Usually, my column is about random topics where I try to polarize the readers by making them agree with me whole heartedly or disagree with me to the point that you may believe I'm completely nuts.
One week, I wrote a column about my Emergency Room experience, which was extremely negative and I got record feedback, unfortunately 99% of it was in support of me. I often said if I ever have a positive one, I won't hesitate to give props.
Time for props.
Last Monday at around 4:30 in the afternoon, our 7-year-old daughter Mallory went for a spill on the playground at Canora Beach and suffered two broken wrists. Her care from the moment she fell right up until today has been nothing short of amazing and I feel like a complete jerk for not having names of the many people involved who deserve personal thanks.
First of all, a big huge thank you to the man and woman who made us aware of Mallory's accident. The woman ran from the playground to our campsite to let us know something terrible had happened, while (I'm assuming it's her husband) the man was carrying her back to us. I put Mallory in the truck and drove off to the hospital in Canora. It all happened so fast that I never thanked this wonderful couple, who even took the time to go back to the playground, get Mallory's bicycle and return it to our campsite. Thank you.
In Canora, there was an entire staff that went above and beyond to help get Mallory as comfortable as possible. The only person's name I received was Dr. Vladimir. Everyone else, from the x-ray technician, to the nurses, to the people working at the front desk were spectacular. They not only did their job, but did it calmly and with compassion. We had our other two children there as well and, in the madness, they are not necessarily aware of where they should and should not be in a situation like this and the hospital staff simply just went about their tasks as if they were not in the way at all. In fact, they acknowledged our other two kids and treated them as though they were just as important. Thank you.
My wife went with the two ambulance attendants, who rushed Mallory into Regina General Hospital from Canora and they were also excellent. One of them even gave her a new stuffed animal to keep her company. Thank you.
Most of us are lucky to have family who will drop anything to help another one of us out. My wife and I are definitely lucky. Jenn's parents dropped whatever they were doing and came from Dauphin to Yorkton to stay with our other two kids so I could go to Regina and be with Jenn and Mallory. They not only stayed with Matthew and Macey, but also went back out to our campsite to retrieve the St. Paul's School grade five pet guinea pig (Ziggy), as I forgot the poor guy inside a hot camper after I locked everything up.
When I got to Regina General, the orthopedic surgeon (Dr. Alsharif) had already completed Mallory's left arm. He was able to realign everything internally so no surgery was required. The second arm wasn't nearly as easy for him and Jenn couldn't stay in the room. Frankly, I'm not sure why I did either. I'm no doctor, but I know arms and hands are not supposed to bend that way. I would rather watch the blood and guts of another C-Section over this any day of the week.
Dr. Alsharif was very open and explained in regular non-doctor terms what had to be done, what he did, how he sees the healing process playing out, and was more than willing to answer questions (some of which probably were less than intelligent). I was, particularly, impressed with how he was able to compare the before and after x-ray pictures and explain his methods when operating on her. So to Dr. Alsharif and his entire team in the ER at Regina General Hospital: a huge thank you. There were a handful or more people involved with her care in that little room and, again, I was impressed with the enthusiasm and love of their job that each person showed.
The front desk workers at the ER at Regina General were excellent too. It's nice to be greeted by people with a pleasant personality as opposed to someone worn out and crusty from a long, busy day. Their wit and exchanges with Mallory on the way out were very cute and Mallory loved it.
We posted some updates and pictures on Facebook and are overwhelmed with the well wishes received. It's amazing to see how many people care, even just a little bit, to send a kind word. Thank you.
And, to the few people that I vented a little with over the last few days: thank you. You know who you are and your friendship means a great deal.
Finally, I should say things could be a lot worse. An incident in Yorkton that same evening resulted in a child being sent to Regina General Hospital and we can't imagine going through what that family is right now. We wish you all the best.
