She got the sling! It turns out you really need your left arm!

The Student gave us a big fright with the accident two weeks ago!
She was discharged after two days in hospital and recuperated for a week at home.

She is back at university since Sunday, and coping very nicely with one arm.

She has made the following adjustments:

- Buying most of her food. It is very difficult to prepare food and wash dishes afterwards.
- We bought dry shampoo to make her hair last a bit longer.
- We bought pants that she can pull on, without zips and belts.
- We could not find a cover for the arm. She is using a plastic bag with an elastic.
- Friends have to help with washing her clothes.
- She has to ask for help from other students.
- She had to cancel her holiday work that's coming up.
- She has to use a mouse with her laptop since it is very difficult cutting and pasting and adding punctuation.
- She is seeing a campus counselor about the nightmares she gets after the accident! She is very jumpy in the traffic!
-She cannot ride on her newly bought bicycle just yet!


That left arm is sorely missed, but she copes!
I am proud that she takes it in her stride!

What would you miss doing if you were left with only one arm?

A weekend from hell that made us feel very grateful!

The lamp pole in question

We got a call near midnight on Thursday night. The Student was in an accident, and she was still sitting in the car waiting for the ambulance. They were driving on an unknown dark corner of Potch, and there was a turn in the road and the lamp pole jumped in front of them! The car went on it's side before it landed on the wheels again. Unfortunately it was on my daughter's side of the car!

She told us that she knew immediately her arm is broken when she saw it behind her and had to bring it forward...

It was hectic! As a parent you want to jump in the car and race to the scene. But she is a one and half hours away! Luckily we kept talking to her and the friend who was with her in the accident. They kept us in the loop while getting into an ambulance until they were admitted to hospital.

My default mode is going into scold mode before I am able to process it: "What are you doing out so late?" And "Why don't you use the maps on your phone when you know you are prone to get lost?" (She and the friend have lost their way before...)
But if is only for the first few seconds of processing this information...
We were worried and could not sleep!

We got in the car at 6 am on Friday because we thought she would be operated on already at 8 am! Little Miss had to tag along because we did not know if we would be able to fetch her the afternoon. Just as well, because we had to wait until 6 pm for the operation and she only came out of the operating theater after 8 pm on Friday night!

The bones and muscles in the elbow had to be reattached and she has 8 screws and 2 plates in her left elbow!

We could go and fetch her yesterday and she is recuperating at home for the week!

There is so much we are grateful for:

- Except for the arm, both the students are fine! The car is written off!

- The seat belts and airbags saved their lives! There are huge glass pieces sticking into the air bags. They have minimal scratches!

- Medical Aid made everything so much easier. The ambulance took her to a private hospital where she got great care! I did not have to worry about paying exorbitant fees! Everything was covered!

- Student friends allowed us to stay over in their flat for the Friday night! That helped immensely after we left the hospital at ten on Friday night. We stayed until we were sure she was ok.

- Student friends brought her clothes and gifts and visited The Student during the course of the weekend!

- A nice old lady in the same room in hospital who took care of The Student while we could not be around!

- The personnel and staff at Medi-Clinic in Potchefstroom did a great job! Dr Hattingh needs a special mention! It seems he knows what he is doing! He also came to talk to us and her on several occasions and kept us informed. He is also very happy with the operation and believes she will regain the use of her arm!

- It's the left arm that's affected!

- This week The Student also does not have classes and she can stay at home!


Now we have an Iron Woman in our midst!


Do anyone know where we can buy a cover for an arm in plaster?
Apparently Dischem does not stock it anymore and I have phoned one pharmacy at a hospital who also do not have it in stock.

Accidents happen and we have a Screaming Queen Deluxe!

Casualty visit

We were on our way to the shopping mall, with Hubby carrying a sleepy girl on his shoulder.
He did not see the pole next to the shopping trolleys and it cut into Little Missy's leg.
(Who makes a pole with sharp edges on top?)

So off we went to the nearest Hospital Casualty with a screaming child! I was holding my hand over the wound with a tissue, and Hubby was driving as fast as he could. Little Miss was crying, and screaming, and whimpering and asking every two seconds if we were at the Hospital already!

