Life with Alasdair had never been smooth, it was now going to hit a rough patch again. We knew he was going to be involved in a motorbike accident as he had so many near misses and when the phone rang our hearts were in our mouth.
On the weekend before his first day at school he decided to run out in front of his friend Russel’s motorbike who was unable to stop and hit his leg. The first we knew was when one of his friends kindly called and let us know he was in an ambulance on the way to the hospital. Piecing together the tale a good samaritan with first aid had stopped anyone moving him and had someone call an ambulance. So it was a motorbike accident just not his motorbike!
We raced to the hospital to find we had beaten the ambulance and met the police who were waiting too. Alasdair arrived on a trolley with paramedics and was rushed into A&E – we waited wondering why A&E wasn’t the heaving mass of drunken bloody corpses we had seen on telly, but the poilice did mention it was too early yet for the flood of blood.
We were called in to see Alasdair with the nurses taking readings – his blood pressure was low so they couldn’t give him painkillers yet. it was going to be a waiting game for the surgeon was busy but doctors were keeping an eye on him and he was well attended with pretty nurses, although he seemed to be focused on his pain… then he was whipped off to xray. Kim took the friend home that came along in the ambulance with him and I hung around to cheer him up.
Mr Phillips, the surgeon arrived, assessed him looked at the X-Rays and said ‘ we really need his leg straightened as there could be damage hidden in the last x-ray’. I was asked if I wanted to leave but I said I would help – with no pain killers I held him down and fed him gas and air mix which gave him something to bite on as the professionals at the other end straightened the leg. It was over relatively quickly but it probably lasted a long time for Alasdair. I asked what the plan was and was told quite honestly that he was trying ot save the leg – that brought the whole experience into focus.
His blood pressure had returned to normal, a breathalyser was taken and was shown to be normal, so he could finally get morphine – he was happy.
He was whipped off to X-ray again, Kim returned, then it was a waiting game as he was whipped immediately into surgery. We were led to a visitor room at the end of a ward that he would be hopefully brought to and given some coffee. I read Tarzan of the Apes on my iphone whilst Kim was working her way through the magazine section, anything but to think of what would happen if things did not work out.
A horrible noise echoed down the corridor and the nurse came in and said ‘that is your son making that noise’ – he was snoring away. They put him in a single room due to the noise. We went in to find his leg all scaffolded with what is known as External Fixation (or Xfix if you are being cool). He had a shattered tibia and a broken fibia – his leg was hanging on muscle and now the Xfix was holding it together.
We said our goodbyes and returned home to sleep. Walking out of the hospital it was like a scene from Night of the Living Dead – with zombies staggering towards the A&E door with blood pouring from heads and arms. The Borders clubs were emptying.
The next months were really a combination of hospital runs, demands for food and learning all about broken legs. Alasdair was now in a shared ward with a guy who had bought a bike and leapt on it and fell off it (the bike is now on ebay), a guy with a swallow beard who was an almost permanent resident and Big Brother obsessive (bad news about a shared ward is shared telly).
The school were very understanding – not getting Alasdair into school must have seemed like a bonus – and allocated an excellent tutor for when he got back home. In hospital a team of pretty schoolgirls would troop in with work and he diligently worked away in between popping pain killers (a drug you get 5 years for being in possession with) and getting temperature and blood pressure taken.
One day the WRVS lady came along with her trolley of books and asked him if he wanted a book. He said not unless you have any physics text books in there. She asked if he was stuck on a problem and he said yes have you got anything on electromagnetism? She walked over and read his question and his attempted solution and pointed out where he had gone wrong (mixing up his positive and negatives in his equation). He was gobsmacked – WRVS ladies often have problemsin counting out the correct change and here was one solving his higher physics issue…
Infection was high on everyones concerns and he did get a hospital acquired infection – the Xfix is basically an open wound. Even though everyone washed their hands on entry and exit stuff happens (or doesn’t depending on your point of view). He kept in touch by texting but was told not to use his mobile in the ward so a quick google of the health board website policy on mobile phones sorted that one out – there does seem to be a LOT of confusion. Although he did think that he wasn’t supposed to use it as a sign beside his bed read ‘turn O2 off when not in use’ (O2 being oxygen and not what he supposed was the telecoms operator – this confused him more as he was on Vodafone).
So he was finally discharged, picked up another infection at home and antibiotics for a week, was discharged back home. Two infections and you’re out so saith the surgeon – not wishing to take more risks he was whipped in again and Xfix removed (sadly the titanium architectural triumph gets reused rather than hung from our ceiling to remind him not to run in front of motorbikes again) and he had a leg length plaster cast. This was on for a couple of months and when the smell was getting too much was sawn off and a below the knee cast is now on.
His mobility in a cast is remarkable and he managed his crutches very well stabbing it into my back whenever he needed anything. Now he doesn’t use crutches but took them along to the Stereophonics concert so the family could get into the Disabled section at the front (although this did prevent them from getting up and dancing).
I don’t think we could praise the surgeon that saved his leg high enough, the professional staff at A&E, the paramedics – all are there when you need them and Alasdair needed them all badly.
