Friday 7 September 2007

The Week from Hell

The week from hell would be an understatement, an adventurous, emotional and lengthy journey for all of us. We had a lovely Fathers Day at Morpeth, and took a few snaps of the kids and Grant. All seemed well, Sunday night Coop decides to take to his ear with a cotton bud, and by the time I realised what he had done, there was blood running out of his ear and down his cheek, I was horrified. I rang Maitland hospital to ask them what do I need to do to help stop the bleeding before I brought him up, and they said not to even bother as there was nothing that they could do for him, just give him some panadol and take him to your local GP in the morning, so of course 9.30am got into to see the local GP who was horrified that Maitland wouldn't even see him and told me to go straight to the John Hunter's emergency as it looked like a part of the cotton tip was still lodged in his ear, and he could not determine the extent of his damage, whether he had a perforated ear drum or not. So off we trot to the John Hunter, upon arrival and telling our story, we are told do not give him anything to eat or drink until he is seen too incase he is sent off somewhere else. We are not even seen to until 2.30pm, where again we are re-confirmed that yes there is damage done to his ear, do not know extent as there is something lodged at the base, not equiped to do anything here, you will need to go to ENT (Ear, Nose & Throat) for a specialist to see him. After a lengthy delay of 1 hour we are told EBT can't see us until Wednesday, but you need to go around to ENT now and make an appointment. In all this time poor Coop has had no food, drink or pain relief. We venture to ENT and the lady makes an appointment for 9.30am Tuesday morning. We get home from JH at 5.30pm. A restless night, and again no breakfast, drinks or pain relief for Coop, get to JH at 9.30am only to be told receptionist had made a mistake and there is no ENT clinic on today, can you come back tomorrow, to say I was flawed and devasted was an understatement, though I stood my ground and said "No, relayed what we had been through in the past 2 days, and wasn't leaving until someone saw my son." 11.30pm, finally get in to see a Registrar who again re-confirms what we have already been told, and that he will need to be sedated, have the foreign body removed and then check the extent of the damage. I finally thought Haleluyah! After a few phone calls I was told that ENT surgery would be Thursday, go to admissions and the procedure will take place on Thursday. I sat there and cried. I could not believe that the medical system would leave a 20 month old boy left untreated for 4 days with a foreign body in his ear, still bleeding and a likely perforation, who was obviously in pain and constantly told each day not to eat, drink or have pain relief until he was seen too, explain this to a 20 month old. It is disgusting to day the least, and in a huge hospital like the JH, there is not one professional there who could deal with this complication immediately, but 4 days later. After booking him into admissions, we never got home until 2.30pm. Absolutely disgusting. Cooper and I arrived at the hospital at 7am, booked into admissions, sent to the Childrens ward, the anaesthesis came round at 9am to do the routine check with the anaesthetic, again no food, no drinks, no pain relief, at 9.30am finally we get some pain relief and Coop quietens down a little. 11.30am we are called to theatre and what a traumatic experience that is. We are all prepped up in our gowns and blue caps, not that the caps lasted long on Coops head, all of 1 second each time it was put back on. He was then wrapped in a sheet, I held onto him while they placed a gas mask over his face. He wriggled, bucked and screamed. My heart ached. He finally went limp like a rag doll and gasping, which I was told was normal. Felt like you had just put an animal down, that stage where their body just lets go. Terrible feeling. I was then sent to the waiting area. 30 minutes passed and it was all over, a cotton tip lodges in the base of his ear canal, 4-5 deep gouges where he had a few attempts of stabbing his ear with the cotton bud, and was told that luckily the cooton tip did come off and get lodged, as that was the main reason why the cotton stick didn't perforate through his membrane, as the cotton tip was in the way cushioning the pokes. So no perforated ear drums and a four day wait, anxiety, stress and everything else all took 30 minutes to fix. Cooper then came out of anaesthetic kicking, screaming and very distressed. He continued to scream for 45 minutes where nothing I did would console him, in the end they let us go back to the ward. It wasn't until he had a vegemite sandwich in front of him, that he stopped screaming. He eventually had 2 sandwiches and two apple juices and started to walk and obvioulsy was feeling alot better. We got home at 2.30pm. My poor Trav had been dragged along to the hospital with me on the Monday and Tuesday and my gorgeous next door neighbour and saviour kindly offered to look after him all day Thursday. Thank god for her. So now our ordeal is over with Cooper, thank the lord, and I have so many well wishes from my close friends Jane, Shell and Mel, not to mention my gorgeous friends (Sandy, Jane, Jaimee and Annette R) for their constant emails and phone calls, and the wonderful heartfelt posts from all the girls from TSE! You are all worth your weight in gold and thankyou so much for thinking of us and getting me through this with your kindness. I truly love you all! And on top of all this my parents are still away and I miss them so much, especially this week when I needed them for a shoulder to cry on or the the love and support they give to me and they are unaware that all this has gone on. Miss you mum and dad!