At Casualty she was also performing every time they came near the wound. They had to calm her with a plaster over the wound and drops, but it did not really work! As soon as she saw a trolley coming near, or a nurse or doctor approaching, it was screams and antics!

In the end they rolled her in a sheet to keep her arms from touching her leg, and Hubby had to hold her while the doctor stitched her up!

She was screaming that she was still feeling everything, and that they were hurting her! Hubby got upset and asked if they were sure that she could not feel anything. But she had the injection, and they assured us that it was not sore any more! She got four stitches and a tetanus shot. The injection in the end was the worst because she did not expect it and it was very sore! But we had to have it done!

While we were walking out of the doors she told us that she could not feel a thing, but that she was afraid and that's why she was screaming so much..

Yes, our girl is a true Screaming Queen Deluxe!
(The same as I remember myself at that age!)
That's why the teeth hang by threads and it gets lost!

Luckily she is all bouncy again today with a story to tell!


Who wants to go with her when they have to remove the stitches next week?

Accident on the highway

Running a bit late, but not speeding.

We had to turn off the highway to fill up with petrol.

And then back on the road!



If we had put in petrol before the time?

If we did not make that stop at the shops?

If we had started our drive a second earlier?

If only we had taken the other highway?



Rain bursting through the clouds, and then some patches of less rain!

But everywhere the wet highway...

THEN: The bundling of cars, and then we see the car skidding on the highway. There are cars all around us, and this car is not going forward anymore.


It is skidding past us, and I watch the face of the lady in the passenger seat! It is a face of unbelief!

Hubby swerve and misses the car, and for a split second we think we have made it!

The car skids into the barrier on the side of the road, and comes skidding back again...

It is right in front of us, and I hear myself scream.

I am thinking that this is going to be bad!

The cars are coming from behind, and we are in the middle of the highway...

We hit the other car on the side with a loud sickening THUD!

Hubby keeps on saying we need to get out of there! I push the button for the hazard lights...


Somehow he manages to get our car around the car which has now come to a standstill in the middle of the highway!

He drives to the side of the road, and keeps driving forward, afraid of more accidents...

The Toddler is crying now. We say something to her to calm her down. We have been in an accident, but we are fine!

We both get out of the car and look at the damage. The bumper is dented, and the number plate is missing. But it doesn't look that bad! The car can still be driven!

We wait for the other car to come to the side of the road, which somehow it manages to do. It is not roadworthy anymore!

Hubby jumps out and the two drivers exchanges their business cards, and then he comes back and we drive back home. He doesn't want to stay there!

Not on the highway anymore, and the Toddler crying because we are not going to the party anymore...

--------

The driver of the other vehicle says that 3 more cars skidded there while they were waiting to be towed! If we had stayed there, we would have been hit...



We feel very lucky today!

We did not get hurt at all, and except for the schlepp of having a car fixed, we are fine today!



(This happened 6pm last night on the N1 between William Nicol and Rivonia)

Posted with Blogsy

When a daughter of 19 gets ripped away...

I have heard the saddest news ever...
That news that every parent dreads to hear, and never ever wants to hear.

A young girl of 19 who was on her way from university got killed in a car accident on Tuesday. It is the daughter of the niece of a friend.

The news twisted my stomach in knots, because she is the same age as my daughter.
She is also a first-year at the same university my daughter goes to!
And she died on the death-trap of a road going to Potchefstroom.

That road was one of the main reasons I first told my daughter that she could not even consider going to that university...

I worry each time she gets a lift coming home, or going back. The one and half hour drive keeps me checking my BBM until she is safe!

Somebody said yesterday that I should keep watch over my children. As if we can keep our children safe from harm in everything they do...


Dear Daughter, I hope you stay safe in everything you do! Even if you sometimes decide to stay out late, or get up to some mischief! (I love that you are enjoying your life!)
But please come home to us!


Peace to Vanessa and her family!
RIP Melissa!

