"Just out of theatre, surgery went well, sleeping off anaesthetic. should be home around lunchtime x"- H
A message from my wife on Facebook. Not that I go on there that often but as she does and I hadn't heard any news at two in the morning I thought that would be the best place to check. She was at the children's hospital with the boy.
Around tea time after being excluded from carving up the pumpkin I was in the kitchen making that trifle I promised and making a complete pig's ear of it. I'm hopeless in the kitchen but do try. I managed to burn the custard and then after spooning out all the burnt bits with more patience than I usually have left it too long so it solidified and I couldn't pour it on to the jelly. Complete waste of space I know. As I was in the kitchen I heard my wife on a number of occasions tell the youngest two to stop running around but the constant thudding of feet let me know they were not for listening. Then there was an almighty thump, short silence and then screaming. Not unusual for our home I have to say. There is such limited space to run about in and the hyper kids are forever leaving their toys lying about on the floor that falls are commonplace.
But when my wife called me I knew something was wrong. The boy looked in agony. His left arm was hanging limp and above the elbow looked wrong. I can't actually say what was wrong with it but it just looked wrong for some reason. And added to that the whole of the upper arm had come out in blotches. As I tried to calm him and dress him my wife arranged for one of the neighbours to take her to hospital and then they were gone. It was horrible. To see this little soul in such agony and not be able to do anything about it. What I found more worrying was he kept closing his eyes and I had to keep making sure he would stay awake. Just a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach and I didn't envy my wife's journey ahead with waiting rooms and the like. My mind took me dark places. It took me to all those stories I'd read and wished I hadn't about young children being beaten with broken bones and god how could they suffer that?
Two and a half hours later the boy was back with his arm in a sling. He'd broken his arm. My wife had been sitting on the floor sorting out washing when he had run in the room and tripped over the basket landing awkwardly. Unfortunately for him and my wife that was just the start of it. The broken bone was out of alignment and the local hospital couldn't deal with that so he had to go to the specialised children's hospital in Glasgow for an overnight operation. So off my wife went already stressed and not looking forward to an overnight. I looked after the girls and we muddled by for 24 hours. I didn't go to bed until the back of four. I just couldn't sleep and didn't want to sleep then I was up at eight with two hyper children and a long day ahead but nothing like the length of what my wife must have been going through.
As they are young the girls didn't understand the significance of what had happened except for momentary spells. Where was the Halloween they were promised? How do you explain it to them? Well I tried but it didn't quite do the trick. I can understand that. In the morning they had been promised costumes and games and a buffet and trifle and other Halloween delights. It was the night that was going to make up for their disappointing school party. Instead they got a take away with their dad in silence and a dimly lit pumpkin in the background.
Halloween though has now passed. The disappointment for them has now passed. The boy is still coming to terms with having his arm in a sling and still in a little pain too but already on the way to recovery after his operation. Without making promises to them I think we will try to make it up to them with fireworks of a different kind.
