn't ask - he told) that he needed 75 cents. Brandon told the guy to go get a job. The guy asked if they had a job for him. Brandon told him no, but if he'd go get a job, he was sure they would give him 75 cents.  But Bill was dying laughing at Brandon telling that guy to go get a job. The way he told the story was just hilarious. The whole idea of actually getting a job and working is foreign to way too many people.

Then he told us about one of the nurses at a nursing home, who is actually a guy in drag. He sees some characters in his job.

The AC in our fellowship hall wasn't working tonight, but Brandon managed to rig it where it would work temporarily. He didn't have the parts to actually fix it tonight. I'm proud of him and what he can do. He can fix anything he puts his mind to. We had 3 AC guys there tonight - all in the family.

There was a bad wreck this afternoon, at one of the intersections we go through all the time. In fact, we went through it this morning on the way home from the hospital. Two Mustangs were drag racing and plowed into several vehicles on the service roads of the tollway. One of the vehicles was an ambulance with 3 EMT's in it. Seven people were injured - some seriously.

One of our sweet church members, Linda, has a doctor's appointment tomorrow, to find out the results of her MRI. She has been having really bad headaches lately. The doctor's office called her and told her she needed to come in, to discuss the results of the MRI. That doesn't sound good. Please be praying for her. She is 51 years old, and is a member of our Bible Study group. She also helped serve and decorate at Brandon and Rachael's wedding. Her husband is the one who barbecued all the meat for the rehearsal dinner.

I will make it around to everybody's sites tomorrow. When I can keep my eyes open.

It took an hour just to get into triage. Then it took another couple of hours to get lab work and paper work done, and finally get into a room. I have spent longer at the hospital before, but never on so little sleep.

She does not have appendicitis. What we believe happened (and she said she didn't care if I posted this) is she had a couple of ovarian cysts that ruptured, coupled with the antibiotic making her ill. Not a good combination. We think it was 2 since she had the extreme, doubling up kind of pain and nausea on two different occasions, but got better in between. She was having the pain and nausea while we were waiting to see the doctor. They did a CT scan just to make sure there was nothing seriously wrong. No appendicitis. Just knowing that is a relief.

Lauryn, just as we figured, every snotty nosed kid who just needed Robitussin was there last night. Parents hauled in kids who were literally skipping around in the ER. Didn't seem that sick to me. But there was one baby who was really ill. He was released from the hospital yesterday, but his jaundice was worse last night.

Then early this morning, we listened as a woman in the ER was given the diagnosis that she has uterine cancer. We listened to her cry and say, "I'm dying." That was sad.

Beth did develop a migraine while we were there. The pain along with the stress caused it. She got a little claustrophobic in the CT scan, and got a little disoriented. She said she's glad to know that she reacts that way, though, because if she ever has to have an MRI, they will have to put her to sleep. That's what they had to do with me.

The doctor gave her Vicodin for the headache and sent us home. When we went to eat, the Vicodin really kicked in. I was afraid we were going to have to carry her out. When we got home, she went straight to bed.

Needless to say, we aren't going to make it to church this morning. We'll be there tonight.

I'll let her tell you later about the cute young ER Tech that took care of her this morning. He did a double-take when he came in and saw her. It was kind of funny.