A trip to Emergency (Take 2)

When we took Henry to the hospital during his finger incident I got the distinct impression that we would be back there with him again. He was going to be that kind of kid. The one who grows up with lots of photos of bandaged arms and stories to proudly tell others about close calls and freaking out his mother...who he would age rapidly!

A few weeks after the finger injury when he was almost completely healed, we heard Will yell out from his bedroom. I'd only been in the hallway so was quickly there to see what had happened. Henry was crouched on the floor and was whinging a little and Will told me that he'd fallen off the toy box. Henry went to stand up and began limping. He wasn't overly complaining. He just looked a bit uncomfortable and more annoyed about it than hurt. I checked him over and looked closely at his ankles. It was right on bedtime so Pete and I decided to put the kids to bed and see if Henry was still limping in the morning before we arranged a visit to the Dr. 

Will has developed a love for jumping off his toy box so I wasn't sure if Henry had fallen or 'jumped' to copy his big brother. The next morning Henry couldn't even weight bear on his foot and was tumbling over. He began crawling around. I got the kids breakfast and arranged a Dr's appointment first thing that morning. Pete went off to work and I said to him that I'd get a referral from a Dr for an x-ray just to play it safe. I didn't think it would be anything other than a sprain as Henry was already trying to put more weight on his leg as the morning progressed. 

I got the referral and thought that I was being overly cautious about getting the x-ray but wanted to double check. Will was so excited to stand with the Radiographer as she took the x-ray. He loved looking at the computer screen and was so good at following her directions. Henry was wriggly but we got him still long enough. When it was done we all gathered around the computer. The Radiographer pointed out the damage and said she wanted a second opinion as she thought was in fact broken. Another Doctor confirmed that yes, it was broken! Both his Tibia and Fibula were bent/buckled as he called it. He recommended a cast to help it heal and force Henry off of it as he could see what an active little man he is.

I got the kids back to the car and rang Pete. I decided that I did not want to bother at my local hospital. I then got in touch with a friend of ours who works at the Women's and Children's hospital. He was so good to us. He got hold of Henry's x-rays and passed them on to the Orthopedic surgeons on staff and by the time we got to the Hospital they were aware we were coming and were familiar with Henry's injury. We didn't have to wait for long at all and the whole process was awesome...with the exception of my crying episode in Emergency. As we were filling out info at the Triage desk 3 ambulances arrived with a flurry of activity. One of the strethcher's had a tiny newborn baby on it with her distraught mother by her side. I just lost it. Seeing that tiny baby on the huge gurny, the look of desperation of the mother and me wondering what on earth could be wrong was so overwhelming. I was so grateful in that moment that Henry only had a broken leg. So many parents have so much more to bear.  

The nurse who did the cast was so lovely. I was so glad we took Henry to the Women's and Children's hospital this time. Will was having a blast with Toby and Collette and his Best buddy Bastian, as Jess was over with her family. Before all the Dr's appointments occured that's where we'd planned on spending most of the day! We stopped there for a bit of a catch up when we left the hospital. Henry didn't seem phased much at all by the massive cast on his leg. He just sat around playing with toys on the deck. Thanks Collette for having Will for most of the day! It's so comforting having friends you can call on at a moment's notice. 

Isn't he gorgeous with the giant cast on!

The 10 days he had the cast on flew by. For the first week Henry was pretty good at staying off his leg, but he gradually got more and more adventurous and was trying to walk/shuffle everywhere. He didn't get frustrated until perhaps the last day or two...and he really missed having a bath. 

A trip to the Emergency Room

A little over 2 weeks ago I was just getting out of the shower and Pete was all set to head out the door for work, when we heard Henry screaming from Will's room. I asked Pete to check it out while I got dressed quickly. Pete brought a hysterically screaming Henry into our room and tried to explain what had happened but the screaming was so loud I couldn't hear him. Pete showed me Henry's hand and I recoiled instantly. I managed to hear that Will had jammed Henry's finger in the door. Henry lunged at me, deafening me even more and Pete went into the hall to talk to Will who was also very upset and worried about his brother. Amidst trying to console Henry I could hear Pete talking to Will about what had happened. Will had shut the door to his bedroom and hadn't realised Henry was right outside the door. Little Henry had his hand in the gap near the hinge when the door closed on his finger. If you have a weak stomache I'd look away now!

