Quite late....
But I just HAD to update my poor lonesome little blog.. poor lil thing has been so neglected :(
So much has gone on since my last post. But I will update with the latest, scariest, yet relieving (all at the same time!) news...
Two weeks ago today we were in a whirlwind. My oldest son had gone two doors up to ride his bike with his friend, on their property. He'd been gone an hour.. I was sitting on the lounge watching some TV and was JUST about dozing off (its always the way eh?).. and all of a sudden L-man comes in, all hunched over saying "I've hurt myself mum".. I knew from his face and his posture that he WAS hurting bad!
So I got him to tell me what had happened. He'd been riding his bike with his friend, and he hit this bump in the ground that he hadn't seen. The wheel went crazy, the bike went down and he went down with it, and the handlebar got him in the tummy. I said, ok, where are you hurt? And then he lifted his shirt... OUCH I said.. jumped up, guided him to the chair and said, stay there, and I'll get something to clean that up! He had a deep graze on his belly the size of a golf ball. I ran and grabbed some paper towel, moistened it up and ran back to him and went to dab gently to try and clean it up a bit to get a better look at it. He winced and yelped, so I stopped.
Then he went grey. I mean grey. He was talking slightly incoherant, and was on the verge of passing out. Said to hubby, I have to get him checked out. Hubby tried telling me that he'd be fine and to just give him a few to get over the near pass-out. Mama bear took over and TOLD hubby that I was taking him to the hospital to get it checked out. I did the right thing.
Raced him to our local rural hospital, and they immediately had him in the ER with my mum while I gave our information at the desk. When I got to his bed, the doctor looking him over told us he would be transferred to the large childrens hospital in the city. I was gobsmacked. They were putting cannulas in BOTH his arms.. they frightened me! I asked the doctor what was going on, and why all this was happening so fast. He informed me that he'd received a blunt force trauma to the abdomen and was at high risk for a ruptured spleen/liver/bowel. I went into disbelief mode and rang hubby straight away to tell him what was going on.
The transfer ambulance arrived 10 minutes later and we were on our way. Mum drove my car back home, where Keith would then jump in and meet us at the childrens hospital. They said the problem with kids is that they can hold their vitals for much much longer than an adult can, so while they appear fine on the outside, inside might be a totally different story.
Anyway.. almost an hour later we were at the childrens, being taken straight into ER. There was a hustle and bustle of activity and talk of a nasal-gastric tube being put in. I asked the reason for that, and was told that they needed to empty his stomach to prevent vomitting, which could make any possible internal injuries worse. Plus they needed to use the NG tube to administer the contrast for the CT he would be having. YIKERS!.. I was so amazed at how fast they were working, and at the same time amazed at how serious this was becoming!
Anyway.. almost an hour later we were at the childrens, being taken straight into ER. There was a hustle and bustle of activity and talk of a nasal-gastric tube being put in. I asked the reason for that, and was told that they needed to empty his stomach to prevent vomitting, which could make any possible internal injuries worse. Plus they needed to use the NG tube to administer the contrast for the CT he would be having. YIKERS!.. I was so amazed at how fast they were working, and at the same time amazed at how serious this was becoming!
Keith turned up about half an hour after we got there and we chatted and took turns in keeping Lachie comfortable. I had to leave the room when they finally did the NG tube.. I can handle most things, but I couldn't handle seeing that happen to my son. Keith stayed, and said he never EVER wants to see that in his life, with any of his kids. I felt bad for leaving :( But I didn't want to get Lachie further stressed out when he saw mama crying :( Not good. It took him a while to get used to the sensation of the tube, and he sneezed alot. The morphine they gave him made him throw up :(
Then they gave him the contrast. The nurse totally stuffed the dose up! Supposed to mix 10ml of contrast with 500ml of water. She mixed up 100ml of contrast with 400ml of water... over 10 TIMES the amount it should have been!! They got the CT scan done, and back to the ER. Doc came in and told us that he had a bruised stomach and liver, had a good sized haematoma on his liver, and had "slightly mashed" the abdominal muscle just above those two organs. They said he was a very VERY lucky little man, considering the force the handlebar got him.
Relief doesn't even TOUCH how I felt when I heard that! All the docs and nurses said it SHOULD have been much worse than that, and that someone was watching over him that day! We finally got admitted, and up to his room at 10.30pm. 6 1/2 hours in the ER was long enough!
They kept him in for 4 days total for observation. Had him Nil By Mouth for the first two days, had him on jelly and clear fluids early on the third day, and then gradually got his diet back to normal. They didn't want to introduce food too quickly incase his poor tummy couldn't handle it and started throwing up again, which would then send him backwards and undo all the healing to his poor tummy and liver. The overdose of contrast gave him a nasty case of the trots, which took a few days to get over. Poor darlin. I stayed with him the first two nights, and Keith stayed with him the 3rd night. On the 4th day, he was allowed home.. what a great day that was :D Was just so blessed and amazed at the miracle of him being so darn lucky ... and it sure makes you appreciate them that much more!
And here are some photos of my little trooper.. such a brave boy, who never complained once about anything!
Watching TV and tolerating that nasty NG tube
He ate all of his jelly once he was allowed to start fluids again!
Playing his DS on the couch that was my bed for two nights :)
Chilling out, talking to his mama for a while :)
Sitting by the big window in the hallway, watching the world go by
And the moment every mother cherishes when their child is hurt.. a big smile.. almost back to his normal self :)
So that is the first update of what has been going on in my otherwise normally boring life! I will try update again in the next few days with other goings-on.. but for the moment, I think that's the most important thing updated!
Life is good, and I have my boy where he belongs... at home with his family :)
