Weekend at the A&E

This last weekend wasn’t as relaxing as I thought which is why I
didn’t have time to upload last week blogs before now.

On Saturday we went out for a meal with my mother-in-law (79 years
old). She gets bored a lot since she is alone and we wanted to make
sure she gets out for a change. I was really tired though and had been
in an up-and-down mood (I call it rollercoaster-mood) all day. I don’t
get this a lot but it happens occasionally since I am pregnant (okay,
it started in fertility treatment). My husband promised we wouldn’t be
home late so I agreed. I even agreed to play chauffeur AGAIN, so he
could have a drink with his mother. She does enjoy her tipple when she
is out.

They shared a bottle of wine and got through it very quickly – it was
gone before the mains came. They discussed if they should have a
second bottle. I suggested they shouldn’t because she was already a
little bit better for worse but she really wanted and my husband
wanted to make sure she enjoys her night out as we hadn’t been with
her the weekend before. So they got another bottle. It’s not that she
wouldn’t have drunk this much before, but she drunk it very quickly.

After we got her home (needless to say, I point blank refused her
insistent comment that she’ll take the bus home) we decided to bring
her upstairs to bed. She was very unstable and the stairs are steep.
After some arguing we got her upstairs and she promised to go to the
toilet and then straight to bed. We told her we’d feed the cats and
lock the door behind us. We were just about to go when we heard this
terrifying bang. For some reason – we’ll never know why – she changed
her mind and decided to come down the stairs. She finds them hard when
sober, so I am not surprised she lost balance. She must have fallen
about 4 meter and head-first into the door I had closed at the bottom
of the stairs. Luckily it was closed, otherwise she would have gone
straight into the metal radiator. We started running and opened the
door and she fell to the floor. Lifeless. Blood everywhere. We thought
she broke her neck.

I run off to get the phone and call 999, my husband kneeled next to
her pleading with her to wake up. When I just came back she opened her
eyes. She didn’t know who we were or what happened. I did as they guys
on the phone told me, like getting a clean towel and pressing it hard
on the wound to see if the bleeding stops. I answered all their
questions whilst my husband talked to her and kept her awake. A few
minutes later the ambulance was there and all I had to do was hold her
hands, keep her calm and make her do as she was told by the team. My
husband sorted all her personalia out.

They didn’t think she had a neck or spine injury (which is a miracle
as her head smashed a big hole into the door – bigger than my hand)
but put her on a stretcher to carefully get her to hospital. As she
didn’t hold her head still they also tightened her head so she
couldn’t move it. I packed a quick hospital overnight bag (just
something comfortable to sleep in and a pair of slippers) and we
followed the ambulance to A&E. This was about 10pm. By the time she
had been seen to, x-rayed, examined, stitched up and was being brought
to a ward it was nearly 4am. I spent most of the time bending over her
in some way or form and holding her hands to comfort her and to stop
her from touching her wounds the nurse tried to stitch. In between,
when we went for tests or x-rays I did lie down in the relatives room,
comforted my husband (who blamed himself badly for the 2nd bottle of
wine they shared) or had some water.

When it was clear that she had no concussion, no broken bones, no neck
or spinal injury, just a few really bad cuts and a shock we went home.

I can’t believe how lucky she was. Not only that she is hardly injured
(although she is red / black from the tip of her nose all the way up
to her front and has bruises all over her body), but also that we
still were there. 2 minutes later we would have been gone and it would
have been nearly 24 hours until we really would have worried about not
getting hold of her and driven over. The sooner our annexe is built
and she can move in with us (all ground level for her) the better. She
scared the life out of me and it wasn’t exactly what I needed close to
my last trimester of pregnancy.

Sunday we picked her up from hospital where she already waited very
impatiently. She refused to stay any longer and wanted to go home and
sleep. She didn’t even want to wait until her medicine was ready.

So I left work early on Monday, went to get her medicine (I spent 1 ½
hours trying to trace it down!!! It’s the same hospital where I had
treatment and I accidentally ended up where I had my hysterosalpingram
for a moment. I left very quickly as I don’t have any good memories of
that procedure!!!!). Then I went to her, dropped off the medicine,
checked that she was okay and had a cuppa with her. I was exhausted
beyond belief by the time I got home. But at least I know she is well.
Well, as well as can be. She looks a sight.

But we have to be grateful that she still is alive and that she can
still walk. It could have ended very differently.