Dark day, with little cheer

After yesterday's fall on an already-broken leg, we reached a day which should have really been a day for going home. Instead we watched as Alex's near neighbour in the ward (who had in a weird twist of fate had the same injury in the same circumstances a day after Alex) was discharged as he doesn't have any stairs at his house so was able to go home in a wheelchair.

Alex was taken to the stairs near the ward to have his physio this morning, and yelled so hard we simply couldn't get him out of the wheelchair. It made me feel physically sick to hear my son, who's normally one of the quiet ones, SHOUTING at his physio 'don't touch me'!

By the afternoon session, we were being advised that it would be a good idea to involve a psychologist as this was now a problem of Alex's motivation rather than physical pain.

As I'm writing this I still can't quite believe that this conclusion had been reached so quickly - after all his second fall was only yesterday, and although I agree that his confidence has been severely shaken, I suspect that we've outstayed our welcome and there is another agenda.

I took Alex out across the Meadows this afternoon to get him some fresh air, and to have a serious talk with him about not shouting at people who were trying to help him. He said that he didn't like me being like this (not as much as I hated it!).

I was at a really low ebb today too. I've definitely had enough of being around other kids with serious problems, and the lack of sleep which accompanies a night in a hospital ward full of screaming and groaning children.

When our daughter visited this evening she stayed and chatted with her brother, while I headed off my husband before entering the ward to brief him on his "good cop" role - where he was to offer inducements to get Alex motivated, while I helped our daughter with her French homework.

Fortunately Auntie Gillian had sent a magazine which got Alex interested, so we were able to perk him up a tiny bit towards the end of the day.