Well Hello! …. Carrying on from last blog’s theme of lots of water. Since we did have such a great trip away in November previously, Husband and I thought we could top it by going away again in January (2014). We found some spare cash after Christmas (just a bit) to book the same place at Mollybook at the end of the school hols. We were getting excited, me (and the girls) particularly, as I missed the ocean and it’s calm, repeating noise when we weren’t there. I didn’t mention, husband and I were married on the same beach in Mollybook in 2009- a beautiful event, which also brings back happy memories there too. Husband recalls…”Well, beautiful except the bit where someone else was getting married, in the same spot at the same time as we were meant to be! Ended up getting a refund from the local Council as the site had accidentally been double booked.”… Anyhow, our excitement was short lived, as days before Mister C became unwell (again) with those inflamed ‘raspberries’. I managed to get an urgent appointment with our GP (who shook his head again) but didn’t want to give more ABs (Antibiotics) (I wasn’t overly happy at the idea- knowing Mister C’s track record).
Unfortunately, that wasn’t the end of it. Poor second daughter came home feeling off from school on the Friday, felt worse Saturday with too much vomiting, and wasn’t able to keep anything down. Flossy developed bad stomach pains, so had to take her up to the local hospital early Sunday am. She was in a bad way, pale, crying and in extreme pain. It took two nurses to hold her down and another two to get a cannula (IVC) in and take some bloods (poor distressed Flossy). We ended up staying all of the day and early evening, with her vomiting and barely keeping anything down. She had an IV drip and pain relief, had two medical opinions re appendicitis (was expecting the worst), she had an Ultra-sound (U/S), it showed nothing and the bloods came back slightly raised with her white cell count and others etc…
Mind you, Mister C was becoming further unwell, higher temps, trouble swallowing and breathing with those (extra) swollen ‘raspberries’. I recall husband rang me saying…”Mister C doesn’t look great, he won’t settle… When are you coming home? YOU should have gotten that script from the Doctor; he wouldn’t be like this now- would he?” With a glistening tear in my eye and another rolling down my cheek, I ended up taking Flossy home to bed, once cleared to be discharged (strict written instructions given to husband- no dairy or lollies- most likely a ‘gastro’ bug). I then dashed back to the hospital with Mister C, he got the oral ABs and attention he desperately needed (all the staff were shaking their heads in unison regarding his terrible throat mind you); all the while we were due down the coast the following day on the Tuesday….
Regular hospital trips were not new to us; like most families with young children, it is the go-to place when your child is unwell and you are more worried than usual about their health. I recall many times having to take the girls to various hospitals near where we were holidaying. Milton Hospital is a familiar one that comes to mind (hi and thank-you again). I recall years earlier when second daughter (about eighteen months at the time) tried kneeling up on a chair in our hotel room (I had turned my back for just one minute mind you!), fell forward with the back of the chair on her mouth. Both Flossy and the chair fell banging her face on the back of the chair and TV table, badly cutting her bottom lip and tongue from her front teeth that had pierced through the gum (a terrible sight!). Blood went everywhere, we were just about finished packing up to leave when it happened. The kind staff let us keep our belongings in the room, so we could dash down to the ED dept at Milton for some urgent attention (lots of crying and ‘supa-skin-glue’ later) No only that, but I recall only days earlier on the same trip, we had taken our eldest daughter (about five and a half) to the same hospital for medical attention with nasty vomiting and mild dehydration…
Anyway, Mister C was doing better within the next twenty-four hours and so was Flossy. We (perhaps foolishly) decided to continue to go away on our booked trip the following day- the girls were so looking forward to it all!… It was very hot (but not as hot as it is these days – not even in January yet); so, I packed according to the weather with lots of sunscreen and spare hats for everyone. I always stocked an emergency supply of ‘Ibuprofen’ for girls if needed, band-aids, measuring syringes and liquid ‘Panadol’ for Mister C if needed (heaven forbid!) and of course the trusty liquid ABs. Trying not to think about any bad things (big or small) that might happen on our way down the ‘Clyde’ (always had an old towel and bucket in the boot of the car for those travel sickness episodes…), or during the trip (as they often did), we headed off that fine Tuesday morning….
All in all, we had a reasonable time for the first three days out of the five booked. Mister C was unsettled at night making the days long, as we were all tired (think we all had to have a daily cat nap too). We made the most of our trip (as we always did), taking the kids out and about, pool and Lake fun, ‘homemade’ discos and of course our wonderous beach. Unfortunately the liquid ABs were short lived, Mister C became further unwell again. We decided to visit our friendly hospital yet again at Milton (who were wonderful as usual), had another assessment of Mister C, and of course the ABs were not strong enough for his current infection. We stayed for most of the day, getting his temp down to a reasonable reading and started a new course of ABs which were more appropriate. Husband recalls …”Poor Mister C wasn’t happy, he needed Mummy today. I decided the best thing to do was to take the girls to ‘Fun-land’ in Bulladulla and get some ‘Maccas’ for lunch. We waited the afternoon in the heat, then went back to see how Mister C was. Thank goodness he was a bit brighter!”… The staff waved us good-bye, while I promised the Resident Consultant to ring the ENT specialists’ rooms when we got back; to fit Mister C in for an urgent surgical review, to get those well and truly used by ‘raspberries’ out of his body FOREVER…
A big shout out to all our Medical, Nursing and Allied Health professionals everywhere. Being a nurse myself, I know the hard, self-less work we all do every-day (wouldn’t change it though). So, THANK-YOU! to each and every-one; without you in our lives, we couldn’t get through those bad (unfortunately) sick days with our dear families and friends…
A word from Mister C…
It’s Christmas very soon (I know, we aren’t ready for it all yet- how ’bout you?). Mister C was chatting in the car with the girls and I, and proclaimed… “I LOVE SANTA! For Christmas I would like a really, really big ‘Lego’ box. It was my b’day just a while ago, I got one hundred presents you know; I don’t need much this time… I have been fairly good this year, I have been trying and I will try harder next year …”I know you have Mister C”, I smiled …. “I just want to say that Daddy is like Santa you know! With his wiggly tummy, red hair and eyes; just like Santa! I do love both Santa and Daddy one hundred times.”…. “What about us?” The girls and I chorused … “Oh! Of course, I love you all two hundred times more”…
Stay tuned…
For more ‘raspberry’ infections for poor Mister C (are we sick of that yet?), with him finally getting a surgery date to rid them forever… I turn the big Forty! and we celebrate in a great 1940’s style cruising on the Lake…
Nice writing! And, yep, still got that scar on my lip..
🙂
All I can say is, it’s character building my dear one!(Your face will always be flawless to us!)❤