Finlay's condition brings up scenarios that just don't happen to other parents. Sometimes funny, sometimes not. A couple of examples in the last few days.
I was dropping the brothers off at school before taking Finlay to preschool. I was getting Finlay out of the child seat on the back of my bike when all of a sudden he starts screaming. I look down and see the pump lying in the seat with the tubing and the site. Somehow his pump got caught in the seat and I've pulled the site out of his thigh as I've taken him out the seat.
I notice a bit of blood in the cannula of the site then look down at Finlay's leg and see a patch of red coming through his pants. We must have caught a little blood vessel as the blood is oozing down his leg. So there I am outside the school gates with a screaming toddler, pants round his ankles (remember it's winter in NZ now and it's freezing in the morning), a stream of blood down his leg and me desperately clawing through my bag for a tissue to stem the bleeding.
A couple of the mum's stop to ask if they can help. "Oh no. Thanks but we're fine." WHAT?? How is this fine? How is this normal? What am I saying??
But the reality is we deal with all sorts of mishaps like this all the time. This is our normal. I knew that it was just a needle hole and it would stop bleeding in a minute. I knew that Finlay was just crying from the initial pain of the site being ripped out. He isn't fazed by blood. He sees his own many times a day. In a minute he would be happily running around after his brothers. To be honest, I was more concerned about the blood on his pants. More frustrated that I was going to have to go back home and get another site. Late for work again!
Are my priorities all wrong there? Probably. But that's our reality. Finlay was great. Recovered in a flash and didn't make a sound as I put the new site in. What a star for a three-year-old.
Then, on a lighter note....
At preschool we take in bottles of a special prescription drink for him to have at mealtimes, packed with goodies to try and beef him up a bit. And with every meal he is given replacement enzymes that his pancreas would have produced had he had one. So every so often the preschool remind us to bring some more in.
So a few days ago alongside the other messages, "more nappies for Johnny", "spare clothes for Olivia" is "Finlay - drink and drugs"!
I hope there were no inspectors from the education department around!
I love the Drink and Drugs comment! I have started carrying a small backpack everywhere with me instead of a purse. It contains my stuff along with extra pump sites for J. You could do something like that, or even throw a couple of sites in your glove compartment.
ReplyDeleteI found out how important it is to pack more than one when we hit a bleeder while changing a site on a field trip. It wouldn't stick, bled all down his leg and I was very happy that I had two extra sites, not just one!