A day of doctors

It has been a day of drama. This morning we took Daniel to Starship Hospital to have his hearing checked which turns out to be absolutely fine. We got a referral for him about a month or so ago and I thought we’d be waiting for ages and ages to get an appointment but someone cancelled their 9am appointment this morning and the hospital phoned us yesterday to see whether we’d like to take it. We jumped at the chance, only, how do you get to Starship Hospital in Auckland city for 9am? Perhaps this is why the other patient cancelled.

We left the house at 8am this morning and drove to Akoranga bus station where we parked our car in the park and ride car park. Strangely, this car park only allows parking for 240 minutes so it is obviously only available for people who work part-time. Full-timers have to find another solution. The bus over the bridge was fairly quick and we reached the hospital with a minute or so to spare.

Afterwards I took the children to the Auckland Art Gallery which has some interactive exhibits for kids. It was really nice. Elizabeth and Daniel were mostly well-behaved and generally very good about not touching the works of art. Elizabeth was a challenge in the public toilet though where she insisted on removing every item of clothing before sitting on the seat. She likes to climb up by herself too and so puts her hands and legs all over the seat and generally in places I’d rather she didn’t touch. Afterwards she likes to inspect everything closely including the tampon bin. Nice.

After our cultural fix, we wandered down to Britomart to catch the bus back to the car park and drive the rest of the way home. It really feels quite defeatist to have to get in the car in order to catch a bus. There were other options for the bus journey into town which did not involve the car, but which meant we’d have to leave a day early (slight exaggeration here but you get my drift).

I made the kids an early dinner tonight because they were both hungry and Elizabeth hadn’t had a sleep today so she was desperately tired. They were eating salmon and pasta at around 4.45pm when a small fish bone got lodged at the top of Daniel’s throat. He was gagging but still able to breathe so I was not panicking but on inspection could see a small white bone at the very back of his mouth so made the decision to pile them into the car and head to A&E. We got there at 5pm. It was packed. I just assumed that a fish bone stuck in one’s throat would take priority given that a) it would be fairly quick to remove and b) if it moved on its own and blocked his trachea he could be dead within minutes. But no, we were told to go and sit down and wait and we waited and waited and waited for 1.5 hours. During this time Elizabeth became increasingly fractious thanks to lack of sleep and managed to smear bronze zinc all over her face, feet and the seats in the waiting room. In desperation I took the kids outside so as not to disturb anyone anymore and she nearly lost a limb in one of the revolving doors. I hate those things because children just love them. Eventually Daniel got to see a doctor who pulled out the bone after five or so minutes but not before Daniel puked into her face. I realise as I write this that things could have been so much worse and so despite my complaints, I am eternally thankful that the bone did not prevent Daniel from breathing. He was very good about it all also and except for some discomfort, was in pretty good spirits.