Additional Needs
Age Appropriate
by Jodi Shenal
on 26th April, 2024
Special Needs Parenting: Blues and Twos
“Oh you are so lucky, my son loves, "Nee-Naws", he’d LOVE to go in an ambulance with the blue lights on!!”
There were others of a similar ignorant vain.
I’m afraid, dear reader, I let rip.
Full throttle.
How utterly idiotic to think that a child so seriously ill to require blue lights on a trip to hospital is going to be thrilled by them?
WHY are people so self obsessed these days that they can only think about what their charming little darling would like?
How out of touch does a parent of a healthy child have to be to not be able to imagine themselves in that situation?
Ambulances are not comfortable, ‘fun’, places to be.
They are hard, uncomfortable bumpy rides and you usually have to sit with your back to the direction of travel – a quick route to travel sickness.
The sirens are loud in an echo like way – ominous even and when things really have gotten bad, the medical staff are so engrossed in their jobs that it is silent - save for the sounds of the equipment being used.
They are work horses designed for a serious job, not rides at an amusement park.
Making a 999 call for your ill child is surreal.
Panic gives way to a calm resolution that you need help, quickly and their care is now beyond your capabilities.
Making the call for the third, fourth or more time doesn’t make it any easier.
Each time you are willing for the person on the other end of the phone to tell you you’ve got it wrong, or the ambulance staff to do something simple to fix things at home.
I’ve also felt all sorts of strange emotions after making the call.
Embarrassment that the sirens and lights will wake my neighbours in the middle of the night.
Apologetic to the ambulance staff for calling them out and I’ve even cracked jokes with them to try and lighten the mood.
Shock and fear it would appear have the same effect on me as alcohol.
Driving behind an ambulance that is taking your child to hospital is also odd.
Your heart and soul travel in the vehicle in front of you, your hopes and fears stay at home.
I used to think, ‘nee-naws’, were exciting too, now, I flinch every time I see an ambulance travelling with its blue lights on and feel thankful that we are not the ones needing it this time.
