Well, it has certainly been an eventful weekend.
On Saturday we took the boys up to Chinatown in London so they could see the New Year celebrations - they had a great time and we seemed to follow lots of different lion dance troupes - TJ took great delight in making sure we saw all the different colured lions and the boys both loved it when two groups came together and the lions had a 'dance off'. Then they got to throw gunpowder snaps (which I'm sure had some health and safety officer in convulsions) before we went for dim sum at our favourite restaurant. Papa and I realised that this was now the only reason we came into Soho nowadays - no more gay bars and clubs for us...
We then bumped into two old friends in Waitrose, of all places. luckily Waitrose has a bar so we ended up sitting there chatting about Christmas over a couple of bottles of red - well, it was the first of Feb and my dry January was finally over. The boys read magazines and drank ginger beer - it suddenly sounds like an Enid Blyton novel - whilst our childfree friends bought them chocolate and then swanned off to dinner leaving us to drive home with two sugared up kids in the car. (not that we were jealous as we saw our friend's Facebook updates chronicling a lovely meal, a few more drinks and then finally a trip to the casino - whilst we watched Casualty and a late night movie).
Sunday was a lovely family day and then on Sunday night TJ decided to have the biggest asthma attack I have ever seen him suffer. It was painful to hear him coughing and wheezing. I went online and followed all the guidelines and eventually got him settled. It was touch and go as to whether or not we went to A and E - but with it being the weekend I thought that hospital emergency may not be the best place to take a little boy - plus it would have stressed him out. When he was last ill in Brighton we took him to the local hospital which has a dedicated childrens area - which was brilliant and the hospital was amazing. Our local hospital however, leaves a lot to be desired - it's one of the worst performing in the country and its not hard to see why - it is filthy. My bonkers cleaner would have had a field day in there - although she would have subjected everyone to her loud europop music - but that would be better than the state of the casualty department (not at all like on tv). I really is postcode lottery - it makes you want to move to Brighton.
Anyhow, Monday morning came and TJ was still wheezing so I called the local GP - luckily we got an immediate appointment, I bundled him up and off we went.
We got to see the locum (I don't think we have ever seen our actual GP) and he wanted to put TJ onto a nebuliser - apparently we had done everything right and he didn't think a visit to A and E was a good idea either. So off he went to get the equipment - except he didn't have it. It had gone to the out of hours clinic next door. Not to worry, "Why dont we just collect it from next door?" I asked. The doctor looked at me aghast, "But it's not out of hours," he said, "We can't access that building until then."
I took a moment to realise that he was actaully saying that a piece of life saving equipment was unavailable as we were 'in hours' - so to speak. "If he's still ill after 3pm then give reception a call and we'll send him to the Out of Hours clinic" said the doctor reassuringly, "I'm on call this afternoon so I'll see him there." Was I going bonkers or did that just defy common sense?
So rather than send TJ to hospital he pumped him full of steroids, gave hime a 10 pump burst on his inhaler and told me to keep him still for the next couple of days (he obviously doesn't have an 8 year old boy).
So today we are sitting on the sofa - I am typing this instead of doing my OU assignment and TJ is playing on his DS - screen time limits are abandoned for a couple of days - its the only thing that keeps him still!
On Saturday we took the boys up to Chinatown in London so they could see the New Year celebrations - they had a great time and we seemed to follow lots of different lion dance troupes - TJ took great delight in making sure we saw all the different colured lions and the boys both loved it when two groups came together and the lions had a 'dance off'. Then they got to throw gunpowder snaps (which I'm sure had some health and safety officer in convulsions) before we went for dim sum at our favourite restaurant. Papa and I realised that this was now the only reason we came into Soho nowadays - no more gay bars and clubs for us...
We then bumped into two old friends in Waitrose, of all places. luckily Waitrose has a bar so we ended up sitting there chatting about Christmas over a couple of bottles of red - well, it was the first of Feb and my dry January was finally over. The boys read magazines and drank ginger beer - it suddenly sounds like an Enid Blyton novel - whilst our childfree friends bought them chocolate and then swanned off to dinner leaving us to drive home with two sugared up kids in the car. (not that we were jealous as we saw our friend's Facebook updates chronicling a lovely meal, a few more drinks and then finally a trip to the casino - whilst we watched Casualty and a late night movie).
Sunday was a lovely family day and then on Sunday night TJ decided to have the biggest asthma attack I have ever seen him suffer. It was painful to hear him coughing and wheezing. I went online and followed all the guidelines and eventually got him settled. It was touch and go as to whether or not we went to A and E - but with it being the weekend I thought that hospital emergency may not be the best place to take a little boy - plus it would have stressed him out. When he was last ill in Brighton we took him to the local hospital which has a dedicated childrens area - which was brilliant and the hospital was amazing. Our local hospital however, leaves a lot to be desired - it's one of the worst performing in the country and its not hard to see why - it is filthy. My bonkers cleaner would have had a field day in there - although she would have subjected everyone to her loud europop music - but that would be better than the state of the casualty department (not at all like on tv). I really is postcode lottery - it makes you want to move to Brighton.
Anyhow, Monday morning came and TJ was still wheezing so I called the local GP - luckily we got an immediate appointment, I bundled him up and off we went.
We got to see the locum (I don't think we have ever seen our actual GP) and he wanted to put TJ onto a nebuliser - apparently we had done everything right and he didn't think a visit to A and E was a good idea either. So off he went to get the equipment - except he didn't have it. It had gone to the out of hours clinic next door. Not to worry, "Why dont we just collect it from next door?" I asked. The doctor looked at me aghast, "But it's not out of hours," he said, "We can't access that building until then."
I took a moment to realise that he was actaully saying that a piece of life saving equipment was unavailable as we were 'in hours' - so to speak. "If he's still ill after 3pm then give reception a call and we'll send him to the Out of Hours clinic" said the doctor reassuringly, "I'm on call this afternoon so I'll see him there." Was I going bonkers or did that just defy common sense?
So rather than send TJ to hospital he pumped him full of steroids, gave hime a 10 pump burst on his inhaler and told me to keep him still for the next couple of days (he obviously doesn't have an 8 year old boy).
So today we are sitting on the sofa - I am typing this instead of doing my OU assignment and TJ is playing on his DS - screen time limits are abandoned for a couple of days - its the only thing that keeps him still!
No comments:
Post a Comment