Saturday Blog
Alice, having had bladder surgery earlier in the week, has been at the local children’s hospital for three days now. And by Alice, of course I mean myself as well! Three long days. Days seem to feel like weeks when you are in hospital. Each hour passes by so slowly. You start to notice everything around you – every machine beeping, every conversation that goes one, what every patient, parent and nurse are doing at any given time. I watch the cleaner as she meticulously tidies and cleans the ward. I become inspired by the play worker and how she is able to occupy so many children of a wide variety of ages and abilities, some not English speaking – but she is able to reach them all through play. I feel ashamed that at times I struggle to keep only one child occupied. Instead, I have opted to play back to back movies for the last few days – it helped to pass away some time! And there is definitely a time and a place for this. Alice is not the easiest patient. At times nothing is good enough for her, so while she is content we will carry on with the movies.
We were relieved to hear from the surgeon that Alice’s surgery went according to plan. The bladder is now doing what it should be doing. It will take a few weeks to recovery fully – but so far so good. The pain is being managed with a morphine drip, which is slowly being reduced, and replaced with paracetamol and ibuprofen. She remains on sips of water, so fluids are being given through a drip. She is not yet able to eat as her bowels went to “sleep” as a result of the surgery. So now it is a waiting game. Alice is still too weak to even sit up for longer than 30 minutes, and until she recovers and her bowels “wake-up” we are going nowhere!
One thing I am enjoying is the space and time to read a book! This is a luxury that only usually happens on holiday. I am the sort of person that needs a good few hours to get into a story, and a good few hours are certainly available to me here. I am reading a story called Chocolat, set in France, which was adapted into a film not so long ago, which I also enjoyed. Charlie thinks this is because Johnny Depp was in it, but he really doesn’t understand the fundamental importance of chocolate in a girls life! I reminisce about holidays we have had in France over the last few years and wonder where our next holiday will be. I am soon day-dreaming of happy times on holiday. Another hour passes, marked by alarm of the machine administering Alice’s drip signalling it needs to be reset. Perhaps hospital waiting time is not so much a bad thing after all – perhaps I need to make sure that I build more time into my life to sit and reflect, rather than wait for it to be enforced by hospital visits!
A Less Ordinary Family – Foster Care Blog