Sunday 2 September 2007

Happy Fathers Day Dad

Today is Fathers Day and it is the first fathers day ever I have been unable to wish my Dad Happy Fathers Day and it feel very strange and rather empty! My Dad is currently with my Mum on a trip around Europe, but I am missing him more than ever today! I just want to wish him a Happy Fathers Day and let him know he means the world to me, he has been a great father, a great provider, a very hard worker, he has great morals and fanastic values. He has supported me through good times and bad, and given me advice even when I haven't needed it. I love you dad, miss you today, feels strange not to wish you Happy Fathers Day!

FATHERS DAY
Author: UNKNOWN
Fathers are wonderful people,
too little understood,
And we do not sing their praises
as often as we should,
For Father struggles daily
to live up to his image
As protector and provider
and hero of the scrimmage,
And perhaps that is the reason
we sometimes get the notion
That fathers are not subject
to the thing we call emotion.
But if you look inside Dad's heart,
where no one else can see,
You'll find he's sentimental
and soft as he can be.
Fathers are just wonderful
in a million different ways,a
nd they merit loving compliments
and accolades of praise,
For the only reason Dad aspires
to fortune and success
Is to make the family proud of him
and bring them happiness,
And like our heavenly Father,
he's a guardian and a guide,
Someone we can count on
to be always on our side.
Happy Fathers Day Dad, so glad that you are mine!
Love Always
Lisxx

Saturday 1 September 2007

Week 4 - Designing with Type

This week sees the last of my weeks as a Guest Feature DT with TSE. This week I worked with Rubons, nothing too exciting, and also changed the fonts to different fonts and sizes for more effect on Type. Thoroughly enjoyed the experience of being on a Design Team, having the spotlight on my work for a month and coming up with different layouts each week! Thank you to Annette at TSE for the opportunity to let me shine for the month and it was a great honour, something which I have enjoyed immensley!




Visit with Sandy

Well this has been my highlight for the week! Nothing else has happened much this week, mum and dad are away and I haven't heard from them and I am missing them and their voices, wish they would ring me! Hate when they are away for several reasons. Very busy at home as I am looking after the business while Dad is away, which makes it hard when you have two children, have to do everything of a night once Grant gets home so he can watch the kids while I go to work, check bank accounts, pay bills, pay wages, bank recs, invoices, purchases, blah blah blah, so not much fun to be had there!

The days have been glorious here in Newcastle, beautiful warm days which has been great for the kids, puppy and I, spending alot of time playing outside and chasing, running around, riding bikes, jumping on the tramp, swings, slides, lots of fun! Nice to see the sun and nice to be able to wear shorts and shirts again. Just love spring for the beautiful weather. Here is a pic of Trav on a beautiful day riding his bike and Rusty enjoying the green grass and sunshine!


Yesterday which was my highlight of the week, I visit Sandy at her home in Seaham, and what a lovely home she has, so much room, not like our little house, and 3 beautiful acres surrounded by bushland, so envious, wish she's swap me. Ha! Anytakers, swap my house - 3 bdrm, 1300 square metre block for 3-5 acres with house. Now wouldn't that just be a dream come true! Need to win the lotto desperately. My visit with Sandy was fantastic, we spent three and a half hours together and time just flew. It was a gorgeous day too, so the day was just perfect. We just nattered like two people who had known each other for years. I have to say that I am ever grateful to Annette and TSE for the beautiful friendships I have made. I feel truly blessed! Sandy you are one gorgeous girl, inside and out and your bubbly, lively and down to earth nature is so infectious! Love you to pieces. Thanks so much for welcoming me into your home and for such a lovely day! Sorry Cooper raided your food and your Panty, oops, mean Pantry (little inside joke there).


Anyway, thats it for the present, I have also joined TSE in their Pre-Summer Diet Challenge in aid to eat more healthy, and motivate me to loose of few kgs and tone up for summer. So far not doing to bad, haven't eaten chocolate now since Wednesday or had Coke either. Huge milestone for me. Just have to motivate myself to exercise, I hate that! Boring! Running around after the kids and housework is all I do, that keeps me active enough! Though Grant has joined me too, and he has been excellent, eating healthy, and even started his weight training again, so I am sure he'll loose heaps! Least we can do it together for added motivation!
Bye for now, and Happy Fathers Day to all the Fathers out there. So sad my Daddy won't be here for Fathers Day, but he knows how special he is to me and how much I love him, even if he is on the other side of the world at the moment.

Love to you all
Lisxx