At a recent "parent-teacher" interview for Amelia, her teacher laughed when she said "When Amelia started at this school" it was like having "rent a crowd" start too.
I think the hospital staff thought the same on Christmas Day.
So many of our friends and family members came to see Tom.
These people took time during their own Christmas Day to come and see us.
The feeling of "Why?" was a common question among everyone.
But the contribution to make Amelia and Tom's Christmas as good as it possibly could be was overwhelming.
The morning, afternoon and evening was a constant stream of visitors.
Dad and I laughed when we were given a plate of Christmas lunch from the staff cafe.
"Merry Christmas" we both said laughing.
We sat there eating cold meats, roast potatoes and salad laughing at the absurdity of this meal.
Christmas Day also meant that I had to face a major fear of mine.
I have always been frightened of needles.
I instantly become nauseous and feel like either fainting or vomiting.
The nurses were telling me that I had to learn how to draw the insulin and then inject it into my son every morning and every night.
The first needle that I was in control of consisted of me sitting on a chair with Tom on the bed in front of me.
Slowly I ended up laying from the waist up across the bed, still drawing the insulin.
When I eventually pushed the needle through the skin on Tom's thigh, he breathed a sigh of relief.
"Mum. Good job. It didn't hurt" he said excitedly.
Done. I can do this.
Christmas night, Scott joined Amelia at his sisters house.
Jane had kindly offered to have Amelia for the day and make her Christmas special.
Tom and I had visitors for "Christmas Dinner".
Tom happily played with another child and was reminded that he is still a kid.
That night he got upset again that he was separated from his Amelia.
We rang her and Scott to say goodnight.
When Amelia got upset we asked her what was wrong.
"Tom has had a horrible Christmas in hospital" she said.
Tom smiled.
"Amelia I have had an AWESOME Christmas. You get heaps more presents in hospital" he said laughing.
Boxing Day brought with it more visitors and a visit to the park.
The staff were becoming more strict with the fact that Tom and I need to take control of testing his blood sugars, learning what he can and cannot eat and administering the needles ourselves.
The TV in our room did not work, there was no WiFi in the whole hospital and Tom was starting to get fed up and angry.
He cried for his sister, dad and dog "Scampy".
Learning about diabetes also meant practicing on others.
My dad and I had Tom practice "finger pricking" on us.
It was quite sadistic the look on Tom's face as he came towards me with the pin.
I couldn't stop laughing at the thrill he was getting from doing it!
We had the whole Children's ward to ourselves after 10am Christmas Day and untill lunchtime Boxing Day.
Then all the "Christmas Day accidents" began arriving.
A severe dog bite on a 5 year olds face, a broken arm from a scooter fall and a 2 year old that had jumped off the bench and pushed her front teeth up into her head.
When I left the hospital to go and have a smoke, I had the "usual's" often there.
The man who had returned from overseas to spend Christmas with his family, only to spend it in hospital with dengue fever. The man who had experienced stomach pain and then had to have an operation on Christmas Day to remove 6 hernias.
Amelia could not stay for long when she visited.
As soon as she entered she would go pale and start complaining.
Poor Scott was trying to handle the house, pets, Amelia and still get in to see Tom and I.
The sooner we got to go home the better.
They kept saying "Saturday morning".
Christmas Eve was Tuesday.
To be continued..........
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