It was Stefan's turn to take Charlotte in to the clinic. It was a relatively short scheduled day, just getting her port accessed for Friday's treatment, getting blood work done, and a possible platelet transfusion.
So - Nathan and I headed to mom and baby boot camp. As I finished up boot camp, I noticed a couple missed calls, and Stefan calling. It was fortunate I spoke to him before I checked this voicemail message:
Hello, it's the charge nurse at the oncology clinic at Children's Hospital. I'm just calling to let you know Charlotte's dad fainted. He's now awake and seems okay, is alert and knows where he is, but we are just wondering if you can come in, if it's possible for you to come? You can reach me at....., or you can of course contact your husband if he has his cell phone. So, that is what happened, he's now up and a little embarrassed but okay. It's a little unclear exactly what happened, just wanted you to be aware of it, and it would be helpful if you came into the clinic.
So, yes, it was good I spoke to Stefan before hearing that!
Stefan "I just did the most idiotic thing.....remember the ER when Charlotte was diagnosed?"
Me "you passed out?!" (Stefan passed out in the ER March 8th)
Stefan "yes, hit the bathroom door"
Me "are you okay? Do you need me to come drive you?"
Luckily, my sister-in-law was with me for the boot camp, so we all drove down to the hospital, had a little Lageston pow-wow with 3 adults, two babies and superchuck! While there, we got filled in on what happened. Between Stefan and the different nurses, here is what I gathered...
As soon as they finished drawing Charlotte's blood. Stefan had a very strong urge to pee (later speaking to the Dr. - this is a common feeling pre-passing out). He put Charlotte safely down (was on his lap) and headed toward the bathroom. One nurse must have seen his pale face, asked "are you okay", and a moment later he was falling head first into the bathroom door, rebounded off that to fall backward hitting the back of his head on the floor. He was out for about 30 seconds.
The sound of him hitting was so loud it was heard across the hall. Meanwhile - 6 nurses went running to Charlotte, who was a little freaked out (I don't think the 6 nurses helped). It didn't take her long to calm down once she knew daddy was okay. Another 6 or so nurses attended to Stefan. One nurse had to be stopped from calling 911!
This all happened around 11:30 am, I made it down there around 1. We were done at the clinic around 3. Everyone was quite concerned about Stefan, so we thought we better head to a Dr. (Children's Hospital can only treat Children so Stefan was out of luck.) We managed to get an appointment for 4:20. We had about 40 minutes of Nathan and I sitting in the clinic while Stefan and Charlotte stayed in the car. We didn't want to bring Charlotte into a medical clinic so they waited until we could whisk her into a room.
The Dr. said it would be careless of him to not do anything considering Stefan's history. Since his brain may be a little different then the average person after 2 surgeries and radiation. And, since he was exhibiting symptoms of a mild concussion (and with the peeing sensation before passing out) he suggested we go to the ER to get checked out.
It was now 5pm, so, I dropped Stefan at the Royal Columbia ER where his sister met up with him so I could get home to feed the kids and get them to bed (and the ER was the absolute last place we would want our immune compromised little girl!).
I will say right now - I have really good kids! I didn't get home until 6:30 with rush hour traffic. Nathan had been in a car seat for about 4 straight hours by this point, both kids usually eat at 5pm - and not one cry from them the whole time! Stefan got in right away for his cat scan and an ECG - was given the green light, and was home by 8pm. It could have gone a lot worse in my books.
Stefan is feeling rather embarrassed and mad at himself. I am just glad he's okay! My poor hubby...I have assured him I STILL would not trade him in! Please - share your most embarrassing story in the comments so Stefan doesn't feel so alone!
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| notice the dent in the forehead? |
9 comments:
Hey Stefan! I don't have any embarrassing stories to share, but i can say that I only have one nut! ;-]
Take care of yourself Stefan, Your good friend Mike Beaudoin
Stefan, you attention whore. it's not all about you. It was Charlotte's turn for medical attention. However, I'm glad everyone is OK. Now here is my embarrassing run in with the medical profession.
Picture, if you will, a nineteen year old macho poser rugby player, who was oh so impressed with his own manliness, home from university for the summer. One night, this jackass comes to the rescue of a friend who was in a spot of bother with three local no-neck mouth breathers outside a local bar. Nothing wrong with that you say, but...wait for it. After handbags at 10 paces the bad guys get in a large pick up truck and drive menacingly at our hero who bravely stands his ground. The truck wins. After, pulling himself out of the ditch, Dudley Dowrong realizes he has got two very sore knees. The next morning he sheepishly tells his mother that he feel off his bike and landed on his knees. His mother advises to go see a doctor, and that there is a doctor's office in the same block as her office. As he crawls into the doctor's office, our hero is in such pain that he fails to notice that the waiting room is full of women. He also can't quite grasp why the receptionist is looking at him so strangely, perhaps it was his grotesquely swollen knees. She also seemed a bit slow because when he asked if he could make an appointment her puzzled response was, "for you?" I mean come on lady! Who else could it be for, other than this brave soldier standing before you; his face contorted with pain. She then asked, " what do you want to see the doctor for?' Once again the answer seemed pretty bloody obvious as I was wearing shorts and my knees were a bloody, and bruised mess. What she said next however, made our brave knight turn on his heel and flee the office as fast as his wobbly pins would carry him. His face bright red with embarrassment. Apparently, one does not normally attempt to make an appointment for sore knees with an OB/GYN. To this day the laughter of pregnant women makes me shudder. The moral of the story? Always make sure your in the right doctor's office.
