1 June 2007

What a week!!!

First of all I would like to thank everyone for taking the time to read my news and for commenting, it is wonderful to hear from you all.

Our week started in relative calm, barring my assignment being due on Monday and it is still not finished. I have been in touch with my lecturer for this subject and she has been great, but I have yet to notify her of our new developments. She has granted me an extension as long as I am making progress and letting her know where I am at. I am seriously in two minds regarding study at the moment, I don't know if it is just the topic I am doing this semester or whether I am burnt out. I would really like to transfer my degree to a psychology degree, find psychology more stimulating and interesting even if the demands of the course are higher. Some of my study time has been gobbled up due to returning to work, I will have to see what strategies hubby and I can work out.

Next lot of drama, our daughter Caitlyn made a comment on Tueday night, late, that it won't come out. I asked what wouldn't come out and she said the ball from my ear. It was around midnight and you might ask what was she doing up at midnight. The answer is easy; her and Joel have both had colds, which they have kindly shared with me, and stayed home from pre-school on Monday and I stayed home from work to care for them. So Tuesday came and I let Caitlyn have an afternoon sleep, and when this happens she wakes later on, even if she only sleeps for half an hour, and turns into a party animal and won't sleep until we go to bed.

Back to the story, I take her to our local hospitals emergency department. The doctor on duty that night didn't want to come in for this and instucted the nurse to attempt removal via suction, which was not successful. We went back Wednesday morning and our GP was at the hospital doing his rounds and he had a go but it was too painful for Caitlyn so he said that he would put Caitlyn under a general anaesthetic on Thursday morning, which is when he did his theatre work, and get it out then.

Thursday morning arrives and as happens when anyone close to you has surgery of any kind the levels of anxiety are pretty high. I nursed her while she went under and then went out and sat in the waiting room. Another doctor came to get me and told me that herself and our GP had tried to remove the ball, but they weren't successful, only managed to push the ball further down my little girls ear canal. I could hear her crying out in pain and that was all it took for me to start crying also. They had caused some trauma to her canal and there was a bit of blood coming from her ear. They decided that the best thing for us to do was to take her two and half hours away to Albury, where they have specialists and a much bigger hospital. So we got organised, picked Luke up from school, Joel was with hubby anyway, and we arrived in Albury at about 3 in the afternoon. Caitlyn was operated on again at 8pm that evening. They managed to remove the foreign body as they called it, and she was fast asleep back on the ward by 9pm.

Thankfully we have friends who live about half an hour from Albury and hubby, Luke and Joel stayed there while I stayed with Caitlyn in the hospital.

The next day she was made a huge fuss of as the local radio station was holding a promotion in the childrens ward. They were raising funds for new furniture for a parents accommadation room, and new cardiac machines. Two of the girls kept on taking photos of her to be placed on their web site and she was also chosen to be in the local paper which covers a huge area. At least we were able to have this bit of fun on top of all the stress that we had been through. We are all home safe and Caitlyn has not once complained about being in pain, she has been so good offering her ear for anyone to look in and doing whatever the nurses wanted her to do during her observations.

Stitching, what is that - I have managed a little bit during all the dramas, will have to post Mondays update photos another time, want to spend some time with hubby and just relax and unwind.

Bye for now.

Joanne

15 comments:

Dawn T. said...

Oh my! How scarey for all of you! Did you find out what the ball was? I am glad Caitlyn is doing better.

Hope you get to relax this weekend:)

jymisgurl said...

Goodness! What an ordeal! Hugs to all of you! Glad she's doing better, though.

Sue said...

Wow, you poor thing and poor Caitlyn. I hope she's going to be okay (and you to) ;)

Anonymous said...

Poor Caitlyn, it sounds like
she was very brave though :) Glad she's doing okay now.

Karoline said...

{{{Hugs to you all}}} glad to hear Caitlyn's doing OK now

Allie said...

What an ordeal. {{{Hugs}}} to you all.

Anonymous said...

Oh my goodness! You downplayed the incident far too much in your email. You poor thing and poor Caitlyn! I'm so glad that they were able to remove it and that she behaved so well. Oh my!

Carol said...

Oh, what an ordeal for your family! {{{hugs}}}

Felicity said...

HUGS from me too! This motherhood gig is scary & time consuming. Glad to hear that all's well that ends well.

Leeland said...

That must have been real scary. When these things happen, you end up wondering if they really will take that thing out!
It happened once with our son, but it was in his nose, and I was able to take it off myself with tweezes. He was about two then. I think we've been lucky with this.
Your DD must be very cute for being chosen with the pics and all!
Combining studies with all the other aspects of life is a constant struggle. Take care, Joanne!
Lili

Anonymous said...

Glad Caitlyn is on the mend.

You need some quiet time for sure!

Kathy A. said...

Congratulations on being a brave mommy while dealing with Caitlyn's situation. Glad she is doing well. Take the opportunity to relax and recover. God bless you all.

Mylene said...

Sorry to hear about the drama' but glad your daughter is on the mend. Hope all is well now at your end. hugs.

Nicole & Phil said...

Oh dear....what a week! I hope Caitlyn has learnt that you shouldn't put anything in your ears! Make sure she know not to put things up her nose as well!
Glad it is over!
My friend would say this has happened to test you....my question is "why do we need to be tested so often! LOL
Thanks for sharing, hope you get back to some stitching soon!

mainely stitching said...

Oh my heavens! What a fright that must've been! So far - knock wood - we have been lucky with the kids not sticking anything into any orifices that will not come out again.

I'm glad that all turned out okay!!

An Aussie girl who loves to cross stitch