Our latest adventure!Welcome back Witchling fans!  I’ve been away from my keyboard for a few days on another parenting adventure with my Witchlings.  Let me set the scene……
It is Saturday afternoon.  Tobes and I have just returned back up North to finalise our move into The Shoebox.  Witchling 10 and Witchling 12 are with Welding Dad (My ex) and are having a fine old time by all accounts.  At 7.30pm I get a phone call to say that Witchling 10 has collapsed.  She’s been found unconscious on the floor.  There are no visible signs of injury and no bump on her head.  She’s just out cold.  Cue and hour and a half of terrified driving at speeds that I’m sure aren’t legal, talking in bright brittle voices about how sure we are that it’s nothing to worry about and she’ll be fine and of course everything would be OK by the time we got there.  I needn’t tell you that we were both silently playing horror movies in our heads and that the ‘what if…’ demons were running amok in both our minds.
The feeling of utter helplessness and fear that overwhelmed me as I walked into the hospital to find my daughter lying on a hospital trolley cannot be put into words.  Well, perhaps Mary Shelley or Bram Stoker could find the words but I don’t have their finesse.  I felt numb with terror.  Witchling 10 is a real live wire, always up and about and full of questions and nonsense.  The little girl I found in Treatment Room 1 of the Casualty department was quiet and frightened and sick and not at all like the Witchling, I’d said goodbye to just hours before.  The rest of the world faded away and I could only really focus on her.
Because there had been a loss of consciousness and the doctors were not sure of the cause, she was admitted to Childrens Ward 2 – eventually.  At 1.45am on Sunday morning she was finally in a bed on the ward and I was offered a natty hospital gown and a fold out bed next to hers.  But there was no chance that I was going to sleep.  I simply held her tiny hand and watched her try to sleep and whispered to her how much I loved her and that I would be right there when she woke up.
The drip in her hand kept waking her up as it hurt after the anaesthetic and she was afraid to go back to sleep in case she wouldn’t wake up.  The fear in her eyes broke my heart.
After many tests and an ECG which all came back normal the Doctors are still none the wiser as to what caused Witchling 10 to collapse.  They suggested that it might be a just a faint (but 10 year olds don’t faint as a rule) but they couldn’t rule out a seizure or epileptic fit.  She was discharged on Sunday afternoon feeling groggy and still very poorly, but the Hospital felt she would be better at home in her own surroundings.  I heartily agreed.
Witchling 10 was scared to leave the hospital as she was worried that it would happen again.  We were admonished that should she collapse again within 48 hours we were to return immediately to the children’s ward. Don not pass GO. Do not collect £200.  That was reassuring at least.  But it did mean another stressful 48 hours of not wanting to take my eyes off her ever again.
The feelings of guilt at not being there when it happened and the helplessness have passed a little now but I still find it tremendously difficult to be parted from my Witchlings.   Witchling 10 is now fully returned to her old self and is aparently none the worse for her collapse. Those of you who read my last blog on leaving the kids at home will be unsurprised to learn that I have no intention of EVER leaving the Witchlings without adult supervision EVER!
There’s no real moral to this story.  No pearls of wisdom for you.  I simply wanted to share my experience with other parents out there who may have experienced similar situations.  Most importantly however, I want to extend my (and my family’s) heartfelt gratitude to all the nurses, Doctors and other hospital staff at the Princess Royal Hospital who helped my little Witchling and made our latest adventure as comfortable and fear free as possible.

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