I had to go to the ER last night. No big deal, just some symptoms that looked like a new bloodclot but it's all good, just crap that will get worse and worse over time until I kick off for the next plane.

So anyway, I hear this very firm voice talking to the triage nurse while I'm suffering through a couple of unsuccessful blood draws. Guy says he's the patient's father. He's there because the kid was drinking blood out of some kind of medical vial while he was at school.

This captures my attention right away. I ask the phlebotomist, how old is the kid over there, she says she can't tell. I want to know is he like two or what? So the dad's still talking. The kid said he had found the medical vial (still not clear on what that meant) and had filled it with blood from a nose bleed the day before. And the kid drank it on a dare.

Dad is worried whether the kid drank healthy blood or unclean blood. Now I hear the kid and he says that he wants to be a vampire. Then I see them as they come over to be weighed. It's a military father with a gazillion medals and a kid in his early teens. They weigh the kid and he weighs 160 lbs. He is quick to point out that his pants weigh four pounds.

For some reason this obsession about weight bothered me as much, although didn't make me gag, as the blood drinking. I badly wanted to follow this family and find out what the story was. But I didn't. I was a good patient. Damn it.