How Low Can You Go?

Nadir:  the lowest point of anything.  (My kids LOVE my habit of pulling out the dusty old dictionary whenever . . . well, whenever!).  So, live it, know it.  I hit the nadir of white blood cell count and had what Steve refers to as a "Chemo Crash", not unlike going into freefall off the Empire State Building. Ended up at the emergency room at 2 AM and was invited to stay for a while at their attached facility=hospital.

In the ER:  Admissions nurse, Physician's assistant, RN, admissions clerk, doctor, doctor, doctor, (at three AM the golf course is too dark to play) doctor, doctor (I am not kidding you), phlebotomist, new RN, doctor: all asking me the very same questions that the previous one had asked.  Don't they chart this stuff?  After a while, I found myself humming "Send in the Clowns".  At person number 12, I have to admit I got a little cheeky and accused them of being as bad as the cops, trying to see if my story stood up under cross examination.  That was the last doctor to visit me in the ER.  Three hours of interrogation, the inevitable poking and prodding and scanning, and only a mere six hours of waiting on one of those comfy gurneys for a room to become available.  Cha ching cha ching cha ching.   Gave me time to think . . .

For the cost of the ER visit alone and not even for the subsequent stay at the Riverside "Recreation Center and Spa", just the ER portion, what COULD I have spent my money on?  I mean, other than feeding a small starving nation or two?

Well, girlfriends, I'd charter  jets to pick you up for a couple of girls' days out in NYC. I'd send the planes for my sisters in Alaska and Montana, my bosom buddy in Salt Lake, my daughter and any of her Hollywood friends plus Jean in California, to Texas for the Texas Tiles and my sisters and Luann (Hidee, y'all), Little Rock, Atlanta, Orlando , all my bestest Ohio friends and mahjaholics; limos from New Jersey for Vicki and Boston for Jenn, about 30 let's say.

We'd stay ay the Ritz and start the new day with breakfast of choice followed by

1. Phyto Universe spa in New York with full treatment:  mani, pedi, massage, hair (or scalp in my case), facial, and mimosas
2. Have a group portrait made by Annie Leibowitz (individual portraits optional)
3. Limousine to Tiffany's for a gift for each guest (her choice)
4. Lunch at SHO for Asian Fusion 
5. Broadway Matinee
6. Diner at Le Bernadin
7. Stopover at Chippendale's (just for a peek)
8. Return to the Ritz for luxurious sleep 
9. Spend the second day "at will" sightseeing, playing mahj, shopping (Sure, what the heck it's on me).

But, if I ever saw that much money, and I mean the ER charges alone, I would, in good conscience have to feed those starving nations.  Sorry, Girlfriends.  Oops. Darn it.  So sorry.  Got your hopes up, then dropped them off the Empire State Building.

Now THAT's what a nadir feels like.