Thursday, August 7, 2008

Since I've been Gone....

Right, so I promised myself the other day that I had to write another post before a month since my last one (shocking! I know) so here we are. Right, since the last post, if I thought I was in love, I know I am now, but I often feel like there's something missing – I cant’ put my finger on it. In the meantime let me explain what I’ve been up to….

I suddenly realized about three weeks ago how important Dave has become in my life. I had a bad day at work and wanted to get Dave’s opinion on something (and just wanted to talk to him) and a friend of his answered – I laughed and said, “oh dear, did u guys have a fine’s evening after the game tonight?” thinking he was a bit drunk as he’d just played his last game and she said, “No, I’m in the Ambulance with him.” I thought she was joking. She explained that he’d taken a bad knock during the game and had been concussed for 5 minutes and convulsed. They were in the ambulance taking his blood pressure etc and on the way to the Hospital. I broke down, I cried and cried and cried and joltingly realized how much he’d come to mean to me in this short space of time. I couldn’t do anything for the rest of the night. I was restless and considering driving down to see him but I held out. I eventually decided to go down at about 11pm. Some other people were there too but Dave was strapped in a neck brace still in casualty, he was quiet pale and still dirty with grazes and grass everywhere, looking so uncomfortable. Because there wasn’t a bed available in that city, he then had to be transferred by ambulance to another Hospital into high care. We eventually left him quiet settled when we were kicked out at about 2:30am. I was back at the hospital at 7am to see what the neurosurgeon had to say when he’d seen him at 6/6:30 AM but the x-rays and reports had not been transferred when Dave had come across and so, he couldn’t make a call. I tried to follow this up but was a case of asking the nurse what she suggest I do to get these documents across here asap (bearing in mind it’s just an email that has to be sent) and she told me to speak to the ‘head’ nurse, who told me to go to reception. Reception told me to go to their x-ray department who explained that they were completely separate from the original hospital’s x-ray department – You get the picture…it’s a nightmare. I eventually went and fetched the hard copy myself (a 45min round trip drive is quicker than sending an email????!!!!) I arrived back at 9:30 with clean clothes for Dave and the hard copy of x-rays. Unfortunately, the reports on the x-rays weren’t ready and I was promised that those would be faxed through when they were. Dave seemed a little better at this stage and later went for a walk around. Visiting hours were from 11 – 11:30 because High Care is situated in ICU, so I hung around until then and visited him for that time, which was the first time I got to see him properly. When I came back at 11, he thanked me for all I’d done, driving down etc, said I shouldn’t have but I made his night. At this point he was looking like a puppy in a cage – he seemed 100% and dying to get out. I left around lunch time yesterday to come back to work thinking he’d be released that afternoon. He only saw the neurosurgeon at about 7:30pm on the second night and was fed up when he was told he had to stay the night again and possibly the next. Poor sausage was there for another 2 nights.

He’s doing well, which is the main thing. This is apparently standard for someone who has had convulsions after a concussion. He had his drip taken out on the second day and was moved to a general ward. He came out of hospital on his third morning and went back to work from midday to the afternoon.

Now, as you know, I had a surprise coming my way from Dave for my birthday, however I didn’t think it was going to happen because of what had happened to him that week but he insisted it was still on. I could not wait… I have never had a surprise birthday and Dave planned this for me about 3 weeks before my birthday (when we’d barely started going out!) So I have to share it with you…

On Friday afternoon I headed down to him and I was dying to see him after his incident earlier in the week and he was only discharged from hospital that morning. He was a little on edge but I think he’d just wanted things to be a little more organized than they were. He’d bought wine, snacks etc for beforehand and we caught up with each other’s weeks. He took me to an upmarket restaurant that I just love, we had a quaint table right near the feature of the restaurant and the Waiter who sat us down announced that once you’ve sat at this table as a couple, you’ll never be apart again…a little corny I know, but it was sweet. Once we’d settled, our conversation led us towards the past weeks events. I explained to him that I’d completely lost it after I’d heard he was in an ambulance. I fell apart and cried my eyes out. I could not believe that this guy who I’d known for such a short time could bear so much on me and my life and how much I’ve come to care for him. I realized all of this in the space of a few seconds, which is why I did the most irrational act of driving down at stupid-o’clock. It was at this point that I expected him to laugh and sit back with an expression of “where’s the nearest door? This chick is mad”. Instead that he told me that although he’d told his friend (whom I was in touch with on the night of the accident) that I must go home and not come down that evening, yet when I walked into the emergency room, he was immediately relieved. I was so flattered by this, as he had one of his closest friends, a colleague and his brother around the bed. He said he was so happy to see me the next morning (Wednesday) and twice more after he thought I’d left. It really meant a lot to him and his words meant so much to me. Darling Dave then impulsively lent across the table after I’d spilt my feelings and promptly knocked over his glass! This of course gave me the absolute giggles and transported the evening atmosphere from heavy to light once more.

On Saturday, Dave woke me up with coffee in bed (my favourite) and he sent me on a treasure hunt for my birthday present. Bearing in mind that he’s taken me out for supper the night before and only known me for a little over a month, he bought me speakers and a front-loader for my music-less car!!!!! He said I stared at it for about a minute before turning to look at him. I was gob smacked to say the least! I cannot believe the effort and energy and everything that he puts into me! As if this wasn’t enough, he made me flapjacks for breakfast! I felt so spoilt! After this, we headed for the Coast for a friend of mine’s birthday where we stayed at a backpackers. We had the most divine time chilling after a very stressful week and spent most of the time at the beach. It was the most wonderful birthday that I’ve had in quiet some time. I thanked him once more as I was leaving, for everything he’d done for me over the weekend and for spoiling me and his response was, “You deserve it.”

What I absolutely love about him is that he can be going through the busiest time at work (I’m talking working Sundays, evenings and early mornings) and he’ll drop me an email just to say “Before my day starts to spin and I get lost in it! I just want to say you’re on my mind and can’t wait to see you again.” My feelings for this soft little soul are growing daily and I just wanted to share that with you because you know where I’ve been and I wish I knew where I was going…!