Nothing says Christmas like a midnight trip to an urban ER

I was so excited for my mother to come to visit me in Chicago. We
spent a lazy day today - lunch at wholefoods, a trip to the Chicago
History Museum, relaxing / reading, a shopping trip, pizza from Piece
and the movie Julia and Julie. Everything was going great and we had
another fun day planned for tomorrow - tennis, baking and more
shopping. Then, inde got in the way. Maybe I should back up a bit.

My mom is the dog's favorite person in the world. She goes crazy when
my mom comes to visit. It's very cute. So, naturally, inde wanted to
climb up on the couch with my mom to watch the end of the movie. The
75 pound dog's toenail swiped a u-shaped path across the top of her
hand and opened it up like a canopener. If you're squeamish, stop
here. The flap of skin peeled back and, well, we were lucky it wasn't
worse.

Inde knew right away something was wrong. We piled into the car and
drove to the ER. Can you say health care reform, NOW! I don't want
to get off track, so I'll save that for another day. Anyway, there was
a 15 year old boy throwing up "into" a bin about the size of a
thimble. After he hit the floor the second time, they gave him
something that was larger. Here I sit, in the waiting room, while my
74-year old mother is getting about as many stitches. Her hand is
already bruised and her blood pressure is through the roof. They
wouldn't let me go with her, so I'm out here in the waiting room and
it's just like the one at "county," but without Abby Lockhart. There
are twelve people in my section, four of whom are sleeping and at
least one is snoring. Half are coughing. As bad as it is for me, I'm
sure it's much worse for her. I'll update you all when I know more.