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Pete and I knew immediately that this was serious. The nail was hanging on by a thread and we knew his finger might be broken. Pete called the nurse hotline to get some immediate advice for the injury. We were told to plunge his finger into cold water and try to keep him from touching it until we could take him to the Emergency Department. He didn't want to touch it, but trying to get him to keep his finger in icy cold water was no small feat. He screamed relentlessly and I just rocked and cuddled him and reassured him as best I could. Pete then rang his Sister-in-law, Meredith who arranged to meet us at the hospital. I suggested to Pete that we might be best taking Henry to the Womens and Children's hospital in the city but it was 8:30am on a Monday morning and we both decided to try out the hospital that was 5 minutes away. We rang ahead so they knew we were coming. Will was very concerned and very quick to get moving. When we arrived at the hospital we found a park meters from the front entrance. We got the kids out of the car and Will grabbed my hand and started running "Quick mummy, there's the door. Quickly!" Will is normally a very relaxed little man and is never in much of a hurry. We were seen pretty much immediately by the triage nurse, who examined the injury and gave Henry panadol. We were then taken to x-ray. Henry had calmed down by the time we'd seen the nurse. He was cuddled in to me and whimpered occasionally but was at least calm. As we waited for the radiographer to get organised he managed to grab a milk arrowroot biccie from my bag and shoved it in his mouth. I had a feeling to not give him any food but it was a bit late by the time he found it. Anyway, getting the x-ray was awful. They had to manipulate his fingers against a foam block to get the right angles etc for the x-rays...Henry screamed again! Who could blame him! He was so good though. He squirmed and screamed but he didn't thrash around and get hysterical. As soon as it was over he calmed down again and wanted his daddy. We had a long wait before we got to see the Dr for the results and his examination so Pete walked the halls with Henry and I sat and watched playschool with Will. 

Eventually we got to see the Doctor. He looked at the x-ray and told us Henry had a crush fracture and because he couldn't examine the nail bed properly, Henry would need Nailbed surgery. He rang Flinders Hospital and spoke with the Plastic Surgeon Registrar who said there were spots open for surgery that arvo. We could go to the ED and be admitted but they'd be expecting us. I asked if we would be better going to Women's and Children's Hospital but the Dr assured me it would all be sorted and they would have him in surgery this afternoon. 

We went to Flinders after having Meredith pick up Will from our place with an overnight bag. We waited at Flinders for a long long time and the nurses said the Plastic surgeon was held up in surgery...then she was held up upstairs....meanwhile Henry played happily. There was one very feral child also waiting for the plastic surgeon. She would have been about 10 and had an infected heel. What what I heard (It's a small waiting area) she'd had stitches but refused to keep her shoes off. She was supposed to only wear thongs but had put shoes on and generally not looked after the stitches. Her mum kept telling her off for various things and whinged about the fact that she was having to rearrange everything for her girl and that she was desperate for a "ciggie." It made me sad. The girl also screamed and ran off when the nurses tried to examine her foot and her mum kept threatening the daughter by saying "I'll call Hospital security on ya! They'll sort ya out!" It was awful...

Then he started to get really hungry and really tired. He'd had nothing to eat since 9am and it was now 3pm. He was getting really upset and screeching. He kept reaching for the nappy bag as he knew there were snacks in there. I hated starving him! I eventually walked around the ED and rocked him. I found an empty treatment room and he conked out. He had a little nap on the bed and it brought tears to my eyes. 

He woke 40 minutes later and I asked the nurse if something was happening. The Doctor finally arrived and examined him. She agreed about him needing surgery but her spots were now full until later that evening. I told her that there was no way I was going to continue to starve him so we arranged for him to come back the next morning for the first surgery available. I was really annoyed at the muck around. Being held up in surgery is understandable but apparently the Plastic surgeon had just been upstairs on the ward checking things over, when she had 2 children waiting in the ED! I was so angry at myself for not following my mother's intuition about just taking him to the Women's and Children's...but there was no point worrying about that now. We gave Henry about 20 Jatz crackers and lots of water and took him home for a meal. He was so hungry :-(

Anyway, meanwhile Will was happy to have a sleepover with Aunty Meredith and his cousins and Pete and I got dinner for the 3 of us. I was due to go in to work the next day but was really tossing up about whether to go. Peter insisted that I went to work as I'd already committed to it. (I'm doing Relief Work at my old school)

Henry was constantly on my mind though. I just about melted when Pete sent me this photo of Henry just before he went into surgery. 

Pete said that seeing Henry go under the anaesthetic was a little traumatic. He was resistant at first. I imagine it would be pretty daunting to be placed on a hospital bed and have strangers put something over your face. Pete just held him and tried to reassure him until the drugs took effect. I was glad to be at work int he end as my day was flat out and it distracted me. The surgery went beautifully and the Dr said the nail would grow back without any problems. 

I was so excited to see him when I got home. Will hadn't gone to Kindy in the end as he'd been too worried about Henry and had the runs apparently. I think he was stressed so he'd had the day with Grandma. I am so glad we have family close by who come to our aid when needed. I told everyone I had a feeling this wasn't going to be our last trip to the Emergency room with Henry....