stuff i think

We were at the ER until 1:30 AM. My dear wife has been in the ER approximately 20 hours in the last two days. Everyone should visit a big city ER in the middle of the night at least once. TV does not do it justice. For quite a while, they were so full that we were on a line of gurneys that were staged head to toe in the hallway.

Our gurney was parked near a young woman lawyer who, despite contrary evidence presented by a nurse, an intern, a resident, an attending and eventually a surgeon, insisted for hours she had a burst appendix.

The staff is quite amazing - for the most part, good people doing the best they can in bad conditions for less pay than their cousin who got the MBA. The obvious exception would be the doctor who refered to 'pregnancy tissue'. I wanted to refer to her as a healthcare blob.

The analysis as we left is that they are not quite sure what is happening. Kelsey continues to cramp and bleed. They are leaning away from a tubal pregnancy diagnosis, but are still very hesitant to say much else. One doctor said "my guess is that this baby will not make it....but do you want this baby? If you do, then let's wait, because I've seen other people in this situation go on and deliver healthy babies." Do you want this baby? If that's not an invitation to prayer I don't know what is.

Thanks so much for the encouraging notes - Kelsey is reading every one of them. Also, I'm grateful for the platoon of bloggers who have helped spread the word. I actually had to grin at Charlie Pharis' 'Pray for the Bohlender's logo. It reminded me of those logos that the news makes for the crisis of the moment! Storm Surge, 2005!!! LIVE AT ELEVEN!"

So, to our supporters, blog friends, Burning Manners, family at IHOP, JHOP and C-HOP and the random readers who have been kind enough to email, thanks so much. We love you. We continue to fight. It is all we know to do.