You can get an emergency passport from the embassy if you can actually book an appointment. they are only available on certain days, but I found that I could still contact them via email on days where no appointments were available. You can get an emergency passport knocked out in a few hours, but you'll need a passport photo to do it.

Aha, if you are in Thailand, I would book an appointment with the closest US embassy. Even though emergency passports are supposed to be life or death, or urgent travel, I think it really depends on the situation and the person you are dealing with. My guy was like "is there an emergency?" and I responded "umm, my mom is dying?" and he was like "ok, fill these forms out."

I would recommend ordering an emergency passport. They are good for one year and they can be completed in one day. I don't know if you can get them in the US. I got mine at the US embassy in Albania. the nice thing about emergency passports is that you pay full price for them and if you keep the receipt for it you can get a real passport for free. Essentially you pay for a real passport and the emergency one is just temporary. But be prepared to spend extra time at passport check, because emergency passports are much thinner and lighter, so officers always have to double check them with their manager or whatever.

I'm glad I have friends to tell all this kind of stuff to, instead of strangers online.