Oh, no! Come on, Santa Monica, I guess.

Ok, drunk deer chili is simmering away. I goofed and opened cans of beans before I noticed the recipe doesn't actualy call for beans, but too late, they're going in anyway. I like beans. So I'll just finish whatever time the recipe calls for, then add the beans and give it another fifteen minutes or so.

Now I'm annoyed that I don't have any chili in the freezer. And not even the ingredients for any!

Contrary to my usual "eat whatever food b.org is talking about" ways, I am going to stick to my plan to have steak and squash and salad for dinner. Mmm, alliterative. Sort of.

Hey -t, I'm also thinking about you on your husband's birthday.

Thank you for that. It's actually been an easy one, as these things go, but it is always nice to be thought of.

Contrary to my usual "eat whatever food b.org is talking about"

This is also what passes for meal planning at my house.

Steak and squash and salad actually sounds great. But the drunk deer chili turned out very good. Could have had a little more heat to it, so I'll adjust that next time.

I'm glad the day is going ok for you, -t.

I have to figure out what all I need to get done tonight ahead of tomorrow's snow. I think just the trash and I'll go ahead and pull the can out. And then fill water jugs. That's it, probably.

Inspired by Top Chef this week, I made smothered chicken for dinner. I was impatient and burned the chicken slightly. It was okay.

I am having graham crackers.

Santa Monica has given me dose #1, and they have given me 6. I...I don't know what to make of it. And I really don't know if I'll get dose #2, which I will need, but at least they've got me down from off the ledge.

As soon as they said the doctor's name I became optimistic. I remember that name. He's got the same surname as that person from that show I like. I remember that doctor being nice.

And he's still nice, because he asked if I want 6. I also asked for oxygen, to be sure THERE ARE NO ISSUES. Because I am not actually cavalier with my life, you stupid fuckers.

I wish I could rely on this being my replacement ER, but it's a whole 'nother gamble. and they're nowhere near as big as RR, and when they get full up it could be way tedious.

Here's what happened at the other hospital:

1. I wait 4 hours, 2 in the waiting room, two in a bed
2 The nurse and resident are nice, concerned with my health, and trusting of my knowledge about my treatment.
3. I wait another hour after the resident tells me there is an agreement about how much I will get, weekly. It is a good agreement.
4. The nurse comes back from lunch to find out what dose I was on (she was going to tell them I could handle 3), and the answer is 0
5. She goes to eavesdrop and comes back feeling sure the news is bad.
6. Dr IsADick comes back and tells me they can give me: fluids; anti-inflammatory, anti-emetic. The agreement with my doctor is weekly opiates, and I was last here Monday, so no dilaudid for me today.
7. I explain: this is the first week of the agreement, I didn''t know when the clock started; last weekend was a long weekend; we'll need to reset to Sundays, because I clearly can't do this every Monday
8. Dr. Dick tells me it doesn't matter because this isn't appropriate treatment and my doctor cannot make agreements for my treatment in the Er and they will not page him so I can get new instructions....maybe he can find his email address (he never comes back)

Apart from, oh, everything else, I find it horrifyingly rude that their standard operating procedure is #6 then #8. Any doctor or nurse who balks always puts up some sort of procedure-related objection that if I push at even the least little bit they quickly replace it with "Fuck you, you can't have any."

Do other people not push? Do they have to play this game with everyone? Is it just doctor dancing? The number of times I've heard "We never" "You have never" :It's not possible that" and they every time have reduced to "I don't care, I don't want to."

Fuck you. You run the place anyway. Start off with fuck you and save us all time and oxygen.

Dr. YouHaveAGoodName just came in and asked me what needs to be done to get my headache below a 5. I asked for 4 more mgs of dilaudid and he said fine and wandered off.

It's not perfect--they're also running two litres of saline, which dulls the impact, but it is so motherfucking better than RR has been in weeks that I'm marrying them all.