In the wars

Poor Adam.  Yesterday we had a phone call from school to say he'd had a bad fall and may need to go to Casualty, so we raced up to the school.  Bit of an understatement that he 'may need to' go, seeing as he had a massive chunk of flesh missing from his knee and was complaining that his arm was hurting.  Off we went to Casualty.  When he was finally seen in Minor Injuries, the nurse looked a bit concerned, and said she hadn't expected it to be so bad.  In hindsight, perhaps he should have been seen a bit earlier after being assessed by triage.  She said he would have to be stitched up before he went for an X Ray, the wound had stones embedded in it, so she gave him the gas and air.  We had a bit of a wobble when he saw the needle for the local anaesthetic but once he got chugging the Entonox he was fine.  Completely off his tits.  Asked if we could buy him some for his birthday.  His 10th birthday.  His Mother's son.  The nurse cleaned the wound, scrubbed it clean, with a toothbrush.  I was cringing.  But fabulous real life experience towards my treatment for BIID, so my Psychologist is going to be pleased next week.   Adam was a little star, I was so proud of him.  So funny.  After he was stitched up he was sent for X Ray and when back in the Minor Injuries unit, the nurse said there was more bad news, not only had he broken his arm (his left arm after breaking his right wrist last year) but he'd need a full arm cast above his elbow.  He took it all in his stride, and when he got home he lay on the sofa, blanket on, watching Youtube videos 'to take my mind off things' and his siblings were all being very considerate and kind to him.  That won't last long.  He has to go back to have the dressing changed on Saturday, and to keep an eye on him in case there's infection after all the nasties that were embedded in his knee, and then he has to go back to the fracture clinic next week.  It was, without a doubt, the worst injury both I and Mr G have seen, and it's unbelievable how brave he was.

In other news, he managed to set equality back a few decades with this comment.

Me: That nurse said, who assessed you in triage.
Adam: Who?
Me: That nurse.
Adam: What nurse?
Me: The male nurse you saw, who cut your pants off!
Adam: Huh?  He's a nurse?  Is he allowed to be a nurse?
Me: Yes...
Adam: *pauses* So... women can be... Doctors?
Me: Yes!  We've got the vote too, Adam!

Where that came from, I don't know.  It surprised me really, coming from someone of his generation, it just shows how deeply gender stereotypes are still embedded.  

In other news, if it hasn't moved this week, I've painted it.  The downside to this being that now, I need to get the gloss out.  I love glossing, but I don't love glossing with three children in the house.  It's a bit of a 'mare trying to round them all up and herd them away from glossed surfaces.  Guaranteed there will be at least one handprint, or a pair of school trousers ruined with a glossy imprint on the butt.   I think today is the last nice day we have for a week, so I think I'm going to get out into the garden.  Stain the wooden furniture, and put some patio and decking cleaner down.   Sounds like a plan.