I think I need to write a book about my life!
The problem is that some of the things that happen to me, are at times, so unbelievable that I am sure people will think it is fiction.
If recent events are anything to go by; I was struggling to believe it so how can anyone else?
All of you who read this blog will know a little about the past traumatic few months that we, as a family, have endured.
I was quietly starting to breathe properly for the first time in as many months as things were starting to go well.
Wednesday started off as a fairly typical day in the Mckenzie household. The kids were having a lie in as it's the Easter holidays. I was taking a bit of time to get going as I was fighting off the dreaded lurgy and was feeling a bit sorry for myself but came to after copious amounts of gargling with paracetamol! (A cure Granny Mac treated me to regularly when Jack was very ill and I was constantly coming down with sore throats).
When I got Jack out of bed, he was quite sleepy for the first half of the morning and then as the afternoon progressed he got a little more active. He hadn't had any seizures that day so far so things were looking bright.
Mid afternoon found him rolling around on the floor, getting into all sorts of mischief much to Holly and I's amusement.
He kept rolling towards a large pine cabinet in the living room and I kept moving him away from it as he often bashes his arms or legs against it, incurring many bruises. In fact, since he has come home and been so active, I have talked about moving this cabinet out of the living room into the dining room but with being so busy, I just never got around to it.
I had just moved Jack away from the cabinet for the 2nd time and was sitting chatting to Holly when she yelled "Jack's legs are caught under the unit!" I looked over to see that the lower half of his legs were trapped under the unit, with his knees bent inwards. He was trying to sit up and twist his body in the opposite direction from the way his legs were.
I knew he didn't have room to turn his legs, so I sprinted across the room, which wasn't far believe me, shouting "no Jack!" but as I reached him I heard a loud POPPING sound and I knew that it was too late, that he'd broken a bone. His reaction confirmed it as he was breathless with pain and his face was contorted in agony. I looked over at Holly who had her hands over her ears in shock!
I was hysterical, sobbing, trying to console both him and Holly who leapt into action, getting dressed (we were having a pyjama day!) whilst I got Jack, who by this time was whimpering, into his sling ready to hoist him into his wheelchair.
It took Holly and I just minutes to get him into his chair, a few more minutes to get him into the car and we were at the hospital within 10 minutes.
The shock was starting to set in and I lurched from sobbing hysterically to being ever so calm. Once at A & E we waited about 15 mins before we were seen. It was another hour before he got any pain relief because they tried to give him paracetamol but he is on that regularly so couldn't be given another dose. It didn't matter anyway cos they had drawn it up in the wrong syringe and it didn't fit his jejunostomy tube. She got another medicine in a different type of syringe but again it didn't fit, so poor Jack ended up with an injection into his stomach.
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| Jack asleep after his injection. Had to put his soft collar on as he was stopping breathing! |
By this time it was nearly 6pm and Jack was due his epilepsy meds so I asked them to hurry with the x-ray so that he wouldn't be too late in getting them. He had his x-ray at 6.50pm but there was problems there as they had no hoist so Holly and I had to lift him out of his chair, trying not to hurt his leg but not succeeding at all and causing him huge discomfort.
We then had to pin him down so that he would be still for the x-ray which was like trying to hold a slippery salmon!!!!
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| Jack's spiral fracture on the right side |
We spent another half an hour waiting for someone to come and put a back plaster on to stabilise his leg temporarily. Each time, we saw a different person and I had to go through the whole story again and again to the point that I wanted to scream.
Again Holly and I had to pin him down while they put the back plaster on. No mean feat let me tell you and our stress levels were getting higher by the moment. Once that was done, again we had to take a seat to wait for another x ray. This time, the girl got a set of steps so that we didn't have to lift him then afterwards we'd to take another bloody seat and wait to be told if we could go home. By this time it was 8pm and we'd been there for nearly 4 hours.
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| the half plaster cast - back slabbed only |
We were leaving at 8.10pm and had stopped in reception to put Jack's jacket on when my Dad arrived with Jack's medicine. Seconds after that a nurse appeared to tell us that they had changed their mind and they were admitting Jack. She couldn't tell me why but the decision had been made and there was no point in arguing.
I sent Holly and my Dad off to get feed, pyjamas, nappies etc for Jack, telling them I would meet them at the Children's ward shortly. I was stressing about Jack getting his medicine but was assured we would be put up to the ward shortly.
By the time the doctor came to speak to me, an hour had passed and I was slowly losing the plot. Jack had been sitting in his chair for 5 hours, clearly wasn't comfortable and still hadn't gotten his meds. Add to that the fact my mobile phone battery had died so I couldn't text my Dad or Holly to ask them to come back with the medicine so I grabbed a nurse and gave them a piece of my mind. Jack finally got his meds at 9.30pm when Holly brought them down.
The doctor appeared again to say that he needed to check Jack's chest so took me to an examination room. He asked me "so Jack did this by trapping his leg between two filing cabinets?". I knew I was about to blow a gasket at that point cos I had told the story so many times and each time they heard something different. One time it was a desk, another time the cabinet fell on him and I was getting so bloody tired of correcting them. It was like Chinese Whispers! So this poor doctor kinda got it. He got 6 hours of my pent up frustration, stress and worry slamming into him as I spelled out to him
exactly what happened through gritted teeth.
Holly, realising that this poor guy was gonna get it, came into the room and asked me if I was all right and I calmed down a bit. Then he asked what meds Jack was on so I started listing them, one after the other, in quick succession til his face registered that maybe he had better start writing them down! I did relent and give him a copy of a list I keep with Jack's meds and as he headed out the door, my Dad came in. It was now nearly 10pm.
As soon as I saw my Dad again, I just fell apart, couldn't stop crying.
Finally at about 10.15pm we were taken up to the Children's ward. Jack was sleeping by now and I was completely exhausted, starving and extremely traumatised. I made sure that Jack was settled, that the nurses knew all about his new peg and then I headed home via the pizza take away but to be honest, I could hardly eat.
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| the full cast in a groovy purple colour |
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| fast asleep waiting for his x ray |
The next day there was more hanging around in A & E whilst we waited for the doctor and male nurse Glen to put on the proper plaster cast. Glen turned out to be good company and was a welcome distraction from all the hanging around. Jack had to have a full leg cast in the end, in a lovely shade of purple. He coped beautifully with the pain while they stretched his leg out and was asleep before he even had his x ray after.
I finally got him home at 5pm Thursday night. He slept most of that day and was as bright as a button the next day. So much so that, he even tried to get up on his knees in a full leg cast no less. WTF!
As for me, I am still totally traumatised but now I can laugh about it, just a little.
