Sunday, March 9, 2008

Harry home...

We don't really know why it happened - it may have been a haematoma gone bad from a skateboard accident in December, or it's also possible it was an insect bite turned septic - but my 12 year old son Harry went into hospital on Thursday the 28th of Feb with a badly swollen and clearly infected arm, and he didn't come home until Friday the 7th of March.

My fantastic wife (and Harry's step-mum) Jacq stayed with him the first 3 nights, while I juggled my commitments to Team Tabak International and long visits to the hospital, then I ditched the Tour as soon as I could and stayed with him until he came home.

It was pretty hideous the first few days with fevers, raving and lots of pain. At least the operation on the Monday helped alleviate that...poor little bugger.

In the operation they drained approximately 8 cubic cm of pus from between the fat and muscle of his forearm. The worst part for me was when they put him under general. After all the consents I had to sign and the amount of times they explain the risks of anesthesia and surgery in general, the irrational protective father part of me thought he might not come out of it. I told him "I love you" as his eyes rolled back into his head, and I stumbled out of the operating theatre weeping and wondering if they would be last words he ever heard. A truly horrible feeling that I hope to never experience again...

Once they operated, he began to recover swiftly, and Harry came home on Friday. While it's great to have him home, he isn't out of the woods quite yet. He has a district nurse changing his dressing every second day, alternating with me changing them. We go back to hospital on Thursday for an ultra-sound to confirm whether all the infection has truly been eliminated.

Until Harry is fully cleared I won't be working in any sort of fulltime capacity, but I will hopefully be easing back into things over the week. Feel free to email or text me if you need a booking.

Next update (in the next couple of days, I promise) will be on the Women's Tour of New Zealand.

Thanks for your patience and messages of goodwill, Oli

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