Another Friday off. Another Friday taking the boy to hospital. Got home from work on Thursday and was barely in the door when the phone rang. I looked after the boy whilst the wife took the call. Knew it wasn't good as she was pacing restlessly up and down. Turned out that his last blood cultures showed that the infection from two weeks ago was still there. So, he'd need more antibiotics. But this time not an injection once a day but an infusion twice a day. Meaning a three hour procedure, plus travel and waiting time twice a day. Call it ten hours a day minimum. For ten days. And it's one he reacts badly to - comes out in a rash.
The wife and the hospital agree that this is not a great option for the boy. The doctors will think about it overnight. I said I'd deal with the boy on Friday, so the wife could have a lie in. The boy had a bit of a lie in too. So we had a slow start to the day. The boy had been watching a DVD the day before where Peppa Pig goes camping and decided that he needed a tent. I said we didn't have one. So he announced that he wanted to buy one and got very upset when I said we would wait and see when Mummy got up. "Want camping" he kept saying.
Was hoping for a break when the carer came round for a few hours and the wife got up. The carer arrived. The wife got up. The hospital rang. They had considered it and the boy needed to go in. I grabbed a sandwich and off we went. The wife stayed to do training with the carer for when the boy goes to nursery. It is only just over two weeks away but the chances of him ever going seem to be receding rapidly.
After a short wait on the ward, the nurses got him weighed and his stats done. After a further wait he got his anti-histamine ahead of the antibiotic. The boy was patient with the delay, once we got the TV working. Then there was a long delay but the boy amused himself by building a tower of bricks with a girl. The nurses couldn't give the antibiotic, as it hadn't been signed off by the doctor and he had disappeared. Eventually, after waiting three hours, the doctor arrived. He said there had been some confusion as to whether the most recent cultures were negative or positive for infection. After another hour's wait, he returned to conclude that nothing should be done while we waited for further cultures to be processed (to avoid unnecessary IV antibiotics being given) and we could go home. In the middle of rush hour. On a Friday.
After more waiting, whilst the boy decided whether he wanted to go home or not, we left. The boy was adamant that he did not want to go by train this time. He wanted to go on a bus. I refused because of the time. After much crossness on both sides we compromised on a taxi. And arrived home just in time to get ready for his bath.
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