Sunday’s Fostering Blog
It started out as quite an ordinary weekend. The usual activities took place throughout the weekend. Charlie was involved in an afternoon all-age service at church. He left early in the afternoon with Annie and Lauren to set up his guitar, the girls were helping with some craft activities. At 3.30pm Alice and I joined them at church. When we got there Charlie was doubled over in pain, grabbing his lower back. He had no idea what was wrong. I realised that he needed to get home quickly. While I was just arranging to leave the girls with a friend, Charlie’s temperature rocketed and he started vomiting.
I drove him straight home. In panic mode I called what I thought was NHS Direct for advice. I inadvertently called 112 (instead of 111) and went through to the Emergency Services. They were not impressed with my mistake. I quickly redialled. After a series of triage questions, and establishing that he had not taken anything illegal, I was told that the out of hours GP would call me back. While we waited for the call back I went to fetch the girls. I knew that Alice’s catheter would need to be done so I thought easier to get the girls now rather than have a panic later.
After 45 minutes the GP called and said I needed to take Charlie to the Out of Hours Clinic at our local hospital. I drove as carefully as I could. Charlie was moaning in pain. Quite understandably Lauren and Annie were showing signs of being concerned. After a short wait, Charlie was seen by a triage nurse and then a GP. The doctor said it was suspected appendicitis. He indicated that I needed to take Charlie to another hospital the other side of the city. By now it was dark, I had no idea where the hospital was, and I had the three children with me.
I explained that this would be difficult, but they said calling an ambulance would take longer – talk about making me feel guilty. I tried not to panic – but I was wondering how on earth I was going to manage. I was trying to hold it together, Lauren and Annie were biting hard on their lips trying not to cry. Alice on the other hand had her own priorities – she was very concerned that I had not packed snacks for her. It was a relief for everyone that on this occasion I had!
Thankfully a friend from church called at that exact moment. She asked what she could do to help. Usually I am not very good at asking for help. Not today. I asked her if she could get someone to come to the hospital straightaway and take Charlie to other hospital. Within 10 minutes someone arrived to take Charlie to the hospital. I was able to get the girls home and settled, arranged child care and a lift to the other side of the city to the hospital where Charlie had been taken. I was relieved to see him in less discomfort. He had been given Morphine so had some respite from the pain. After a couple of hours it was time to go, visiting was over. There was no sign of any doctors, so for now I would have to trust that Charlie would receive good care in my absence.
A Less Ordinary Family Foster Care Blog
