Another hospital visit...



We were not so thrilled about three or four months ago to land in the 'Urgent Care' section of our latest and greatest hospital due to a strange virus Michiah had picked up.  It's symptoms presented much like Meningitis, so when that word was suggested by our doctor, we rushed down there only to do the normal ED thing which involves waiting for several hours, then finally blood tests etc...In the end he had 'erythema infectiosum'...otherwise known as 'slap face virus'.  Towards the end he literally looked as though I'd slapped him across both cheeks!

Well...if that wasn't interesting enough, Amber decided to force us into another visit recently.  She decided to take on the forces of physics by climbing a tree with branches the size of her arm...naturally - it broke!  The fall was only one metre from the ground, however there was a pruned branch that her leg 'brushed' on the way down.  This 'brush' resulted in a three inch gash straight through to the bone. 

Fuzzy - but it shows how deep it was...we ad to snatch photos
when Doctors weren't looking!

Luckily there were some nurses around so we bandaged her up, bundled her into the car and rang our doctor saying we were on our way.

God definitely went ahead of us and we managed to get straight into our Paediatrician.  He took one look and said he couldn't do anything so we were transferred once again over to 'urgent care'.  Thankfully, seeing as we were already in the hospital we were put straight through.

After waiting only a short while a Tanzanian doctor came to begin to work his charm on Amber, only to find she did not find it charming at all!  He proceeded to attempt to inject local anaesthetic straight into the wound causing the most pitiful pleading and YELLING from Amber.  She was quite literally screaming her head off.  'Please Daddy - make them stop! Make them stop!!!  Please Doctor - listen to what I"m saying - MAKE THEM STOP!!!!' 
 

Another fuzzy...but shows depth

After approximately five minutes of this, the doctor finally looked at me and suggested a General Anaesthetic to stitch her up.  In my mind I was thinking Oh - you reckon???  but I very graciously agreed that this was sounding like the best option.  HOWEVER...

This would involve of course another needle for her IV Therapy!! Amber immediately went into hysterics.  It took four of us to hold her down to get the needle in - thank goodness the Doctor was able to insert it properly first time - although I did wonder if the needle was slightly large as I heard them saying in Swahili they couldn't find any smaller for a child.  Poor possum.

From here we moved quickly up to the Theatre.  I insisted on being with Amber until she was knocked out, however the clever nurses managed to distract me enough to take Amber away before I was able to figure out fully what was happening.
 

Waiting for the doctor to come back...



Amber says 'I was screaming for you mummy but they kept saying you couldn't come in.  Then all of a sudden they put this mask over me and the next thing I knew I was waking up'! 

Oh the joy of gas!!!

After all this Amber has a WONDERFUL story that she has milked for all she can.  Everyone of course asks about the bandage which invites her to embark on her tragic story of human woe...



All the stitches - six in total.

The stitches were meant to be removed Friday, however the doctor failed to remove them properly so now they are permanently stuck there until the body manages to dislodge them. 

Please tell me know this won't mean another visit to the hospital anytime soon!!!