Best. Emergency. Room. Experience. Ever.

I know it sounds really odd, but my friend, Christopher and I had the best ER experience Friday evening!

As you may (or may not) recall, Christopher (my "bro") flew in to SFO from 3 1/2 years in Sydney/Manly on Friday late morning. We had a nice day planned for him: my Mom drove up to meet us for lunch, and to spend the day together. My dad drove in for dinner, and Dick would get home from work around 6:00 to meet up with all of us.

that was the plan

As it turned out, Christopher had acquired some sort of an infection in his nose last week, had seen a doctor about it, and was on antibiotics. It seemed to be doing its job, because the infection started to drain Friday afternoon. (I know, T.M.I., but it's part of the story)

Well, around 6:00, just as Dick walks through the door, Christopher comes out of the bathroom declaring, "I have a hole in my nose. I think I have to go see a doctor".

sidenote: Now, what you really have to understand here is that our very fond memories of Christopher often have "drama" surrounding them. When Dick heard Christopher's statement, he said to himself, 'Yep, that sounds about right".

So, Christopher and I are off to the Emergency Room. We weren't quite sure where to go at first. We were hoping to find an open "Clinic" but when we looked online and called, they had closed at 5:00. We went to the California Pacific Hospital up on Castro at Duboce.

First and foremost, the staff at the ER were simply amazing - so friendly, knowledgeable, etc., We were attended to pretty quickly - which is always a pleasant surprise in the ER. I guess we were early enough on a Friday night.

The doctor told Christopher that he had a staph infection. They weren't concerned about the infection (that has been fairly common over the past couple of years) but they were concerned of its location (on his septum). They suggested giving him a 2-hour drip dose IV of a more powerful antibiotic. We figured it would be the best thing to do, so we called Dick and my parents telling them the scoop, and planned to spend the rest of the evening hangin' out in the ER.

This is where the fun begins.....

When the nurse found out that we'd be sitting for two hours with an IV drip, he offered to bring in a TV and movies for us. Really?

He wheels in a large TV, and brings us a box full of videos.

Sweet!

We select "Galaxy Quest" figuring we could use a good laugh, and pop it in.

At this point, I offerred to take a stroll to the vending machines to pick up some snacks for us. I figured the selection would consist of potato chips and candy. Well, lo and behold, there's microwave popcorn in there! (and a microwave next to the vending machine)

So, I happily come back to our little curtained off section of the ER, with popcorn and Snickers bars.

Picture this: we're both sitting on the bed, watching Galaxy Quest, munching on Popcorn, IN THE ER!
it was the oddest, most surreal, yet FUN experience.

Even better: Dick and my Mom popped in around 3/4 through the movie. They brought us Pad Thai from our favorite Thai place. Mmmmmm....

2 hours later, the movie finishes, and within another minute the IV drip is done.

that was seriously the best ER visit ever.
They sent us off with a prescription for more antibiotics, and requested that Christopher come back Sunday morning for a check-up.