The Eclectic Interweb

There I was on Wednesday morn full of confidence the worst of this was over… and then the jinx took over again having had yet another laugh at my expense.

Thursday morning I got a call from a doctor at Westmead Hospital. The person who’d assessed the x-rays the previous Friday had passed them up to a more experienced doctor who realised not only was my toe broken… it had a serious compound fracture! Ouch. The voice asked if I could come straight down and they’d attend to it quickly. As this was 11:30 a.m. I figured it was probably ok for me to get there and back by 4:00 p.m. in order to get the kids who both had extra curricular activities that day. No worries.

I got to the hospital at around mid-day, spent reported to Triage, explained the visit had been pre-arranged and I was supposed to be seen quickly (which they told me knew about) and waited. An hour and a half later I was getting a bit concerned about the time, but eventually I *was* called in… and they took off the dressing, sent me for another x-ray… and I waited.

As luck would have it a social worker was due to visit us so I tried to contact her to ask her to pick up the kids from school and take them to our house where (I thought) the UK visitors were. I also started emailing the wife to let her know I was concerned. By now I was also frantically messaging the daughter in school to let her know that I was in the hospital with next to no chance of picking her up but that I’d arranged for their safe collection but I wasn’t sure there was anyone home to let them in!!

Anyway, the entire story could take a while, but essentially after an afternoon of stress and hassle the wife established there *was* someone home to let the kids in and look after them and that I could relax because she was also on her way home to take charge. Meanwhile… I was still in a waiting room… waiting.

Eventually a doctor made an appearance and explained that they now thought not only was the bone smashed, at least one piece had pushed out against the nail bed… and to make things worse, had become infected. This would require intravenous antibiotics.`They also wanted to work on the bones. Ok, no problems… when shall I come in?

This was when I got the first shock. I was to kept in overnight, was to have antibiotics pumped into me all night, and would have an operation next morning to try to repair the damage. Was I pleased? No O was not.

The wife went off home to get my CPAP gear, pyjamas etc and I sat…. and waited.

Lots more story to tell about the dreadful night… but that can wait. Next morning I was up and ready for my Op eager to get it over with. Well as eager as anyone can be under those circumstances.

Mid-morning after waiting (again) off we go to the theatre… feeling a little nervous of course. I have the full ‘interview’ from the nurses… and the anaesthetist… and the doctor… and then literally *just * as they start to wheel me in… another nurse comes out and says hold it!  Seems they had a cardiac case to deal with so I get pushed back a space with the promise I’ll be the next one in.

Somewhere near 7:45 p.m. they finally came to get me. This time all went well, though by this time my nerves were frazzled so when the general anaesthetic knocked me out I was *very* relieved. The surgeon lifted the nail, cleaned and cleared the nail bed, readjusted the bone fragments to allow them to knit… and sent me back to the ward. This was 9:00 p.m. or so.

I was quite seriously miffed by now and all I wanted to do was go home as I’d been promised the day before, however this was not to be. The infection was worse than they thought and I was to be on IV antibiotics overnight.  However… I was told I could go home early in the morning so I just accepted the inevitable.

I woke around 5:00 a.m. and was told the wife could pick me up around 10:00 a.m. ok, later that I’d like but I had a time!

Wife came to get me after taking the kids ice skating and we *all* waited.

People came, people went… we waited. By 1:00 p.m. all of us were getting *very* annoyed. All we needed to have me released was a ‘boot’ fitted by a physio who had come at 10:00 a.m. said she’d be back in a few minutes… and disappeared.  We also needed drugs from the pharmacy… and the say-so from the surgeon!

Well obviously it was all sorted. I never got to see the doctor but I *did* get the ‘boot’ and the drugs. We left for home around 2:00 p.m.

Ok the hospital experience wasn’t as bad as it might have been… but the ‘toilet on the toe’ incident clearly was far worse than I’d been given to believe.

I need to be able to drive the kids to and from school, to and from their activities but I’ve been told not to put any pressure on the front part of my foot… so no driving!! What’s worse is I have no idea right now how long this will go on for. I’m not due to see the specialist for two weeks so that looks to be the minimum period I’ll have to wait.

The wife and I have been totally stressed out by this already so I think it’s time I called the solicitor to try to get some support from Bunnings about this. To keep the family functioning I need an open ended taxi service from them… but I doubt I’d get it. I do most of the cooking and cleaning… who will do that for us??

This is a pain in a more than physical sense.