Sunday Scribblings post

G'Day,
I lied, I'm not working although I should be. I am catching up on reading my regular blogger people's blogs. I had a look at the Sunday Scribblings site and came back in response to their writing prompt. Dates;
Which prompted me to write about days that have been my most stressful.
The first day that comes to mind is the day my daughter had her tonsils removed. What a day. One I never want to repeat.
She was 5 years old at the time and had had quite a few bouts of tonsillitis which were increasing in severity each time. The last one her poor little throat had swollen so much she looked as though she didn't have a neck. Anyway our dear old Dr Potts decided it was time for an operation.
I took her to the Wagga Hospital in the morning and admitted her and settled her in for her operation early the next morning. I am very soft when it comes to my children and when I took her to theatre I was nearly in tears and had to get out of there as I felt like I was betraying her sending her in to get hurt even though I knew it was for her own good. So I left the hospital and went a few blocks away to a coffee shop to get a drink and breakfast. When I got back she hadn't returned to the ward yet but the nurse met me at the door with a funny look on her face and said "Now I don't want you to panic Mrs Lander but your son David has had an accident and is on his way in to Wagga in the Ambulance , he will be here soon and you have to go and meet the ambulance down stairs." What nurse? You don't want me to panic? Ha.
I went downstairs to meet the ambulance and it arrived shortly afterwards with David 9yrs at the time, on a stretcher. He had been swinging by one hand around a pole in the school playground and had fallen, crashing his head into a brick wall and had head injuries. They had got an ambulance to the school and taken him up to the local hospital then decided he should go across to Wagga, the district base hospital. Anyway he was on observation & had xrays etc, so was kept for the rest of the day with regular checks . I was running up and down stairs between the kids ward to Annie who was still sleeping after her operation and the emergency dept. When Annie woke up she was distressed and I wasn't there so one of the other Mums stepped in to help calm her as the nurses could do no good with her. Poor baby. Peter came in after work. My mum came and took David up to her house late in the afternoon when he was released but he started vomiting so she bought him back again and he was put into a bed in the emergency dept until he had had absolutely enough about 1.oo at night. I asked to take him home and they wouldn't let me so they actually, finally, admitted him to the children's ward. When he woke up in the morning he was beside Annie who was very glad to see him. They have always been close, ever since she was a baby she fascinated her two brothers.
David has put me through a few hairy days growing up, with falls climbing trees and accidents, headfirst over barbed wire fences off his bike to name a few. It was always his head.
My other worst date was with my other son Michael. When he was 18 he decided to try to suicide. Luckily he didn't succeed. I'm still not over it and don't think I ever will be. He is 25 now and I am still scared and keep watch over him closely. I'm getting teary thinking about it. I had good support from my workmates and especially remember Kate who didn't give advice but just sat with me and listened which helped more than anything. Also Helen a nursing sister whom wasn't my favourite person but was there when I took him to the emergency dept at work and was very good at the time.
Three of the nursing sisters at work lost their sons in the years following Micheal's attempt. Two of them to suicide the other to a car crash. That's a lot in a small town, and a small hospital. We also lost 2 staff members to road accidents on the way too and from work around the same time. One of whom I had been sitting with and having morning tea just a few short hrs before and was talking to her two small children on the phone, unknowingly for the last time. We lost 3 nurses to cancer also. It is a terrible way to have to find you have a strong community and workplace support. But we do.