Perch
Hey Stefan (and Taleen and Charlotte and Nathan)!
Mike and Lauren here...Glad you're feeling better Stefan :)
We have a pretty awesome story to share that should wipe away any of the residual embarassment. Here it goes:
Last June, during Mike's flagship tech event, he arranged for his 200+ really important guests from across North America to do some golfing. At the end of the day, he hopped on a golf cart to round up the stragglers and thought it wise to rip full speed around a 180degree turn on a downward slope towards the 18th green. Unfortuantely for Mike (and the golf cart), he didn't complete the turn successfully and instead drove it full speed into a wall of boulders. He smashed the the front end of the golf cart and managed to trap himself between the ground and the cart! He had torn the skin from his foot to the bone and was rushed to hospital via ambulance...this while everyone stood around watching in shock! He was mortified at the thought of how stupid he looked and could not believe he was ending his two day event in the hospital (I should note that there was no permanent damage to Mike's foot, just a few stiches and a seriously bruised ego). To make matters worse, one of the guests filmed Mike and threw it up on youtube for all to see. It circulated in emails for a week or two before it was taken down in both Mike's and the event's best interest. Pretty ridiculous turn of events for the "hostess with the mostess" (as he was) but at least he made it to the celebration dinner...he received a standing ovation as he hobbled to his table on crutches :)
Love you guys and hope you get a good laugh out of this one !
Chat soon,
xoxo
Mike and Lo
Oh Stefan. If it helps, it was super full moon on Friday!
Aleta
Sorry to hear about the whole thing - glad it turned out alright though!
Last summer at Vancouver Airport, Kaydo (our then 2 year old) fell and cut his head open. I scooped him up and ran him to an information desk, where they quickly paged the airport ambulance staff. When they arrived, they asked the usual questions, announced he definitely needed stitches and we needed to head to the ER. I slid Kayd across the counter into the Information lady's arms and said, "I'm going down," and proceeded to fall like a tree to the ground. Luckily, one of the ambulance attendants saw and quickly put his boot out to cushion my head hitting the ground. So embarrassing! Especially when I could hear them paging the "family of Ashley LaBar" throughout the airport...sigh. You should have seen the look on my older boys faces when they saw me laying flat out on the ground, and their little brother with a huge head wound!
I can relate to fainting :)
I can picture it perfectly!
Many years back when Jenelle was about 9 ish we went to a large BBQ gathering with friends & kids. I drove out to Mission with 2 teens (16 to the day) and 3 nine year olds. Upon arrival Jenelle and her friends proceeded to put on an incredible show on the trampoline. UNTIL...Jenelle doing her famous double twist ,split open her chin on an outside exposed bar. As I needed to hold the screaming ,bloody child and calm down the freaking friends, my new driver 16 year old ,drove the car to Pitt Meadows hospital since all the adults had already" had a few".( Co Pilot friend helped!) We did arrive safely and everyone pilled into the room to have Jenelle stitched up. That done,the nurse ( who I knew from coaching volleyball) offered a freezie to the poor patient to help with the lightheaded feeling. I could barely manage to say the words..."i need one too" as I slid to the floor at the feet of the staff , two Doctors and 5 kids!! Don't worry Stef it gets better with practice! It truly does.
Marko was starting kindergarten in the fall and needed his boosters before kindergarten started. I wanted to get this task out of the way so I took Marko (4 at the time) and Lukas (3 at the time) to the health unit. I had been through this before and had developed the ability to be there for my children without actually ever looking at the needle, so I was very confident in my ability. Imagine my surprise when I came back to consciousness, sitting in the chair, draped over Marko with Lukas patting my forehead telling me that I was going to be fine. The worst was that we had to stay extra time for observation, not for any a reaction that Marko might of had but rather until the panicked health nurse was convinced that I would be fine. I am cheering for your family.
shelley
Hi Stefan!
Scott and I both had the Norwalk Virus - way before kids - and were waiting to be seen in emergency at Lion's Gate Hospital. Scott was in the washroom when a little boy came out looking pretty scared. To no one in particular he said out loud, "There's a man in there calling for his mommy. He's throwing up and pooing all over the floor - at the same time!"
Well, Scott was immediately rushed into an isolation room and was seeing a doctor in less than 2 minutes flat. Before I even knew what was going on a nurse came up to me with all of Scott's "soiled" clothes in a plastic grocery bag and asked me to "take care of things."
Now we know that if you want to jump the cue at emergency, just randomly call out for your mommy while losing control of nearly all of your bodily functions in the public bathroom down the hall.
And I still married him a few months later;)
Nadya
I happen to be rather well versed in first aid, having done my stint as a lifeguard and ski patroller. Apparently this confidence does me no good when having to deal with anything medically related to my own children. When my daughter was about 6 months old she had a really bad cold. It was the kind of cold that plugged her little nose up so much that it was time to break out that nasal aspirator someone gave me as a baby shower gift and at the time I couldn't fathom what on earth the contraption was. Somehow, in aspirating snot from my baby I caused a bleeding nose. While in actuality it was a minor trickle of blood, my mind distorted the image so much that I screamed for my husband to call 911. My husband, thinking I was the expert on things first aid in our home, instinctually went for the phone. Thankfully he took a good look at me and the (yes happy) snotty baby and put the phone down. Overreaction is a peril of parenthood I suppose...
xxoo to you all.
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