Each year the CWA chooses a country to focus on. This year was Turkey. The CWA ladies prepare appropriate food, and the children from our little school do a colouring page (grade Prep to year 2), a promotional poster (years 3 to 5), or an information poster (years 6 and 7). The winners are presented with prizes and their work goes on to compete in the division, then if they win there, on to the State level.
It's a pretty big deal and one of the "events" in our small town's calendar.
The ladies who run the day put in SO much effort to make it great! One of the ladies decorates the whole hall, all of the ladies cook at least one dish, they all help to clean and set up the hall, and people donate some wonderful prizes for the cent sale and raffle that is also held. It's a community effort and is a fun day out.
I got to make a red lentil soup, which sounds rather... dull. But it's actually quite delicious and everyone who tried it enjoyed it. I also made a carrot dip. Some of the other ladies made chicken in yoghurt (SOOOOO good!), meatballs in tomato sauce, spinach pie (mmmmm!), and, of course, Turkish delight :D
The kids' colouring and posters were fantastic and it was fun to see them receive prizes.
We didn't end up eating until after 1 and dessert wasn't until after 2! I had to go collect the Little Big Fella from kindy, but we came back and helped to finish the clean up.
We finally got back home at 4.
The Little Big Fella was a bit hungry by this time (he'd had some lollies/candy at the hall but needed some "always food"). I was just coming out of the bathroom when I heard that sound.
Mums know this sound. It's the "run here because something is absolutely wrong!" sound.
Then it changed to the "run here and be here yesterday because it's even worse than it was a second ago" sound.
And I RAN!
I found the Little Big Fella in the kitchen, sitting on the floor with a bag of tortillas and a steak knife. He'd managed to stab the knife through the bag and cut his tall finger on his left hand. And yes, there was blood.
I grabbed his hand and put pressure on the wound and felt the blood pumping a little.
Oh shit!
The Big Fella was still at work. I couldn't drive to the doctor's or hospital and hold his hand at the same time. I couldn't see or hear the neighbours.
But I had my phone in my pocket! So I rang our emergency number and got put through to the ambulance.
It was so hard to talk to them because the Little Big Fella was crying so hard. But the first intelligible thing he said was, "I should have waited for you mummy". I guess there's a possibility he may have learned a lesson today.
By this time I'd grabbed a cloth to put over the wound and the bleeding seemed to have slowed or possibly even stopped. The guy on the phone gave me some instructions on what to do while I was waiting, and said that if certain things happened, that I should call again.
We moved inside and sat on the couch and turned on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles so that he could be comfortable, and hopefully a little distracted. He got a little bit cold and had a good cry again and kept asking where the ambulance was (nope, distraction didn't work!).
They got to our place in 20 to 30 minutes, which is basically as long as it takes to drive from the next town to ours. As they were coming to the stairs they saw a snake!
Sheesh! Really???
The snake slid into the "shed" under the house and the ambos came upstairs.
As soon as they wanted to touch or look at the wound, the Little Big Fella pretty much went into hysterics! I immediately worried that we'd have to get stitches and that it would be a major drama!!!
The ambos don't do stitches, but they cleaned the wound and bandaged it up. By this time the bleeding had basically stopped and was probably only going a little still because of the movement of the finger. They even put him in a sling, just to help him keep it safe :-D He loved it!
Just as they were leaving, the Big Fella arrived home from work! Totally freaked out about there being an ambulance in front of our house, but was fine once he saw that we were okay.
So he found and dealt with the snake and we went to the hospital in the next town because yes, we needed to get stitches, or (hopefully) glue the wound together.
I think we might have been the only people in emergency at that time because they took us straight through to the triage room and started asking all the usual questions, as well as injury-specific ones.
As soon as they started unwrapping the bandage, the Little Big Fella got upset and stressed out. And he was making noises like he was going to be sick. Thankfully the "sick bag" intrigued him for a little bit and mildly distracted him.
The nurses took a photo of the injury and texted it to the doctor on call (who happens to be our GP), asking if it needed stitching or could just be glued. We all crossed our fingers for glue!
After about 5 minutes we got the call saying that yes, it could be glued! Yay!!!!
Actually gluing it was a bit of a drama though. The Little Big Fella had a big cry (apparently it stings a little) and kept trying to pull his hand away. But eventually it was done and they wrapped it up and he was happy. He even got a certificate of bravery!
He almost literally skipped out of the hospital! I guess he was feeling okay now that no one needed to see or touch his hand.
On the way home, we stopped at a local takeaway for kebabs/souvlaki for the Big Fella and me, and chips and prawn cutlets for the Little Big Fella. They were a bit past their prime by the time we got home, but still delicious and definitely better than having to cook!
Then it was time to wrap up the Little Big Fella's bandaged hand in a plastic bag and get him into the shower. First thing he did? Put his plastic hand in the water!
Here he is, all bandaged, showered and in bed (obviously before he completely crashed out):
Oh! And this one is where he's "web slingin'", because he'd been in his Spiderman suit when it all happened.
So, another successful visit to a small country hospital. I'd really like it to be more than 2 months before I see another one. Please! :-D
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