Friday 23 May 2008

this kind of excitement I can do without...

It was shaping up to be just another Thursday evening last night... dinner was out of the way and I was in the laundry finding today's school uniforms while the bathwater was running. Then Doodlebug came in screaming,telling me he'd accidentally put his fist through a pane of glass in the front door. A split second later I realised that he was spurting blood from his wrist. Thankfully the nurse and first-aider in me was able to take over at that point as the mother was threatening meltdown. Peter was not at home, so I rang our friend Michelle a few houses away. She bundled us all in her car and took us to the hospital (thankfully only blocks away) since I couldn't drive while applying pressure to Doodlebug's wrist. Otherwise Doodlebug might have had an ambulance ride.

I am so proud of how brave all my children were. LP got busy with the first aid box unravelling bandages, and getting me a teatowel for a makeshift pressurepad. Turtle found me the phone and turned the bathwater off. Poor little Doodlebug was petrified - he really thought he was going to die. Hoping that I sounded calmer than I felt, I reassured him that was not the case - not when his mum was there to look after him.

As we left for the hospital I had a brief smiley moment as I realised that I was actually wondering about bringing the camera to hospital..... just like the joke "You know you're addicted to scrapping when....". (Shocking, really.... ) In the end I was too busy practising direct pressure and elevation and carrying Doodlebug, so our visit to Emergency is photographically undocumented.

Our stay in Emergency was a lot less traumatic than it could have been - we went to the hospital I work in, and our Emergency Care nurse was a mum from school - her daughter is in Doodlebug's class. And finally, Michelle's husband Graham is a surgeon and kindly took on Doodlebug. Doodlebug felt completely safe with his buddy's dad. There was a lot of waiting in between examinations, X rays etc, and as the resus bay had no TV (not a huge requirement in there, funnily enough) we had to make our own entertainment. Meet "PsychoChicken"and "NerdChicken"



After a short night's sleep - none for me actually, since I was still full of adrenaline - we went to have Doodlebug patched up. The damage? Damage to one tendon and to the ulnar artery (hence the spectacular "murals" on our walls). But..... he was a very, very lucky boy, because he narrowly missed 2 vital nerves, so we are feeling blessed this evening because things could have been worse.

Before and after theatre shots..

safely back home for another sleep



The offending door - less one pane.... Peter (my hero!) had cleaned up the horror movie interior design and fixed up the door by the time we came home from hospital.


5 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness, he must have been terrified. What a brave boy he was! Håper han blir fort bra igjen! Så godt å ha et sykehus i nærheten, med unger vet man aldri når man må ta en tur dit! (Klok av skade...) God bedring!
    Klem.

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  2. WOW! Doodlebug you war hero!! I'm glad it was you and not me Mari, I would not have stayed as calm.
    Hope you're a bit more rested now and Doodlebug is enjoying all the special treatment that comes with severing some arteries.

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  3. woah very scary stuff
    gald no photos of the blood
    love to all
    b

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  4. Oh Mari, tears are glistening in my eyes as I feel the power of nurse/supermum come to the rescue! Poor Doodlebug how scary for him and you. I'm glad all is well now, sort of, and hope he heals well. It's nice to know that your connections with the hospital can come in handy......sorry for the pun, not really intended.

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  5. Holy moly. I'm so sorry to hear it but you and Doodlebug were both very brave!!

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