The several sets of ceiling lights could have made the room bright, even in the darkest nighttime hours. The central fixture could have focused high-intensity lights on the room’s primary furniture, while a couple of concentric rings of bulbs could have illuminated the cabinets and shelves along the walls; however, the only light came from the hallway, slipping around a door left slightly ajar and filtered through a thin curtain.

I sat mostly in the dark while my daughter lay on a hospital bed wearing sunglasses in the darkened room. Yes, another visit to another hospital emergency room (ER). During one such recent visit, I’d counted that my daughter and I had been at 17 different ERs. Not counting multiple visits to the same facilities. (There’s some interpretation in the definition of an ER, so the count could be 16 ERs.)

Years ago, I’d called a local, community hospital to ask how they handle pediatric patients and they’d told me that the hospital ran the “Nighttime Pediatrics” facility on a suburban commercial strip. So we went there. Does it count as an ER? And, if so, should I also include visits to the “PM Pediatrics” not run by a hospital? So, have we been to 16 or 18 ERs?  Does it matter?

Then, there’s the “almost” visit to an ER during a vacation in England for my daughter’s unbearable migraine. We had been staying in a lovely small hotel near the bottom of a long, narrow, twisty road on the........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)