Now, I love my boys to bits--they're maturing into lovely young men and I love spending time with them, but . . . this year the summer holidays were a nightmare for my writing.
The first week of the holidays I worked my standard week at the day job, then on the Thursday and Friday I was running around buying last minutes items and clothes for all of us for our holiday on Spain, and packing!
My second and third weeks were spent in Spain where I thoroughly relaxed, reading several brilliant books, and hand wrote very rough parts of INIQUITY whilst turning a nice brown colour on my sun lounger. ( I came back with scribbled, sun-cream smudged words to the total of 20k)
The rest of the holiday--the remaining 4 weeks were to be spent at the day job Monday to Wednesday and then around for the boys on Thursdays and Fridays. Alas, this didn't happen. My eldest purchased a pennyboard (small skateboard) on the first Tuesday we were back from our hols and as I sat down at my laptop for the first time in 3 weeks, a day of writing ahead of me, the screams as he came running inside and the subsequent visual of his right arm hanging just like Harry Potters did when he lost all his bones after his quidditch fall, had me calling for an ambulance. Yes, he'd fallen off said pennyboard and put his arm out to stop his fall--hence both bones in his lower arm broken. (Lucky no other injuries at all)
When Monday came the consultant took one look at Thursdays x-rays and said there was no way he was putting a cast on his arm, he needed an operation. After trying to calm my son down whilst quietly crying inside and struggling to hold it together myself, the staff at the hospital made arrangements for him to be admitted to the children's ward seeing as he was only 14. (Such lovely staff on that ward) Hubs joined us at lunch time and helped give me a break from our son's manic panicking about them 'cutting him open'. At 3 o'clock I went with him to the room they take you to before the op and watched him slowly black out as they put him to sleep. How I held it together until I got back to the ward I'll never know, but as soon as I saw hubs my tears started. I knew he'd be okay, but never having had either of my two need an operation before (We've been very lucky) the whole episode had drained me and made me an emotional wreck.
He was two hours in surgery and very drowsy when he was brought back to the ward. I have decided though that he will be a happy drunk when he gets older, as he was thanking everyone who helped him in his induced 'sleep' state. As the night drew in, hubs and me tiptoed around him as he slept--soft snoring noises that reminded me of when he was a baby and just how precious he was to us. I could have stayed the night, the staff were willing to put a camp-bed by his side for me, but I was so tired I longed to attempt a half decent sleep in my own bed. We left him at 10.30 with the promise we'd be back first thing in the morning.
So the following morning I dropped hubs at the hospital and then drove to work to sort out the wages for the staff and any other urgent business as I didn't think there was any way I'd be back the next day and potentially the following week. When I arrived at the hospital at lunch time, he was sitting up and talking, although looked very tired, and had already been discharged. After thanking all the nurses who'd cared for him during his short stay we went home. Hubs charged off to work and I was left with a very sleepy boy. He did sleep most of the afternoon but when evening came so did his pain. The tablets the hospital gave us weren't even taking the edge off the pain he was feeling. Every time he breathed his arm hurt, every time he moved, he shouted out. Getting him to bed was a nightmare, but eventually he settled. I expected a restless night of getting up numerous times to see to him, but was pleasantly surprised when I woke at 6:30 and went to see him. He was sitting up playing on his ipad.
We had a quiet day, but he was still struggling with the pain of his arm so I rang the doctor and asked if there was anything stronger he could have. Two hours later I had 'magic' pills for him. These worked a trick. That evening the pain built again, but after one of these pills he was remarkably chilled out and slept right through the night again. The morning brought about a very different child. The best way to describe it was that he was 'tripping'. Oh yes, these pills had him imaging I was a talking fish, a jelly fish, a robot with 6 eyes, and let's not forget the high pitched giggle that he suddenly developed. The good news, his pain had gone and he was happy!
Three days of happy pills and I started to decrease the dose. Throughout this time I was sung every Christmas carol he could think of, as well as returning to my 'fish' state. By the end of the weekend he was back on normal strength pain killers and a much more natural grumpy teenager complaining of boredom!
On the Tuesday we were back at the hospital to see how everything had gone. He had his arm put into a proper cast and more x-rays taken. (as shown in the picture)
The metal plate will remain in his arm to support the bone and the long bendy metal rod will be taken out in about 6 months.
On the Thursday of this same week I had to take 'broken arm son' to my mums and my other son to his aunties as hubs and I were flying to Italy on the Friday to a friends wedding.
The wedding was beautiful, and so was the weather. Temperatures of 39 degrees Celsius all weekend We stayed at Hotel San Rocco which was near Soiano, overlooking Lake Garda. Hubs and I will return one day :)
So, when we returned we were in our final week of the summer holidays. And this is when I managed to get my mojo back and dig into the notes I made whilst sitting around the pool in Spain. Calm was at last returning, even though the dreaded school shopping was on my list of things to attack. It only took one afternoon, but let me tell you that if you've never been through the experience of having to buy school uniforms and all the other bits and bobs that go with it, start saving now! If you have boys, when they get to 14 and 12 their shoes cost serious money. Size 8.5 and 7.5 respectively bring in prices that are over what I pay for my shoes. (This doesn't seem right.)
So they were back at school on Tuesday and today I claimed back my writing days. Today, though, I'm catching up on all my paperwork and my accounts. Tomorrow I intend to sit down and write.
Iniquity is standing at 76K words with the final 8 chapters mapped out. (as well as the second book--Veracity) SD2 is waiting to go, edits with my first CP are nearly complete on SD3 and SD4 has 5 chapters written. I also have the seed of another novel growing in my head, but that will stay firmly locked away until SD4, Iniquity, and Veracity have been written.
So, excuse me for a little while if I sit and rock on my chair, giggling as the words begin to form on my screen. I've missed my laptop, I've missed being ME!
SCHOOL HOLIDAYS ARE OVER - WELCOME BACK MELODY WINTER!
No comments:
Post a Comment