A Slight Change in Plans
So… With much excitement Papa, Isaac and I headed to the airport with massive amounts of luggage and lots of time to spare before our flight to Rwanda… In retrospect, it might have been too much time.
After getting checked in and dealing with a small hassle regarding overweight luggage, we were ready to go. We decided that because we had time to spare we’d spend a little more time with Papa at the climbing wall/play space on the departure level of the airport.
The Play Structure
I dashed off for a quick washroom-break leaving Isaac and Papa at the play space. While washing my hands I heard crying coming from the other side of the door.
‘Is that my child?’ I think. But no, he never cries like that. When he’s hurt, he’s usually silent, then breathes through it and is eventually laughing it off.
I open to the door to see the horror-stricken faces of the other parents at the play space and Isaac doubled over in my Dad’s arms wailing in pain.
A calm form of panic, only known to mothers with injured children, washes over me.
Isaac says he can’t breathe, he’s in pain, he’s purple.
He’s fallen, mid swing, flat on his back, from a height of 6 feet.
He’s clearly badly winded, I think, and this should pass in a few minutes.
It doesn’t – Dad calls 9-1-1
The Airport paramedics arrive five excruciating minutes later.
I’m thinking ‘internal bleeding’ (my mind always goes there, I don’t know why)
I’m thinking 8-hour flight to Amsterdam, followed by a 9-hour flight to Rwanda – what are the doctors like there? What happens if he haemorrhages halfway over the Atlantic Ocean?
The paramedics assess him and give me diplomatic (read contradicting) advice.
“He’s probably okay, we don’t have X-ray machines, you could get on the flight and if he get’s worse, see a doctor at the airport in Amsterdam. But, as paramedics we can’t really say…”
Thanks. That’s helpful.
Enter KLM ground staff supervisor.
She Looked Nothing Like This
“Hi, we need to know if you’re going to get on the plane. We can see if we can re-book you for a later flight, but because your son’s injury was in no way the fault of KLM airlines, it is going to cost you about $280 for your son and $360 for you. Also – we need to know in three minutes because we have to get your bags off the flight so as to not inconvenience the other passengers.”
Okay. So I’m going to stop here, in regards to the KLM ground staff supervisor. Lets just say, she was, unkind, unprofessional and completely unsympathetic to a woman worried about her possibly seriously injured child. I could call her names, but I’m a budding social worker, and I’m better than that.
So, four paramedics, one police officer and one very nervous Airport safety duty manager, later, I decide to forgo the flight, and take Isaac (who is still writhing in pain) in an ambulance to the children’s hospital.
The Ambulance Ride
Once at the hospital things begin to calm down. They take his vitals, poke and prod him a bit take a urine sample, and take x-rays of his chest and his wrist.
By the time he was out of diagnostic imaging, he was smiling again… a bit.
Children's Hospital
Loooong story short, Isaac is okay. He has a broken bone in his wrist, and has some soft tissue damage in his back. But he has been cleared to fly for Sunday, as long as he promises not to play rough for 6-weeks.
Also, he has what we all think is a super cool brace on his wrist.
Super Cool Wrist Brace
We will be attempting to fly to Rwanda again on Sunday.
I’ll keep you all posted.
PS. Isaac thinks that the ambulance ride was “The BEST!!”
PPS. After 45 minutes, many interactions and significant pressure from one of the airport paramedics, KLM has decreed that there will be no extra charges to change our flights.
PPPS. I am beyond grateful that this all happened in Canada.
