Yesterday started off pretty good. The weather was ok (not too warm, but not too cold either) and we made lots of plans for stuff to do during the day. The first part of the afternoon was to give Maja and Emma (a day-care friend) some quality time in an indoor playground called Lek och Bus Land. Situated in the north of Göteborg.
Weather got worse (rain etc) so lots of kids there. However- the place offered free wireless; Andreas (Emma’s father) and I sat down with our laptops while Laura took the girls out for some playing. We traded places (Andreas and I out with the girls, Laura at the wireless) and after that we had some lunch. Laura took both girls out for playing again and then it happened. Laura came running towards us with tears in her eyes, holding a Maja who was crying like hell in her arms. Instantly it was clear something was bad. Very bad. Laura only needed to utter the words “leg, think, broken” and we understood what to do. I took Maja and looked for help. Laura gather our stuff from the table and our locker and followed. This is where we made a mistake by the way – turned out I didnt have my cellphone with me…
I ran to the reception and asked after their medical expertise. The offered either bandaids or to call a taxi. I wasn’t happy with either, so I asked directions to the closest hospital. Only then a senior member of the staff pointed out there’s a “läckarehus” (doctors’ practice) around the corner. I dashed off with Maja in my hands (in the rain) to find this place.
Upon entering the building I noticed a sign explaining me that “there’s a 2 hour waiting line today”. Up the stairs signs pointed me towards the right – please take a number, after which I would be invited to the reception area on the left. Only there would I receive an ETA for help. Surely that only applies to people that arent like me very stressed, so I dashed into the reception area and yelled to the general public: “I have a girl here and I suspect a broken leg: can you help me or not? I dont mind waiting – surely 2 hrs is too much – but I want to know if you can help me at all” The reply was that there was no x-ray equipment anyway, so they would not be able to help me in case of a fracture. I thanked them for the info and dashed back out. My plan was to meet with Laura, hand Maja over to her, run and pick up the car (=we didn’t have the change for the parking meters, so we were forced to park far away) and then take all of us to hospital.
Now our mistake comes back: Laura took actions of her own and was nowhere to be found. I ran back to the playground: nothing, back to a place where I could see both the playground and the doctor’s practice: nothing. OK – think, act, fast. Run to the car – my phone is in the car, so I can alert Laura and decide further. I turn to start running towards the car and I hear a frantic yelling behind me. Laura caught up with us. Surely she was all over the place herself: having just seen her daughter in tremendous pain, handing her over to me and then loosing track of the both of us. Quickly we gathered ourselves, and started running towards the car. Don’t forget a constant dialogue with Maja: she’s in pain (shock?) crying, cold, and in need of comforting. While in the car we made a smart move: we called 1177 -> the national medicare info number. Even though we were inclined to drive approx. 30 minutes to our home-town hospital, they were able to convince us to change direction and go to “Östra Sjukhuset” in Gothenburg: they have a first-aid entrance at the childrens’ hospital.
Arriving there, things started off great: we were attended to quickly: we told our story; Maja got some painkillers and we were waiting for the Doctor. Then time started go slow. We arrived in the hospital around three, half past three, it took until seven or half past 7 at night until we met with a doctor. Diagnosis was made rather quickly: X-ray shots. After 16:00 on a Friday medical staff also enjoys weekend so staff was limited. It took another hour or so for the shots to be taken. Then things moved fast again: broken leg: needed a cast.
She received the cast and we were briefed on the impact. The shin-bone was broken just below the knee. Due to the fact that the fracture is located so blose to the knee, it is neccessairy that a cast is applied from hip to toe. First a temporay cast for about 1 week; only the back-side of the leg. After one week: a re-visit of the hospital, where they x-ray again and verify things are growing back as they should. Then a long-term cast is applied. That cast will stay for a period of 3 – 5 weeks, depending on the results of the first week. After those 3-5 weeks, nobody knows.
Maja got her cast (red, as blue is for boys 😉 ) and we started to realise a lot of things: no more swimming, no more walking, no more … hold on: with a straight leg we can’t even fit her into our car because of the baby seat. We asked the hospital personnel for advise on that issue. They offered a taxi-ride with a baby-seat that will allow us to transport her properly. Some phonecalls were made: the results came back negative. Since we live in a different state (Hallands’ Län vs. Västa Götalands’ Län) the solution was to get an ambulance. Another hour or so of waiting (this time it was okay, since Maja had fallen asleep and we were offered some coffee and tea) and we were on our way. Just short of midnight, we arrived home.
It didnt take us long to get Maja to bed and to sleep, but we needed another hour or two before we were ready ourselves. The start of a summer vacation we didnt expect.
