this is what happens when a game of hide and seek goes wrong. you end up in the local emergency department for the long haul, with scheduled surgery for the following day. gah.
it allllll started at the wake after baby willows funeral yesterday. joseph and some of mel and aitu's girls and their cousins were playing a game of hide or something like that (let's be honest, we don't really know) when we were about to leave to go home. in fact, we had even made it to the car and then couldn't find him. maddie went back in to look and then came outside yelling that joseph had hurt himself and i needed to come back in.
oh my gosh. hurt himself he had, his left middle finger had been crushed in a door and had a cut down one side by the nail and the nail had been completely ripped out of the bed and was hanging off the edge like 5mm above where it should have been and there was so. much. blood. it was horrendous. i tried to run it under some water to get a better look but that only made him scream more (not at all surprising, it was a mess!) making it very quickly apparent that this was needing a hospital run and definitely not something we could help with. he was in sooooo much pain and wailed the entire way there. i felt so helpless and just did my best to get him there as fast as we could.
the hospital staff were absolutely incredible. he was seen within minutes and given a pain block needle straight into his finger, which stopped all of the feeling. i really felt for him though as he has quite bad anxiety and the needle didn't help with that. he was screaming and trying to push everyone away, but was so happy when it took hold and he was pain free. his face was hilarious, he held his hand up in the air and was looking at it with amazement like he couldn't believe it. we had x-rays and confirmed that the tip of his finger was broken. he kept saying to me over and over why did this happen to me?! i just did my best as a mum, reminding him he was very lucky to keep is finger - as it could have ended differently and very badly, with him not having a finger!
it was so hard for me as a mum though to watch him. i was so emotional from being at a funeral already and kept crying while we waited and when he got upset. and he was so so upset and couldn't calm down, especially when they needed to give him a second block needle to ensure that the first one wouldn't wear off first. i am certain they heard him through the entire department! the dr actually spoke to me and suggested that i may need to have him assessed formally for anxiety and possible autism. they said his reactions put across that it's a possibility. it was no surprise to me as we have always thought it was a possibility but we have never had him diagnosed as his issues don't actually affect his day to life. he's smart, bright, has a lot of friends (although he does like his own company!) but just needs a little help regulating his emotions sometimes. we will think and pray on it and see what we decide to do. but even knowing someone else can see it is comforting. i always wondered if i was "that" mum that was diagnosing her kid.
as you can see he was far from impressed, especially when he ended up vomiting all over himself when he needed to go to the bathroom, right before they said we could go home. i was not in any way surprised, he had had so much going on, along with the pain and the pain meds... it was horrendous! the sweet nurse that was looking after us very quickly cleaned him up and gave him two of their childrens gowns, one back to front and one the right way around to ensure maximum coverage haha. just to make matters worse though, we finally made it home and got him in the shower to wash the day away and his hand started bleeding through the bandages again... another trip back to emergency to get it under control and then home again, ready to report to the hospital in the morning for his surgery.
the hospital staff were so wonderful. we got checked in and given a bed in the childrens ward where we spoke to the doctor and completed all the paperwork prior to being prepped for surgery. we did get a bit of a giggle out of it too, when the nurse accidentally wrote removal of left middle finger and left off the word nail. we definitely want to keep the finger!
the surgeon came and spoke to us beforehand too (i still can't get over the fact a he has had plastic surgery on his finger!!) saying that they would be removing the nail and checking underneath to ensure there was no more damage they couldn't see, then repairing the nail bed and reattaching the nail. it wasn't a long surgery but it feels like forever when it's your child!
i must admit too, it was much nicer having a more grown up child this time around than our experience with having his teeth removed! he calmly lay in the bed, playing the switch while i read a book, occasionally talking to me or asking a question. even though he had to fast too, not once did he complain about being hungry either, considering how focused he normally is on food!
everything went perfectly according to plan and we were able to go home a few hours later after he had been checked by the nurse again.
i am so so proud of him. he coped so well with everything he had thrown at him and although grumpy came out of it no problems at all.
so now i just have to put up with that grumpy face and his giant record breaking rude finger for the nect few weeks. he's been referred to a place in joondalup for continued care, so fingers crossed there are no further issues and it heals well. and most of all, that it's our last trip to emergency for a while. although with my two boys - it's unlikely!