Little boys are a different species

I think all boys are made of something totally different than little girls. They are of a different species. My sister-in-law asked the other day if all boys are as busy as hers. I don’t have a boy, but I said yes immediately! When I compare my friends with their boys, and my girls and how they behave, I can only come to the conclusion that there is no comparison!

A little boy visited us the previous Friday with his mother. The children were playing in our vicinity, and they were as busy as little toddlers are supposed to be busy. We were watching them the whole time!

His mother noticed at one stage that he had a red mark on his cheek that was not there earlier in the day.  The mark became swollen, and we had to conclude that he must have burnt his cheek against the gas barbecue outside. Horrors! Luckily it was only a little burn, and by the next morning the mark was almost gone... But, horrors! It shows that we need to watch the boa boy much more closely!

The little man must have burnt himself when he went too near the barbecue. But we did not hear a peep or a squeal! Not a complaint! He just took it in his boy stride, and went on playing. Boys are usually much more interested in fires and barbecues...  For the rest of the evening we did not see him go near the barbecue!  Hopefully he learns a lesson! Hopefully!

The two toddlers are happy to play next to each other, and as long as there are two chairs or two of whatever toy then they get along just fine!

What is your experience with little boys? Are they really that different from girls? I think so!

To keep the toddler safe from harm

It sometimes hits me straight in the pit of my stomach! The depth of how you want to protect your babies and your children! The knowledge that you can’t be with them all the time...

If you let the feeling fester, it can become very scary!

I am talking about the previous day when Mieka got hurt at the day care. Accidents happen, especially where the toddler is involved. She is busy, busy, and busy! It happens all the time that she gets hurt, even when we are right there. I remember the time when I was taking a picture, and she had a fall right in front of me...

It happens! But we feel angry that our toddler got the big scratch on her face. And now the day care is telling a different story than the previous day. (Their days are limited! I am beginning to look at other options.)

Thanks to all of you who have commented yesterday. Yes, I know we have to listen to our gut feelings!


I don’t want to over-react, and I know that there are always some issues that make one uneasy when you ask somebody else to look at your child. I also don’t want to take Mieka out of the security of a well-known environment if it’s not necessary. But, I need to feel secure in my knowledge that she will be safe.

I know and believe that they have “angels” looking after them! How many times do they fall and get hurt, without really getting hurt?

Now I am done complaining. There are more options to explore, and lots of day care centres!

(Powerwoman to the rescue!)

(Photo: Mieka on Sunday)

I want to fire the day care!

This is how the toddler looked when I went to fetch her at day care yesterday afternoon.

I did not immediately see the scratch mark (MARK) on her cheek. She had a small graze on her cheek from before, and she has been telling us it is the “gogga” (insect). It is also because she got mosquito bites the week before, and she has been “blaming” insects for all her "ouch"-ees.

Two of the day care people immediately came over to tell me about the scratch. I first said it was okay, because I thought we were talking about the little graze... Apparently the toddler was climbing a tree, and fell out!  ?? We did not even think she would be able to climb a tree. And where were the people that were supposed to be looking after them?

But the scratch mark is huge! Now we don’t think it is okay at all! Dries said he will talk to them today. To make them understand that we think it is NOT OKAY!

We know that toddlers are prone to accidents, but we HATE the idea that it happened where somebody else was supposed to watch.

Should I fire the day care? (I must confess that I get the urge on a very regular basis.)

(The working mother conundrum again...)

Wordless Wednesday #22 - Fall!

Cook with(-out) thumbs

How not to use a food peeler.
My skills as an excellent cook came to light again. So NOT!
Dries bought us the food peeler with 101 uses. I was so impressed when it peeled the carrots with ease – we have been using a terrible peeler – that I grabbed the butternut with gusto. It was with the second slash that part of my nail and skin came with.
Dries was beginning to say “Be careful…”, but it was too late. Now I’m stuck with a sore thumb for at least two weeks.
Dries has banned Arnia and me from ever peeling the butternuts or gem squashes again. He says he will be doing it from now on. Bargain!
But I did not slash my thumb to get out of peeling the heavy stuff… It is way too sore, and extremely uncomfortable. We DO use our left thumbs, you know!