A very surreal moment at work.

It was bound to happen at some point at work and last night at approx 6.45pm it did.

I was on the phone to A+E reception to get a hospital number for a patient who wasn't already on the system.
There I was giving all the necessary info when asked and in the background I could here the other receptionist talking to someone and heard the words 'Riverbank' and 'children's ward' used several times. Then I heard the other receptionist say,' sorry but Riverbank are actually engaged at the moment and then the lady I was talking to said yes because I'm on the phone to them already, hang on a mo'.

We finished what we were doing and as I was jotting down the new hospital number she said, 'we've got a gentleman here asking for a Shelly Winter!'
I suddenly got a real sinking feeling and said 'actually that's me! don't tell me one of my kids is in A+E'
The reply was 'I had a funny feeling and yes I'm afraid we have'.

Ian was placed on the phone only to tell me that Dharma had managed to get an acid burn on her legs from a broken 6 volt battery out of the torch that Grandad had bought her for Xmas!
So I quickly and calmly made my exit from the ward and headed off to A+E where I found an extremely happy little 6 year old who was completely in her element because she was in hospital!!! surrounded by nurses and doctors and 'real' hospital equipment and totally unaware of the shear panic she had caused just minutes before!

To make matters worse Ian was in the middle of charging his car battery so he had to call Grandad to get a lift to the hospital.
How guilty was Grandad feeling?

Thankfully, Dharma had been wearing thick pyjama bottoms when it happened and Ian threw her into the shower for 10 minutes before heading off A+E. There were a couple of very pale pink areas on both legs that you really did struggle to see at times.
The nurse who dressed the areas said she'd actually been very lucky and that Ian had done exactly the right thing.

By 7.15pm we were actually back on Riverbank ward to let the concerned nurses know that Dharma was OK and then I was let off early so I could take them home.

So there we have it.
My first call to A+E for one of my kids while I'm at work.
Unfortunately it probably won't be the last!