I don't usually talk much about Ireland on here, because the way this country has gone just annoys me too much.
Last night we had an example of just how fucked our health system is, and the extent of how hard it is to see any type of doctor when you have an emergency.
Kaleb Had A Bad Fall
Just before leaving creche yesterday, and just before he did, he tripped while playing with a ball.
By all accounts it was a nasty one, there was a blood everywhere. When I got him out of the car I noticed the stains on his jumper, which by this stage had dried. He started crying and was inconsolable, and when we got into the house he started bleeding again.
It's horrible seeing your child distressed, and not knowing what else to do other than hold him, rock him, and try to comfort him. Giving him some water helped, but seeing the straw leave his mouth covered in blood was scary.
Calling The Caredoc
Aimee started ringing the caredoc around 6:10, and the line was busy. 17 missed calls later, the time is now around 7/ 7:20 and she finally gets through to them.
The phone rings, and rings. 10+ minutes later it's still ringing, and I suggest getting in the car and going down to them and just walking in.
They obviously don't want people to just turn up, but what choice did we have?
We get into the place, speak with the guy behind the counter about the situation, all the while I'm still holding the phone which is now 20+ minutes on call.
He tells us to take a seat, and we wait a while more as he's crying. Kaleb didn't know who he wanted to sit with, so we played a game of hot potato until we finally got called at around 8.
Seeing The Doctor
There had been no blood for a while, and we explained the situation. He said there are a lot of blood vessels in the mouth, checks over his mouth and tells us it's okay and to bring him home.
He says to only give him cold drinks, and cold soft food which will let his mouth heal, and which won't cause him too much discomfort.
Before we're about to leave, Kaleb's mouth starts gushing blood, and he starts crying. At the sight of this the doctor kind of starts to panic, and says that he'll check him again.
After putting on his gloves and taking another look, he concludes that he thinks the stringy piece of skin connecting his gum and lip has been cut and that's the problem.
He writes us a letter to go to Tallaght and have him checked over, and he apologizes for not looking hard enough the first time. We say it's no problem, and get back to the house to pack some stuff, and prepare for the night ahead.
The Children's Hospital
We got to Tallaght by around 9:40, it's a fair treck from our town, at around 1/ 1:30 hours.
Me and Aimee don't have our full license yet, but are working towards it, but luckily her mum was able to give us a lift.
Kaleb slept in the car, and was awake by time we arrived, and still feeling a bit sad and sour from his injury, but luckily there had been no blood since the Caredoc.
We signed in, were told to wait, and wait we did. It was around 1:30 by time we actually got seen. In the 3 or so hours of waiting, Kaleb kind of had a burst of energy and was in surprisingly good form. He was waving at doctors, and patients, and laughing in general. Honestly, if you didn't know any better you would have thought me and Aimee were hypochondriacs.
Aimee's mum stuck with us the whole time, even though she had work today, and we're both so grateful that she gave us the lift up and back. I said to Aimee that we'll go splits and buy her mum and dad a Spa Day treatment thing for all they've done for us, and especially for last night.
We got seen, and the doctor essentially told us the exact same thing the Caredoc said. No salty food, only cold drinks and food.
It was good to get him checked out, and it was a scary experience. We got back home around 3 AM last night, and we were all bolloxed.
Luckily Kaleb fell asleep in the car, and I imagined to take him out of the car seat and get him into his cot without waking him, and he was out cold until this morning.
Today
He woke up later than usual. Well, we all did really. Around 9, as opposed to the normal time which is usually 7AM.
Both of us opened our eyes to his smiling face standing in his cot staring at us and dancing, while also babbling to himself. He's a hardy little fecker.
Aimee had called in sick for today, I was meant to do a manual handling course, which I also had to cancel, and we assumed Aimee's mum called in sick too, but nope, she called in and asked to come in later, because by 10 she was out the door.
Kaleb has been in great form though, and has barely made a peep, apart from when we lifted his lip to see how it's doing.
He also got a teddy off one of the nurses and was going around with it this morning hugging it while listening to his songs.
It was bad for many other people there too, a woman beside us with her son had been waiting there from 7 o'clock to be seen, and that didn't happen until 12:30.
The whole experience was brutal, made worse by the stretched services in this country. In my hometown the dentist has had to stop taking new patients as of about a year ago. The entire health system is fucked. The housing market is non-existent. In general things are just getting worse.
I knew the place was screwed up, but when you've got a baby you really need someone to look at and you're waiting over 7 hours for that to happen, it really puts it into perspective.