For the record, I don’t mind facebook groups like the one mentioned above.  On the contrary, I think they’re pretty helpful to everyone involved.

That said, when a group pops up for someone I’ve never heard of and I get twenty notifications about it per day… well, I guess that gets a bit annoying.

I’m still staying in the group, however.

So I pulled off hospital trip #5 on Friday, and let me tell you, I don’t think I’ve ever waited longer for such a dull conclusion in my life.  A girl jammed her fingers playing tetherball, and they got all swollen and purple.

She was in pain every time she attempted to move the fingers; we feared she might have fractured them.  The injured kid, a counselor of hers, and I hopped in the van and left around 10 a.m. to head to the nearby hospital.

We initially wanted to take her somewhere else, but the place didn’t have an X-ray machine.

Let that be yet another indicator of the fact that upstate New York could really use a boost.

Anyway, we get to the hospital, fill out the paperwork/insurance/etc, and sit down in the waiting room.  I don’t really have an issue with waiting, especially when at a hospital, they’re probably really busy with patients more sick/injured than our camper.  We sat, talked, played games, changed the TV channel (Jerry Springer was on and while at first everything was relatively tame, once two women started catfighting and cursing we figured it wasn’t appropriate for an 11 year old)… everything was pretty normal.

After an hour of waiting, a really nice nurse led us into the examination room…

…and then she left without saying a word.

So we sat… and sat.  To pass the time, we played what could easily have been described as the most kid-friendly game of “never have I ever” ever.  From the eyes of an 11 year old girl, apparently I’ve done a lot of things and was routinely “out” first.

After an hour, the doctor popped his head in the door.

“Sorry for the wait guys, I’ll be with you eventually,” he said just before disappearing again.

Eventually.  Eventually.

I’d have been happier if he had said he’d be back in five hours, because then I’d at least know what to expect.  “Eventually” makes the mind wander…

Wander into a minefield of negative thoughts.

“Eventually” he came back (45 minutes) and examined the girl, no fingers were broken, he put a splint on her, and walked out the door.

Without giving us any further instruction.

We thought he was coming back, so we sat for another 15 minutes, but after no one came by, I went out into the hallway.

There were four nurses standing there, all talking and laughing.

“Oh… hey,” I said, sheepishly, “are we good to go?

They turned around and stared at me as if I was rude for interrupting their conversation.

“No,” said one nurse, “we need to fill out your departure paperwork.”

“Ah… great,” I said and looked at them.

They stared back.

“Can… can you fill it out?”

The nurse who… talked…to me sighed, gave an annoyed “yes” and walked away.

I’ve been having some bad luck recently with these camp van trips…