Fence Vaulting (From Swindon Advertiser)

Fence Vaulting

10:36am Tuesday 5th May 2009

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It has been a while since my last blog. Strangely enough I have been somewhat occupied by my children, in fact the phrase “run ragged” springs to mind. I caught a brief glance in the mirror earlier and wondered who was the wild creature with huge bags under her eyes, and the “dragged through a hedge backwards” hairdo!

Just over a week ago, my eldest daughter broke her wrist. She decided to vault over some metal railings and managed to get her arm trapped. Eldest daughter doesn’t tend to do things by half measures and ended up needing an operation.

She was admitted to the children’s’ ward at GWH on Saturday afternoon and had her operation on the Sunday morning. I was able to stay the night with her on this chair contraption next to her bed, it was dire! I put my neck out. But I consider myself lucky to have had the opportunity to stay with my frightened girl. Leaving her there scared and in pain would have been terrible.

Initially we were unsure what operation she would end up needing. The surgeon came to see us and explained. He was really lovely with my daughter and explained everything through in language that we could both understand. Firstly they were going to try to manipulate the bone back into position, if that didn’t work, they would try using wires and if that failed then they would have to use screws.

The most traumatic thing for me was seeing my child in the anaesthetic room, wide eyed and frightened and about to be put to sleep. I knew that she was only having a minor op, but still you are aware that anaesthetic is a risk and occasionally even with minor operations things can go wrong.

The whole experience made me think of the many parents out there whose children are going through life threatening operations. Having to kiss their child goodbye and not knowing if they will wake again. A minor op is bad enough, but imagine the pain and distress those parents are going through everyday, all over the country. There are so many brave people out there who deserve our total admiration and respect rather than football players and celebrity wanabees. It makes you think…

The most traumatic thing for me was seeing my child in the anaesthetic room, wide eyed and frightened and about to be put to sleep.

Amy was lucky and the surgeon managed to successfully manipulate the bone back into place. She was back with me within an hour. We have to go back to the hospital on Wed for an X-ray, in order to check the bone has remained in the correct position. If it has moved then it’s another op, but hopefully, the surgeon seemed to think that it was pretty stable so fingers crossed!

Everybody always seems to have something to say about our local hospital here in Swindon. You read many tales in the newspaper. Our experience of the hospital was an entirely positive one from admittance to discharge. The Children’s ward was full to the brim (apparently being the first warm weekend of the year meant that many children were out and about breaking bones!) The nurses were rushed off their feet, but despite this remained cheerful and helpful. We didn’t always get immediate attention from a nurse, but we were always told, “I have a few things I need to do first, I won’t forget you, as soon as I can, I will be with you” and they always were. This to me worked really well and was a brilliant way of managing patients.

At the end of the day, a nurse’s job is both physically and mentally draining and with little pay as a reward at the end of it. The nurses at GWH work long and hard and still manage to go that extra mile needed to be a children’s nurse.

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